Armagh vs Lurgan 31st May 2008
Armagh beaten, but with positives to bring forward.
Armagh fell to a third consecutive league defeat at the Mall to high-flying Lurgan after taking a battering in the field, but then played with real pride and spirit to post a competitive score in reply as both sides toiled in the warm Saturday afternoon sunshine.
Armagh took to the field severely weakened without their captain Andrew Bratten and the holidaying Gareth Robinson and Mark Elliott, so Colin Russell deputised as skipper, Lloyd Hamilton came into the middle order and there was a well deserved call up for talented young spin bowler Harry Boyd. Armagh won the toss and elected to bowl in hope of restricting Lurgan despite the pitch looking pretty good. The decision seemed to be vindicated early on as professional Charudatta Kulkarni was bowling with great pace and was rewarded when he clean bowled Chambers without scoring. Lurgan’s professional Niranjan “Ninja” Godbole also looked on top form though and he was seemingly able to find gaps with ease. He built an excellent partnership of 156 with former Ireland player Neil Anderson with both recording hard-hitting half-centuries as bowlers struggled to get into any rhythm. Anderson was eventually dismissed by the part time spin of Michael Villiers, but Godbole continued to punish anything loose and reached a fabulous century just after the drinks interval. Whitcroft eventually had Godbole caught in the gully by Bullick for a great knock of 116 but the scoring did not let up as former Armagh player Gareth Morrison and Craig Irwin continued the onslaught striking a number of boundaries. To their credit Armagh did not let their heads go down and took a couple of wickets before the end of the innings with two for Bullick, a second for Whitcroft and one for Stinson as Armagh’s efforts in the field were rewarded with good catches for Hamilton, Villiers and Kulkarni. However, the 314-7 posted by Lurgan was a monumental score and a terrific effort by their batsmen even in the face of some less than accurate bowling.
It was difficult to see how Armagh could really take anything from the game but they certainly set about their task with gusto as Villiers and makeshift opener Colin Russell dispatched any loose deliveries to the boundary. The score had reached 41 when Villiers attempted a big shot and was safely caught on the boundary, but that brought no let-up in the scoring as Kulkarni joined Russell in an epic century partnership. Russell belied his inexperience in the opening position as he mixed aggression with great strokeplay, the highlight of which was a massive boundary six which landed in the carpark of 1st Armagh church. Kulkarni was mainly happy to rotate the strike but also punished some loose deliveries with fabulous wristy strokes. Unfortunately both fell in quick succession, Russell gone for 92 when his efforts surely deserved a century but received a standing ovation from the large crowd assembled at the Pavilion. Armagh continued to bat well with David Bullick and Lloyd Hamilton playing some smart shots and running well between the wickets until the former was run out attempting to steal a second. Victory was a long margin off, but Hamilton together with Carberry, Whitcroft and Stinson played well enough to take Armagh to the significant milestone of 250 off the final ball, leaving Lurgan victorious by 64 runs.
In the absence of regular captain Andrew Bratten, Gareth McCarter commented that even though Armagh was defeated, the side could certainly still take a few things out of the experience. “The boys batted really well, it is always difficult to go about chasing a huge score like the one we faced and we could have been rolled over, but we showed plenty of fight to get 250 on the board, a score that would win the majority of matches in this division. Colin Russell batted beautifully and deserved a hundred then Charu, Bullick and Lloyd (Hamilton) all kept their heads down and batted well for the team. Even in the field we stuck at the task in difficult conditions and hopefully some of our younger bowlers learnt a few tough lessons about how to bowl at top class batsmen. It was admittedly a pleasure to watch Ninja bat, but unfortunately it was against us!”
Armagh will have to get over their war wounds quickly though as they face what could possibly be a pivotal weekend for them in their 2008 Section Two campaign. On Saturday they host the hugely important derby fixture against old rivals Laurelvale then on Sunday they face something of a trip into the unknown as they travel to the Meadow to face Dundrum. Dundrum had a convincing win over Laurelvale at the weekend which leaves the three sides all tied in the table on one win each, so a good weekend could see a move into mid table for Armagh but a bad weekend would surely mean a long summer ahead. Both games begin at 1pm.
LURGAN
N Godbole * c Bullick b Whitcroft 116
S Chambers b Kulkarni 0
N Anderson b Villiers 68
G Morrison c Hamilton b Bullick 30
C Irwin c Villiers b Stinson 23
M Sloan b Bullick 10
D Haire + not out 18
N McCollum c Kulkarni b Whitcroft 15
P Maxwell not out 0
B Walter DNB
C Grieve DNB
Extras (b 3, lb 3, nb 3, w 25, p ) 34
Total (7 wkts, 50.0 overs) 314
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FOW: 1-5 (S Chambers) 2-161 (N Anderson) 3-215 (N Godbole *) 4-253 (C Irwin) 5-257 (G Morrison) 6-277 (M Sloan) 7-311 (N McCollum)
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C Kulkarni 10 3 37 1
M Stinson 8 1 51 1
D Bullick 10 0 51 2
T Gillespie 2 0 21 0
A Whitcroft 10 0 51 2
H Boyd 7 0 66 0
M Villiers 3 0 31 1
ARMAGH
C Russell * b Maxwell 92
M Villiers c Maxwell b McCollum 11
C Kulkarni c Anderson b Grieve 32
D Bullick run out 21
L Hamilton not out 35
W Carberry c Morrison b Sloan 6
A Whitcroft run out 11
M Stinson not out 7
G McCarter + DNB
H Boyd DNB
T Gillespie DNB
Extras (b 10, lb 3, nb 2, w 20, p ) 35
Total (6 wkts, 50.0 overs) 250
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FOW: 1-41 (M Villiers) 2-143 (C Kulkarni) 3-152 (C Russell *) 4-193 (D Bullick) 5-204 (W Carberry) 6-223 (A Whitcroft)
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P Maxwell 8 0 26 1
N Godbole 10 1 38 0
B Walter 10 0 48 0
N McCollum 4.1 0 23 1
M Sloan 8.5 1 42 1
C Grieve 9 0 60 1 |
