Skipper Martin gets vital Cloney win under his belt

DONACLONEY made the trip to Dungannon Park to take on Dungannon on Saturday past.

Once again the weather and conditions were perfect, and on winning the toss skipper Keith Martin took first use of a track that looked conducive for scoring runs.

The skipper opened the batting along with his brother, Colin Martin. Colin seemed to be in fine form racing to 14 before he misread the line of the ball and was bowled.

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Neil Carson arrived at the wicket and signalled his intentions early, taking the game to the bowlers as he sought to intimidate the Dungannon attack. The pair brought the score up to 52 before Keith was out for only 4 as he had played support to Neil.

Carson was joined at the wicket by young Matthew Lyttle and they put together a decent looking partnership with Carson passing the 50 mark just before the 25 over drinks interval with the score moving onto 102-2.

The break seemed to disturb the Donacloney concentration as Carson was adjudged leg before for a classy 54 first ball after the recess. Lyttle too followed in quick succession for 15, and from such a strong position Donacloney started to wobble slightly.

Lyness Topping showed some steel as he scored he stroked the ball around nicely, but he too fell to an LBW decision for a fluent 25. Cloney stuttered along after this as Dungannon opening bowler Lucas returned and claimed match figures of 5-48.

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Only Gary Knox (18) and Phil Derby (12) managed to get into double figures as the tailed tried to wag with the innings closing with Knox the last to fall with the score on 189 in only the 46th over. The Donacloney score was boosted by the fact extras yielded 41 runs.

After the tea break Donacloney’s opening attack of Jonny Stevenson and David ‘Red Bull’ Marshall, came out fired up and determined to make their mark. Stevenson’s intentions were clearly shown from his first delivery rattling into the helmet of the opening batsman Adrian.

Stevenson struck the first blow as he trapped Adrian in front of the timber. As Dungannon settled the evergreen Marshall struck removing the dangerous Dungannon skipper Forsythe for 29 thanks to a great take by glove man and skipper Keith Martin.

Spin was then introduced to the attack with Gary Knox and Colin Martin bowling in tandem. This swung the game in Donacloney’s favour as between them they claimed seven wickets, Martin taking 3-11 off five overs and Knox 4-9 in a six over spell, although Knox was fortunate to a couple of victims with somewhat rank long hops.

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Stevenson returned to action to wrap up the innings claiming the last wicket to finish with figures of 2-27 for 7.3 overs as Dungannon crumbled to 77 all out in the 27th over. One thing to note is that the Donacloney attack only conceded one extra to that total.

Skipper Martin was delighted with getting another victory under his belt. “We are starting to display a lot of confidence in our performances, we are strong and have options in our bowling attack, while our fielding and support is superb so far.

“Although it was disappointing not to bat 50 overs we seem to have more depth to our batting line up this season.

“I would like to congratulate Neil Carson on his first 50 since his return, and his arrival seems to increased the determination in the application to the game by all the lads’.

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Donacloney would like to thank Tom Armstrong for sponsoring the Match Ball for Saturday’s game.

- DONACLONEY Seconds entertained unbeaten CIYMS on Saturday at the Factory Ground, and on losing the toss Raymie Matthews’s team were asked to bowl first.

The team displayed a lot of determination as they fought to kick-start their season which has so far yielded no wins. Although a few chances were dropped CIYMS lost wickets at regular intervals as they struggled to score runs with any fluency.

In fact at times it looked lie Donacloney were the unbeaten team as they eventually dismissed their more fashionable opponents for 132

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The chief destroyer was Chris Clarke who claimed 3-28 while Stuart Copeland claimed two and Brian Lyttle, Willie Fisher and captain Matthews claimed one apiece.

Mention must go to young under 15 player Jonathan Gregson who claimed 1-16 off a four over spell in what was his first senior performance for the club.

In reply Richie Clydesdale looked confident before he was dismissed for a good knock of 36. Brian Lyttle entered the fray and looked confident as he stroked the ball about, however with partners struggling to stay it was stalwart Paul Lyttle who played the anchor role giving support to Brian who saw the team home with a fine 56 not out while Paul in support scoring 12 to claim a four wicket victory with 15 overs to spare.

Raymie was delighted with his team’s performance. “At last we have got the victory we deserved, it hopefully will give us the confidence that we can compete in this league.”

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He added, “Young Chris Clarke showed great maturity in his display and in Jonathan Gregson we have another one for the future while Richie Clydesdale and the wily Brian Lyttle batted superbly to earn us this victory.”

- DONACLONEY U15s recorded their first win of the season on Friday evening with a convincing nine wicket victory over local rivals Laurelvale.

Laurelvale batted first and things seemed to be going the Laurelvale boys’ way with Donaghcloney opening bowlers Ryan Cobb and Rory Woods unable to find a way through as Laurelvale raced to 30 without loss after the first six overs.

However an inspired decision to change his bowlers early from coach Jonny Stevenson proved successful when Shane Warren had the Laurelvale opener McClelland stumped from his second ball for just 16.

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Coming on at the other end Jonathon Gregson got rid of the other opening batsman, Lyttle in his first over for 13.

After that it all started to go downhill for the Laurelvale lads, with only one other batsman making double figures and four batsmen going down without troubling the scorers.

Jonathon Gregson was the pick of the Donaghcloney bowlers, his five wickets for 14 runs impressing the senior captains and earning him a debut for the seconds on Saturday.

He was ably supported by young Shane Warren who finished with two wickets for 12 runs and Alan Thompson, who took two wickets for just one run in his two overs who is also certain for a call up to the senior teams in the weeks to come.

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Donaghcloney only needed the three batsmen to complete their route. Starting the innings at a rate of over five runs an over the victory was never really looking in doubt as openers Richard Lyttle and Ryan Cobb put on 23 before Cobb was clean bowled by the Laurelvale batsman in the fifth over.

Shane Warren joined Lyttle at the crease and the two of them had no trouble knocking off the rest of the runs with Lyttle finishing with 39 not out and Warren with nine not out in just over 12 overs.

- Finally Donacloney Cricket Club is now online at www.donaghcloneycc.co.uk