Armagh V Ballymena

Armagh V Ballymena 24/05/08

Armagh had their second humbling on the Mall dished out inside 7 days as title favourites Ballymena showed their class with a resounding 10 wicket victory over the city side. Things looked bright when Armagh won the toss and elected to bat on a dry and dusty strip, but problems had already surfaced as both Andrew Bratten and Colin Russell had picked up knocks during the pre-match warm up. Remarkably, David Bullick struck the first ball of the match for a flat “six” over cover but was back in the pavilion after the third when he was caught by Fisher in the gully at the third attempt. Michael Villiers looked in good touch at the other end, but Russell struggled and was caught off Glass for one. New Armagh professional Charudatta Kulkarni was hugely unfortunate to be dismissed without scoring as he had appeared to play a strong cut stroke only to be victim to an amazing catch by Fisher. Glass now appeared unplayable from the Pavilion End and completed his “five-for” he bowled both Villiers and Matthew Steenson. Bratten had to bat with a runner but didn’t last long as the spin of Carl Williams cleaned up Armagh’s tail with great speed with the home side subsiding for a pitiful 60 all out.

Armagh didn’t seem overly hopeful as they took to the field with a paltry total in hand against Ballymena’s long batting list, but only two of them were seen as Williams and Montgomery took the Braidmen to their target with minimal fuss. In fairness, Kulkarni caused both the batsmen no end of trouble with his fast and accurate bowling but there was no breakthrough to be found and Armagh will have to get themselves out of this downward spiral very quickly if they are to remain in Section 2 of the NCU League.

After the early finish, Armagh captain Andrew Bratten defended his decision to bat first after winning the toss, preferring to concentrate on getting the team to move forwards out of this tough patch. “A few players thought the wicket was tough today but Section 2 cricket against Michael Glass is always going to be difficult and we didn’t apply ourselves to that challenge today. The defeat was a comprehensive one, but its something we have to come back from and put in a much better showing in next weekend’s double header” When asked about his injury problem that required a runner when batting, Andrew wasn’t sure about his availability for next weekend. “I just seemed to pull up sharply in a warm-up drill and it is quite sore at the minute. I couldn’t run when batting and couldn’t bowl as normal so we will have to take a look in the nets over the week and see what shape I am in for Saturday.

Next weekend is another tough one for the Mall based side as they host a double header of fixtures. Saturday sees Lurgan visiting hoping they can see a repeat of their ten-wicket victory in the Senior Cup while Sunday sees Armagh host their first ever game in the White Horse Ulster Shield with County Donegal based visitors St. Johnston the opposition. Both games begin at 1pm.

Armagh Second Eleven were denied a game on the Bank Holiday weekend when their Intermediate Cup opponents Millpark scratched the game late on Friday night, citing that they could not field a team. “It is disappointing not to get a game” admitted Second XI skipper Simon Cardwell “ but our aim today was to get to the next phase of the cup and of course we have done so” The second eleven find themselves up against Larne II this Sunday, hoping to reverse an earlier defeat to the Sandy Bay outfit.

v Ballymena

24 May 2008

The Mall

Division 1, Section 2

Result: Ballymena win by 10 wickets

Points: Armagh 0 Ballymena 4

Toss: Armagh

Umpires: Peter Whyte, Brian Blakely

Scorers: Carson McCullough, WB Weir

ARMAGH

D Bullick c Fisher b Glass 6

M Villiers b Glass 19