Three-times losers with bat

Unsure of what to expect from the school pitch, which was being used for the first time, skipper Gareth Gaw chose to bat first on winning the toss but the gamble didn’t pay off as they were bowled out for just 87 runs.

The pitch proved very difficult to bat on, with the length of the outfield making runs very scarce, but this shouldn’t cover what was some pretty woeful batting. Gareth Alexander had no fluency, but managed to graft out a score of 34, but no other batsman made it into double figures and only 31 extras got the score up to 87.

For Templepatrick, Robert Smith was the pick of the bowlers in taking 5-11, while young Jordan Carlisle was particularly impressive in taking 3-12 and Chris Busby took 2-18.

It was always going to be nigh on impossible to defend such a meagre total, but Larne almost managed it as a much improved bowling display saw Templepatrick limp past the total for the loss of seven wickets.

Robert McKinley bowled a superb and hostile opening spell and was unlucky not to pick up more than one wicket. Chris Dempsey entered into the attack and was immediately extracting some extravagant turn from the pitch and he soon put Templepatrick under pressure when he picked up four wickets, including that of Artie Campbell, who top-scored with 13. When Gaw took two wickets in two balls, Templepatrick were seven-down with 10 runs still required and the game was back in the balance, but their were no more alarms as Busby and Carlisle saw them home.

So after making an impressive start to the season, Larne have now lost three games in a row and will need to improve the batting significantly if they are to remain competitive for the remainder of the season. The match ball was kindly sponsored by McKeens Butchers.

Larne 87 (G Alexander 34)

Templepatrick 88-7 (C Dempsey 4-32, G Gaw 2-17)