Gaw's Larne hold nerve to see off Academy

Larne skipper Gareth Gaw won the toss and decided to bat first. Rab McClean was promoted to open the batting with Gareth Alexander and the pair made a positive start putting on 26 in the first 6 overs before McClean perished for 10.

Chris Keenan was next in and he too made 10 before he mis-timed a full toss and was caught on the boundary and a similar delivery accounted for Robert McKinley who made 13.

Alexander, meanwhile, was playing his normal game and on a ground which has always been successful for him, he passed 50 for the third time this season on his way to a score of 75. He struck the ball cleanly all day and was disappointed to be dismissed with 8 overs remaining.

The innings finished with a flourish as Chris Dempsey and Jonathan King put on 50 runs in the final 6 overs. Both hit the ball hard with Dempsey finishing unbeaten on 25 and King on 23 and they took the final Larne total to 174 from their 50 overs. The pick of the Academy bowlers was Brian Boyd who took 1-26 in an accurate 8 over spell.

Larne were content with what was a competitive total on a pitch which was playing a few tricks and new that a disciplined performance in the field would give them a chance of victory. Academy began the chase positively with Mark Shields and Brian Kelso looking in good touch and the score rattled along to 50 in the 1st 11 overs.

McKinley and King bowled well but the occasional short ball was dispatched to the boundary before King had Shields well caught by Keenan. Matt Palmer was the next man in and he was able to keep the scoreboard ticking along nicely with some sensible batting.

Chris Dempsey struggled slightly with the slippery ball, but claimed the vital wicket of Kelso who he trapped lbw for 25. James Wix replaced him and together with Palmer put Academy in a very strong position to win the game. Paul Ramsay had bowled a magnificent spell in which he conceded just 16 runs from his 8 overs and this helped to keep the run rate required at around 5 an over for the last 12 overs. When he was bowled out Gaw turned to King again and he quickly bowled Palmer for 33 in a very impressive last 3 overs.

Gaw meanwhile had recovered from a shaky first over to bowl with good control and very little luck but the game was effectively won in his last 2 overs when he bowled David Greenlees for 7 and then had Wix well caught by Eddie Hunter at long on for 48. This left Alexander and McKinley to bowl the last 5 overs and with the run rate now at 7 they held their nerve to win by 12 runs. Alexander claimed to 2-14 from his 3 overs while McKinley was simply to quick for the tailenders and got 1-6 in his final 2 overs to guide Larne to victory.

Larne have now won 4 of their 5 league matches and this week host the unbeaten Millpark at Sandy Bay. The match ball was kindly sponsored by Owen Donnelly Butchers.

Larne 174-5 (G Alexander 75, C Dempsey 25no, J King 23no)

Academy 162-8 (G Alexander 2-14, J King 2-34, G Gaw 2-35)