Waringstown open new league campaign in style

McCallan provided the finishing touches to an eight-wicket opening day victory over Carrickfergus at The Lawn with a typically controlled unbeaten 71, but it was Mpitsang who laid the foundations with a fiery spell of 4-29 with the new ball.

Indeed it was only some sloppy catchy that denied Mpitsang a five-wicket haul on his debut.

The 30-year-old, who arrived in Waringstown less than 48 hours before this game started, was good enough to have played for his country a decade ago, and he bowled with impressive control and hostility as Carrick slid to64 for eight after being inserted by Jonathan Bushe.

Mpitsang tore the heart out of the Carrick top order, starting with a double breakthrough in the seventh over. Andrew Cowden was beautifully set up as he left a series of away swingers before being undone by a rising delivery that cut back from outside off-stump to crash off his elbow and onto the stumps. Then New Zealander Michael Thaiaroa was adjudged lbw on the front foot.

Mpitsang’s third victim was Rickie Stirling, the opening batsman, whose outside edge was brilliantly caught one-handed in front of first slip by Bushe. With Ross Gelderbloem also having departed to a stunning McCallan catch at cover off Simon Stokes, Carrick were 29 for four in the 11th over, and with their best batsmen back in the pavilion.

Things got worse before they got better for the visitors. They were 41 for six and then 64 for eight, but for an hour they conjured up hopes of the most unlikely of comebacks thanks to a ninth-wicket partnership between Ally McCalmont and Matthew Kernohan.

It would be generous to give McCalmont and Kernohan all the credit however, because Waringstown’s fielders were highly culpable in a stand of 82. Kernohan was just two when he was missed at mid-off off Mpitsang, and he was to be reprieved on another two occasions, with McCalmont also enjoying one escape.

Numbers nine and ten were swinging from the hip and the fielders obliging with a series of embarrassing misses.

Kernohan struck three sixes and four fours, reaching his first senior half century in just 37 balls, before the fun came to an end when he was caught at deep mid-wicket off James Hall. With McCalmont departing almost immediately for 33 from 49 balls, Carrick were dismissed for 149, with more than 12 overs unused.

From there it was all about McCallan. Promoted to open for the first time in his Waringstown career, he was comfortable for the first delivery, despite testing new balls spells from Gelderbloem and Eagleson on a surface that offered assistance to the seamers throughout the day.

Ireland’s most capped player added 79 for the second wicket with Lee Nelson (34) and the unbroken partnership for the third with Andrew Cousins (24 no) saw the villagers home with more than eight overs to spare.

There was nothing flashy about McCallan’s 71. Made from 95 balls, it wasn’t an innings of breathtaking pace, but he punished almost every semblance of a bad delivery, striking 10 delightful boundaries.

The villagers, who still have to welcome Gary Kidd and Keith Allen to their strongest starting line-up, look in good shape for Saturday’s intriguing trip to North Down.