Muckamore V Armagh 17/05/09 (Senior Cup 1st Round)

Armagh triumph in Challenge Cup thriller

Armagh eventually kicked off their 2009 season in superb style with a one wicket win against Muckamore after an absolutely enthralling contest between two very evenly matched sides. The Moylena side already had two league games under their belt compared with Armagh with none but the battling city side showed their steel throughout in a gutsy performance. Armagh went into the game without professional Charu Kulkarni due to his Senior Cup ineligibility, but Harry Doyle and Seamus Crowe made their first team returns after their transfers back to Armagh.

Muckamore won the toss and elected to bat, a decision that didn’t overly perturb Armagh as they wanted to bowl first anyway due to the overcast conditions. Overcast soon turned to rain though after only nine balls of play and the players were left kicking their heels for almost two hours as the constant drizzle continued. However, the groundstaff did a terrific job to cover the pitch and the quick drying ground was able to see play resume as a 42 over match.

As the game resumed, the damp ball seemed to be creating a few problems for opening bowlers Doyle and Andrew Bratten as loose deliveries were punished severely by the young home opening pair but the Armagh boys showed character to nip them both out in quick succession, Doyle having Van der Merwe caught behind by McCarter while Bratten removed Drummond’s off stump. Despite these breakthroughs the runs were still flowing at a fair rate so captain for the day Gareth McCarter quickly called upon David Bullick and Mark Stinson to work on stemming the flow of runs. The reliable medium pace bowlers would do exactly that, frustrating the Muckamore batsmen with their constant line and length. Bullick bowled star batsman Brian Dunlop after a rash shot then Stinson induced Breet to edge behind where McCarter took a terrific diving one handed catch low to his right.

Armagh were clearly inspired and very much in the ascendancy with runs proving very hard to come by as Bullick proved impossible to get away. Home captain Keates attempted to come down the pitch but could only lob a caught and bowled chance which the experienced Bullick held with ease completing a superbly miserly spell of nine overs for only sixteen runs. Stinson also did a decent job, coming back from a tough first over to keep things tight in the rest of his spell.

It would have been difficult to predict the carnage that followed in the rest of the innings though as Armagh 5th bowler Stuart Lester bowled with pace, swing and great penetration to claim four victims late on, one of them lbw, one courtesy of a terrific steepling catch by Bullick near the boundary while two easier efforts were comfortably claimed by Colin Russell and Lloyd Hamilton giving Lester great figures of four wickets for eighteen runs. Stuart hasn’t played much cricket in the past few years with injury and rugby commitments, but on this form could prove a tremendous asset to this team. Amongst that, young left arm seamer Doyle claimed his second wicket when he was too fast for Kennedy and took his middle stump from the ground. Muckamore’s final total was 129 all out; a great disciplined bowling and fielding effort from the Armagh side.

In the break captains Gareth McCarter and scorer for the day Charu Kulkarni were at pains to emphasise that the game was not over and that the chase would be extremely tough against a strong Muckamore bowling side. This was shown early on when young opening batsman Matthew Steenson played a ponderous shot to a short ball and was easily caught before Colin Russell was bowled to give Drummond two wickets and have the home side sensing blood.

What Armagh needed at this stage was a steadying partnership and Lloyd Hamilton came to the crease with Michael Villiers to provide this. The runs didn’t exactly flow but they seen off the opening bowlers and rotated the strike cleverly with well judged singles. Villiers in particular was starting to look more comfortable against the spinners when he was given out to a very dubious leg before wicket decision despite making a large stride down the pitch. Villiers’ innings of 22 was a valuable contribution and he certainly looked capable of more. Bullick joined Hamilton and kept the tempo up with more good running and the occasional boundary hit. As the clouds started to look darker and ominous, the Duckworth/Lewis calculation potentially came into play and this seemed to distract the Armagh batsmen. Bullick skipped down the wicket to the spinner and was smartly stumped by Dunlop then Seamus Crowe was leg before wicket to the same bowler Van der Merwe as Muckamore got themselves on top of the contest.

Bratten joined Hamilton and the former got on with things scoring his runs quickly before being bowled, with Harry Doyle quickly following to become Van der Merwe’s fourth wicket. Armagh were well behind with Duckworth/Lewis at this stage but the rain didn’t seem to be a huge concern to either Hamilton or McCarter in the middle as they took their singles when available. As the senior batsman Hamilton attempted to take the impetus and win the match but Keates had more luck as the batsman played onto his own stumps, sparking great celebrations and 21 runs were still required. Despite his dismissal, Hamilton had played a fine patient innings for his score of 28, the highest in the match. Lester came to the crease and got going straight away with a sweet boundary hit. A great partnership between Lester and McCarter had almost won a match for Armagh against Cliftonville a few years back and so it was again as Lester was clean bowled after a bit of a kamikaze swish, giving Keates his third wicket in a determined captain’s effort. Number 11 batsman Mark Stinson was able to see out the final two balls of Keates spell leaving a scenario where Armagh needed five runs from the final six balls with McCarter on strike. The first delivery was a high no-ball that the wicketkeeper did well to save, the second a dot ball but the third was slightly wide and was cracked to the boundary by the nerveless captain Gareth McCarter as the rain grew steadier, sparking wild celebrations on the boundary from the Armagh players as they sealed a memorable one wicket win against the odds.

A delighted Armagh captain Gareth McCarter admitted that “He was a lot more nervous watching the game from the boundary than he was batting in the middle at the end, no matter how close the game got. I thought that Lloyd and I would do it, then thought Stuart was the man but when it was down to Mark and I in the last over then I fancied the point area to score the runs and luckily enough I hit one on the middle. The man of the match award is probably undeserved because we had some great performances today, Stuart Lester was terrific, David Bullick had a great all-round game plus Michael Villiers and Lloyd Hamilton were the mainstays of our innings, they gave the rest of us the foundations to win it. Muckamore gave us a great game of cricket and did amazingly well to have a match played at all so credit where it is due there. Hopefully this is the start of things to come for the 2009 season when we eventually get into league action, this team has a lot of skill and maybe has the character to match it. Lisburn on Saturday will be a massive test, but that’s why we play the game.”

Armagh’s reward for their epic victory at Muckamore is a second round clash with Premier League side Lisburn. This should pose a massive test of the city sides credentials with their opponents packed with quality players, including Ireland spinner Greg Thompson. Armagh will be again without professional Charu Kulkarni and unfortunately Lloyd Hamilton and Seamus Crowe miss out with personal commitments. The second round of the Senior cup should prove a colourful affair, with coloured kits, black sightscreens and a white ball all options that Armagh are investigating. Sunday then sees Armagh face Drumaness in a re-arranged league fixture, which would actually be the season opener. Hopefully Kulkarni can get his first appearance a full month after his return to the province. Weather permitting, Saturday’s game starts at midday and Sunday is a 1pm start.