After the first match was abandoned due to rain, CSNI 4XI took on Woodvale 3XI in the rearranged T20 fixture at Stormont on a cold Tuesday evening.
Winning the toss, Woodvale chose to bat first on what looked to be an excellent wicket. CSNI opened up with the pace duo of C.Gault (0-17) & H.Kokate (0-23), who had the ball swinging in the early stages. Despite the moving ball, the batters appeared to settle in quickly, working the field to pick up some easy singles.
A change at both ends in the bowling attack brought R.Copeland and Womenโs Captain, J.Gillan, into the action. The pair bowled well together, squeezing the batters and making runs slightly more difficult to come by. This frustration led to a few quick wickets, with Copeland (2-35) removing D.Chavara (23) and I.Cleland (0), while Gillan removed C.George (23) and J.Hofmeyr (17).
After this good spell of bowling veteran T.Dalzell (1-17) and youth prospect T.Sharma (1-22) finished off the innings, picking up a wicket each in the process. R.Bell top scored for Woovale with 31* leaving Woodvale on 136-6 from their 20 overs.
CSNI opened their response with G.Lutton and U15 debutant C.Connelly-McAuley. Not long into their innings it started raining which made the wicket a bit more difficult to bat on. After an early large six, Lutton (9) was the first wicket to fall from good catch at long on. He was closely followed by no.3 batter H.Kokate, who was bowled without scoring three balls later.
This brought R.Copeland to the crease to try and rebuild the innings alongside Connelly-MacAuley on an increasingly more difficult wicket. Several CSNI batters fell cheaply as five wickets went down in quick succession.
With the score on 64-7 T.Sharma joined Copeland in the middle with CSNI still optimistic still they could pull off the chase. CSNI deployed the Jack Leach/Ben Stokes strategy, with Copeland trying to face the majority of balls. Copeland reached a well made half century with a lovely shot through cover for 4.
After two lovely shots for four, T.Sharma (8) was run-out trying to get Copeland back on strike. bringing J.Gillan to the crease. CSNI continued to go about their business, trying to keep up with the run rate. With CSNI needing 34 from the 3 remaining overs, Gillan (3) tried to despatch a bad ball to the ropes but was caught in the process.
A.Bingham joined Copeland as the last remaining batter for CSNI. It was always going to be a tough ask with no wickets remaining and 30 required from 18 balls. Copeland made a valiant effort taking it right to the wire and finishing on 80*, but unfortunately on this occasion CSNI fell short by 5 runs.
Congratulations to Woodvale on the victory. Well batted Ross Copeland and many congratulations on his recent engagement to fellow CSNI player Zara Dowds!
๐ช๐ผ๐ผ๐ฑ๐๐ฎ๐น๐ฒ ๐ฏ๐ซ๐: ๐ญ๐ฏ๐ฒ/๐ฒ (๐ฎ๐ฌ ๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐)
D Chavara 23, C George 23, R Bell 31*
RG Copeland 2-35, J Gillan 2-18
๐๐ฆ๐ก๐ ๐ฐ๐ซ๐: ๐ญ๐ฏ๐ญ/๐ต (๐ฎ๐ฌ ๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐)
RG Copeland 80*
T Hill 3-23, A Anil 3-23
๐ช๐ผ๐ผ๐ฑ๐๐ฎ๐น๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐ป ๐ฏ๐ ๐ฑ ๐ฟ๐๐ป๐
CSNICC 