INCLEMENT weather led to a delayed start and resulted in a reduced game of 28 overs when
Bangor Cricket Club’s first team welcomed Derriaghy to Upritchard Park on Saturday.
Derriaghy won the toss and elected to bat on a wicket that had remained well protected against the elements’ best efforts to cause disruption.
Nothing could deter the now-familiar Bangor opening bowling pair of Chris Pyper and Angus
Farrell. Derriaghy showed early impetus, scoring at around a run a ball until mid-way through
the third over, when Pyper claimed the first wicket.
He bowled an off-cutter between bat and pad that careered into a leg stump, dislodging the bails and removing Scott.
That brought overseas player Matthew Scoble to the crease, who took a moment to get going
due to the tight lines of Farrell and Pyper.
At the end of the opening spell, Derriaghy were 38–1, having been reined in by the continuous discipline of the opening pair and the utmost dedication displayed by the fielding unit.
Brodie Harrison and George Prince continued the disciplined bowling performance, trusting that the loose shot would come in the face of mounting pressure.
In the 13th over, the pressure told, as Harrison forced Derriaghy skipper Ross Bailey to play an expansive straight shot the turn of the ball and Sam McMillan covered great ground to take the catch, bringing Bailey’s innings to an end.
Just two overs later, the same fate met Scoble, who launched a high ball that was duly taken by young Seb Yeates.
Jonathan Bell and Craig Lewis dug in to advance the innings, quelling the rising Bangor tide and securing a partnership of 50 in the process.
Will Simpson and Prince continued to toil as the score reached 138, until the disciplined
pressure of the bowling unit told once more.
Simpson bowled Bell and rumours spread around the ground that he had turned the ball, mainly purported by the bowler himself, and with the livestream shooting side-on, he must now take be taken at his word.
Pyper and Farrell returned at the death, with the former claiming the wicket of Ben Cairns, whilst also effecting a run-out the following over.
In a remarkable display of commitment to preventing opposition runs, Farrell slid across the
hallowed Upritchard turf, taking out the Derriaghy batsman.
Bangor were left with a total of 150 to chase in their 28 overs, and the youthful pairing of
McMillan and Yeates strode out to open their account.
Yeates fell as an early victim of the overseas Scoble, edging a delivery bowled on a heavy
length outside off stump.
McMillan was joined by returning senior statesman Mark Hutchinson, as the pair picked up
where they had left off years prior. He found success from the off, slapping the ball to the
boundary and accumulating three rope-crossers early in his innings.
Meanwhile, Hutchinson rotated strike at will, forcing the bowlers to deliver their best ball every time.
Eventually, McMillan met his end, failing to find a clean connection when attempting to hook a
ball for six and clothing it to deep mid-wicket for 29.
At that point, Bangor were 57–2 and Harrison joined Hutchinson at the crease. If ever a batting pair were symbolic of chalk and cheese, it was these two.
Hutchinson was a timeless caresser of the ball, whose innings were built upon discipline, graft
and sharp running between the wickets, while Harrison was an advert for the modern game,
finding boundaries at will.
Yet, in spite of their differing approaches, this would prove the decisive partnership of the game.
They brought up their 50 partnership in just 38 deliveries, as a relentless regime of running
between the wickets ensued. Harrison also chose to have his way with the loose balls.
Harrison scored 50 from just 31 deliveries, continuing his fine form, and the visitors
were well and truly pacified.
The end of the game came quickly, and without relent, as Harrison hit multiple sixes and a
carved single to secure a clinical Bangor victory.
The two heroes walked off to deserved applause, having secured Bangor’s fourth win from fourin the league season.
The habits have been put in place, and Bangor seem determined to not let this rich run of form relent.
