U15s lose to Templepatrick

Larne captain, Zach Weatherhead, won the toss and decided to bat with the Larne team hoping to perform better than the last time the teams met, when they were bowled out for just 48. Weatherhead and Jonathan Crooks opened the batting and made a solid start before Crooks holed out for nine.

Richard Hood came in at number three and set about building a partnership with Weatherhead. This pair looked in good form and kept the run rate ticking along with some good stroke play and quick running. They were taking some very risky singles and eventually their luck ran out in the tenth over when Weatherhead was run out. They had moved the score on to 48 when Adam Ringland, batting at four, came to the crease. He looked determined to move the score on quickly and was eventually bowled for nine before Aaron McKinley came in at five. He looked as though he would stay with Hood to build a valuable partnership but some more dubious judgement by the latter left McKinley run out for six.

This led to a flurry of wickets with Templepatrick getting rid of Ethan Brownlee and Jithin Kuriakose without adding to the score before Michael Wilson came in at 8. Hood, realising he was running out of partners, tried to move the score on quickly but he was caught going for a big hit when on 29.

Aaron McFall and Wilson did their best to get the score to three figures but Wilson was run out off the last ball of the Larne innings with their total on 93 leaving Templepatrick a run chase of 94 to win. Despite a promising start, Larne were disappointed that they did not score more and felt that they were 20 short of a competitive score.

Templepatrick got off to a flyer with the bat as they punished Larne opening bowlers Hood and McFall who struggled to stem the runs. McFall made a vital breakthrough when Carlisle tried to pull him for six and was excellently caught on the deep square leg boundary by Michael Wilson.

Change bowlers Jithin Kuriakose and David Fitzsimmons were really struggling and bowled three expensive overs. They soon redeemed themselves however by bowling three maidens – a magnificent comeback. Indeed, Kuriakose took two wickets following excellent catches from Hood and McFall, to leave the visitors on 74 for three after 11 overs. This spell of maiden overs gave Larne a fighting chance, but they were to rue what might have been had they not conceded so many off their first few overs, or scored another 20 runs.

Templepatrick began to score more easily and, with 4 overs left hit the winning runs to leave Larne the defeated side by 6 wickets.

Next Friday the Under 15’s are scheduled to travel to Academy where they will be hoping for a repeat of the earlier fixture when they won by 8 wickets.

The match ball was kindly sponsored by Neill Home Consultants.