On a sunny but windy Saturday, CSNI 3XI made the journey to Allen Park to take on Muckamore 3XI.
The day got off to a strange start, with teams arriving at the ground only to find that Muckamore had forgot to book the pitch – there was a football game on instead. After some negotiation, both teams headed to stormont and played on the back square which was free.
Muckamore won the toss and opted to bat on a firm but green wicket. Luka Bates (0-32) and James Fisher (0-16) opened the bowling for CSNI. They both bowled good lines at the beginning, with the odd loose ball being hit to the boundary.
The flurry wickets began to fall as chances came at both ends. 15 year old leg-spinner Matthew Kennedy entered the attack, along with Chris Elliott.
C.Stewart (14) was the first to fall after a great catch at short third by James Fisher from MK’s bowling. This was closely followed by No.3 batsman, J.Wilson (who interestingly plays U15 cricket at CSNI) as he was adjudged LBW from the bowling of Elliott.
Elliott stuck again quickly after, with a catch at mid-on courtesy of Harshit Kokate removing P.Kane for 9. With the score 73-3, Kennedy got back into the wickets, removing the dangerous P.Pawar for 41. Elliott completed his spell, claiming 2-38.
Ross Copeland entered the bowling attack. and alongside MK, the pair applied pressure to the Muckamore batters, making runs very hard to come by. This pressure resulted in Kennedy picking up 2 more wickets, bowling A.Jones for 1 and claiming a superb C&B. Kennedy completed his spell with figures of 4-12.
Copeland continued the squeeze, conceding very few runs in his first few overs, forcing the batters to try and create something. S.Shaikh charged down the wicket, but a smart bit of bowling from Copeland beat the bat, bowling him for 11.
Harshit Kokate picked up from Kennedy at the other end and made an instant impact claiming the wicket of R.Shaikh (23). Copeland continued to bowl tight, picking up a maiden and finishing with figures of 1-16.
The innings was finished off by Kokate, claiming 2 wickets in the final over. The first caught by Elliott at midwicket and the second from a good C&B. This left Muckamore 138 all out off 29.4 overs.
CSNI opened up with the Lutton brothers, but unfortunately things didn’t go to plan on slowing wicket, with Pat bowled without scoring and Gareth mistiming a short ball to mid-off for 1.
This brought Ryan Copeland & Trevor Dalzell to the crease, and similarly, Dalzell couldn’t find the pace of the pitch and chipped one up to short cover falling for 5.
Luka Bates was in at 5, and alongside RJ Copeland looked to rebuild the innings. The pair batted remarkably well and maturely on a wicket that was a bit two-paced. From 9-3, the pair put on 91 to take the score to 100-3, before Ryan Copeland was adjudged LBW for 34.
Ross Copeland was in at 6, and alongside Bates looked to get CSNI over the line. Bates passed the 50 mark with a great shot for 4 through the covers, meanwhile Copeland hit a large 6 into the trees.
The pair took the game home with Bates finishing on 63* and Copeland on 16* leaving CSNI winners on the day by 6 wickets.
Next Saturday will see the return to cup action, with the 3XI taking on Donagcloney Mill 2XI at Stormont.
𝗠𝘂𝗰𝗸𝗮𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝟯𝗫𝗜: 𝟭𝟯𝟴𝗮𝗼 (𝟮𝟵.𝟰 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀)
P Pawar 41, R Shaikh 23
H Kokate 3-11, M Kennedy 4-12, C Elliott 2-38
𝗖𝗦𝗡𝗜 𝟯𝗫𝗜: 𝟭𝟯𝟵/𝟰 (𝟮𝟯 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀)
L Bates 63*, RJ Copeland 34
A Karunakaran 2-16
𝗖𝗦𝗡𝗜 𝘄𝗼𝗻 𝗯𝘆 𝟲 𝘄𝗶𝗰𝗸𝗲𝘁𝘀
CSNICC 