Armagh V Laurelvale 07/06/08

Armagh stumble to Laurelvale defeat

Armagh lost a crucial Orchard derby by 23 runs on the Mall on Saturday when Laurelvale posted a total that was just beyond a spirited recovery after a top order collapse left a heavier looking defeat seeming inevitable.

Laurelvale won the toss and unsurprisingly elected to bat on a dry strip and started strongly as Ranjit Pande was able to find the boundary on three occasions before being caught at mid-wicket by Villiers off Bratten. Wayne Pearson joined his captain Charles McCrum at the wicket and shared a stand of 82 for the second wicket as both were able to put away any bad balls from the Armagh bowlers as well as running well between the wickets. Mark Stinson broke the partnership when he clean bowled Pearson for 30 but McCrum was not to be denied his half century; brought up with a sparkling cover drive towards the pavilion. Armagh needed a quick breakthrough and got it after the second drinks when McCrum was smartly run out by Andrew Bratten for a well played 65 that included ten boundaries. Sinton and Stewart didn’t last long as they were both dismissed by full swinging deliveries from Kulkarni, the latter being especially unfortunate as he received a virtually unplayable ball but Lee Edgar joined Topping and contributed to an enterprising 55 run partnership before Mark Stinson removed them both in consecutive deliveries. Kulkarni removed McClelland without scoring before Whitcroft dismissed both Pearson and Burns in his ninth over as Laurelvale lost their last five wickets for only 5 runs but still posting a competitive looking 201 all out.

Armagh needed a solid reply in response and started well as Robinson and Villiers looked fairly comfortable against the bowling of Pearson and Pande until the Laurelvale professional forced Robinson to chip a catch to Scott Pearson. Colin Russell batted with great intent striking three boundaries before offering another catching chance off Pande. This sparked a devastating collapse for Armagh as Kulkarni, Bullick and Hamilton all departed quickly leaving Armagh 58-5 and with a mountain to climb. Mark Elliott sparked a revival with huge six off Edgar, but was run out after a direct hit throw from McClelland. Michael Villiers had remained at the other end throughout this collapse and was batting well for 42 but fell in Pande’s final over as he was victim to a sharp piece of stumping from Bruce Topping. Andrew Bratten, Alan Whitcroft and Mark Stinson all batted with great character to give Armagh a chance, but disciplined bowling and fielding from the ‘Vale saw them triumph by 21 runs as Armagh were dismissed for 179.

Andrew Bratten was hugely disappointed after the game, conceding that “Armagh were out-batted, out-bowled and out-fielded by Laurelvale who fully deserved their victory”. “We gave away a lot of cheap runs and wickets today”, admitted the Armagh captain, “and you can’t afford to do that in tight matches. Charles batted really well for his half century and despite the efforts of Michael (Villiers); we couldn’t get anyone to build a partnership with him in the middle order. If anything, the boys in the tail batting well took the bad look off the margin of defeat”

LAURELVALE
 
R Pande             c Villiers b Bratten          16  
C McCrum *   run out (Bratten/Whitcroft)   65  
W Pearson                      b Stinson           30  
B Topping +                    b Stinson           24  
D Sinton                         b Kulkarni             9  
C Stewart                    lbw Kulkarni              0  

L Edgar            c Whitcroft b Stinson        32                                          
S McClelland                lbw Kulkarni            0                                          
M Burns                      b Whitcroft               1                                           

S Pearson                  c&b Whitcroft             0                                           

S Hughes                         not out                1                                          

Extras     (b 0, lb 3, nb 3, w 17, p )   23
Total            (all out, 48.0 overs)  201 

C Kulkarni           10    1    23    3
A Bratten            10    1    44    1
D Bullick            10    2    29    0
A Whitcroft           9    0    58    2
M Stinson             9    0    44    3

 
 
 
FOW: 1-22 (R Pande) 2-104 (W Pearson) 3-127 (C McCrum *) 4-141 (D Sinton) 5-141 (C Stewart) 6-196 (L Edgar) 7-196 (B Topping +) 8-196 (S McClelland) 9-197 (S Pearson) 10-201 (M Burns)
 
 
 
ARMAGH
 
G Robinson           c S Pearson b Pande    7  
M Villiers            st Topping b Pande       41  
C Russell                c Burns b Pande       13  
C Kulkarni                     lbw Pande             1  
D Bullick                       b McCrum               1  
L Hamilton               c Pande b Edgar          0  
M Elliott           run out (McClelland)          15                                          
A Bratten *                      b Edgar               30                                         
A Whitcroft                  b W Pearson           28                                         
M Stinson        run out (Topping/Burns)     22                                          
G McCarter +                     not out               1                                          

Extras     (b 1, lb 9, nb 10, w 0, p )   20
Total            (all out, 45.1 overs)  179
 
W Pearson            10    3    38    1
R Pande              10    2    26    4
C McCrum *           10    0    30    1
L Edgar               9    0    51    2
S Hughes              3    0    10    0
M Burns             3.1    1    14    0
 
 
FOW: 1-21 (G Robinson) 2-49 (C Russell) 3-54 (C Kulkarni) 4-57 (D Bullick) 5-58 (L Hamilton) 6-78 (M Elliott) 7-95 (M Villiers) 8-137 (A Bratten *) 9-163 (A Whitcroft) 10-179 (M Stinson)