Muckamore v Armagh 10/03/2008
Armagh 1st XI upset the odds on Saturday with an epic 4 run win away to promotion candidates Muckamore when a terrific team display was enough to get their league campaign off to the best possible start. The Armagh team made 3 changes from last weeks cup drubbing at Lurgan with Alan Whitcroft, Michael Villiers and Stuart Lester making a welcome return in place of Ken Edgar, Simon Cardwell and promising youngster Matthew Steenson. Captain Andrew Bratten called correctly at the toss and unsurprisingly elected to bat on a dry looking strip with conditions virtually perfect for batting. Gareth Robinson and Villiers opened up and both looked untroubled against the much vaunted Muckamore attack with both men finding several boundaries. The opening stand was worth 64 when Villiers fell to a fine tumbling catch by Kamtekar at mid-wicket. Colin Russell departed without scoring when he was unfortunate to be caught via bat and pad at silly point, but David Bullick laid another strong fifty partnership as Armagh passed the hundred mark with minimal fuss. Despite the dismissals of Bullick then Doyle to Gill, Robinson continued undeterred and reached an excellent half century. Alan Whitcroft and Gareth McCarter were able to make useful contributions with the bat and even though Gillespie was run out off the final ball, Armagh had totalled a very competitive 193, thanks mainly to the Herculean effort of Gareth Robinson who had batted undefeated through the entire innings for his score of 82.
Despite Armagh’s decent total posted, Muckamore would still have been hugely confident of chasing it down given their strong batting line-up and Armagh’s profligacy with the ball the previous Saturday and indeed opener Brian Baguley stuck Bratten’s first delivery into the neighbouring tennis courts in what was surely a statement of intent. His opening partner Dunlop was not as fortunate when he attempted an ambitious pull stroke off Lester but succeeded merely in chipping the ball to Robinson at square leg. This brought master professional Indrajeet Kamtekar to the crease and he progressed serenely in partnership with Baguley, with any wide balls being punished severely. Some tight bowling just before the drinks break paid dividends though as Mark Stinson drew the Indian into a false stroke with Gillespie completing the catch. Armagh now had their tails up and wickets started falling regularly. Youngster Van der Merwe could not repeat his excellent form shown for Ireland under 15’s in the Caribbean as Bullick had him sharply caught behind by McCarter in his final over. Mark Stinson was too quick and accurate for Keates who was comprehensively bowled, as was Marshall; unfortunate enough to receive an unplayable delivery from Whitcroft. With Baguley still at the crease with home captain Leslie Allen Muckamore would still have been strong favourites and the two experienced players tried to rebuild against Whitcroft and Stinson’s restrictive bowling. Foolishly though the South African Baguley tried one big shot too many when he advanced down the wicket to Whitcroft, missed and was quickly stumped by McCarter for 80. Allen did his best to carry on the fight but hampered by injury he gave McCarter his third dismissal after edging Bratten, before Villiers then Stinson held superb boundary catches off the bowling of Whitcroft to leave Armagh one wicket away going into the final over with ten runs still required. By this stage the Muckamore clubhouse was empty as their support gathered to watch the exciting conclusion, and was cheered as Neill smashed Bratten’s first ball down the ground for a boundary four. The Armagh captain held his nerve though and bowled a consistent few balls meaning that 5 were needed from the final two deliveries. Neill swung, missed and inexplicably tried to run a bye through to McCarter who was able to collect cleanly and complete a simple run-out, giving Armagh a superb four run win. To their credit the Muckamore support were magnanimous in defeat, conceding that the effort and application of the Armagh players merited the win.
Naturally the relieved captain Andrew Bratten was delighted that his players had been able to complete one of the most unlikely victories. “We were written off a bit last week, and rightly so after the defeat to Lurgan and the manner in which it happened, but this team has a good spirit and a good mix of youth and experience and were determined to come back from that in this our first league game. Gareth Robinson batted beautifully to carry his bat through the innings and it would be unfair to single out any of the bowlers as they were all brilliant. Let’s hope we can make good use of this result when the professional gets here and see how he can help us develop as a team”
The development will have to wait until Sunday however as Armagh’s scheduled trip to the Meadow in Dundrum has been rescheduled as the hosts are through to the second round of the Senior Cup. There will be first team action on the Mall this Sunday however as Woodvale come to town in a re-arrangement from the game postponed on April 26th. Play starts at 1pm.
Muckamore v Armagh
10 May 2008
Moylena
Division 1, Section 2
Result: Armagh win by 4 runs
Points: Muckamore 0 Armagh 4
Toss: Armagh
Umpires: G.Gillespie, A.Adams
Scorers: S.Wilson, S.Prentice
ARMAGH
G Robinson not out 82
M Villiers c Kamtekar b Neill 29
C Russell c Baguley b Neill 0
D Bullick c Keates b Gill 27
P Doyle c Baguley b Gill 7
A Bratten * b Allen 4
A Whitcroft b Cardwell 8
S Lester run out 0
M Stinson lbw Allen 0
G McCarter + c&b Allen 8
T Gillespie run out 1
Extras (b 4, lb 7, nb 3, w 13, p 0) 27 Total (all out, 50.0 overs) 193
Total (all out, 50.0 overs) 193
FOW: 1-64 (M Villiers) 2-65 (C Russell) 3-118 (D Bullick) 4-126 (P Doyle) 5-138 (A Bratten *)
6-158 (A Whitcroft) 7-161 (S Lester) 8-165 (M Stinson) 9-181 (G McCarter +) 10-193 (T Gillespie)
N Gill 10 0 41 2
A McCullough 10 2 20 0
A Marshall 5 1 20 0
T Neill 5 0 30 2
D Cardwell 10 2 22 1
L Allen* 9 1 37 3
R Keates 1 0 12 0
MUCKAMORE
B Baguley st McCarter b Whitcroft 80
B Dunlop + c Robinson b Lester 4
I Kamtekar c Gillespie b Stinson 43
J Van der Merwe c McCarter b Bullick 1
R Keates b Stinson 6
A Marshall b Whitcroft 0
L Allen * c McCarter b Bratten 21
N Gill c Villiers b Whitcroft 6
T Neill not out 12
D Cardwell c Stinson b Whitcroft 5
A McCullough run out (McCarter) 0
Extras (b 0, lb 4, nb 0, w 7, p 0) 11
Total (all out, 49.5 overs) 189
FOW: 1-16 (B Dunlop + ) 2-94 (I Kamtekar) 3-101 (J Van der Merwe) 4-112 (R Keates) 5-113 (A Marshall)
6-152 (B Baguley) 7-171 (L Allen *) 8-171 (N Gill) 9-183 (D Cardwell) 10-189 (A McCullough)
A Bratten* 7.5 0 41 1
S Lester 10 0 39 1
D Bullick 10 2 23 1
T Gillespie 2 0 16 0
M Stinson 10 2 33 2
A Whitcroft 10 1 33 4
| 
