Saintfield V Armagh 14/06/09
Armagh hit back from their disappointing Saturday reverse at Templepatrick to claim a thrilling win over league favourites Saintfield at their picturesque Demesne ground in a game that went the full distance on a splendid Sunday afternoon. Armagh saw one change from the Saturday loss with the veteran Reg Stinson unable to play two games in successive days so his place went to young batsman Matthew Steenson. Armagh again won the toss and again elected to field, a decision that might have been met with some surprise given the quality of the Saintfield batting wicket. Armagh set about their task steadily but had no joy early on before a short break when rain stopped play. Mark Stinson had the new ball in place of his father and he took the first wicket when Boultwood edged through to McCarter to claim the catch. The in-form Ray McCavery came and went clean bowled by Stuart Lester before young opener Harrison and overseas player Bronwell Williams built a strong partnership of 115 with some excellent running and strokeplay the main features. Despite not much going their way, the Armagh attack of Lester, Bullick and Stinson remained disciplined and were backed up well in the field as the city side sought to keep things tight. The crucial breakthrough arrived on 194 when Kulkarni brought himself back on to bowl and took two big wickets in an over when he had Harrison caught behind by McCarter for a tremendous innings of 87 then clean bowled Williams a couple of balls later. Saintfield were rattled by this blow and lost captain Owens caught and bowled by Stinson. Woodruff followed soon after as he tried to run two to Lester at the mid-on boundary but was caught short by a great throw and some decent athleticism from McCarter to jump and claim the ball then throw down the stumps. Harry Doyle removed Balmer and Murray cheaply and despite Russell’s last over being quite expensive, Saintfield were dismissed for 249 from the final ball as Bratten claimed a boundary catch.
A target of 250 however would be no mean chase and would require a supreme batting effort compared to the shambles seen at Templepatrick but that is exactly what Armagh came up with. Villiers gave Armagh a steady start before being out for 15 but Russell was powering Armagh along as he struck eight boundaries in his 38 before being caught and bowled by Williams. Steenson also found the boundary rope on three occasions before being caught attempting a fourth. Kulkarni was looking good and got some decent support from Lloyd Hamilton as Armagh passed the hundred mark making steady progess. Hamilton was caught behind off opening bowler Yeates bringing David Bullick to the crease who would turn the game completely on its head in the space of an hour. He looked in terrific touch right from the off and seemed able to find gaps in the field as well as striking with great power. Even the loss of Kulkarni to a highly debatable leg before decision couldn’t slow Armagh as Harry Doyle gave Bullick valuable support in running smartly between the wickets before being caught attempting a big shot. Bullick had passed his half century as Armagh passed the 200 mark but a moment of misfortune put Armagh onto the back foot as Bullick absolutely smashed a delivery from Harrison straight back at the bowler who managed to catch it after taking a painful blow to the chest. If that seemed like a turning point, it certainly proved to be as it brought Stuart Lester to the crease in a high pressure situation. 14 runs were needed from the final over of the 50, and when only five came from the first four Armagh were second favourites. However, the giant Lester smashed the fifth ball over long on for maximum, leaving two runs for a tie and three for the win. Rather than worrying about running; Lester hit the final ball for another big six sending the Armagh boys into delirium as they rushed onto the pitch to celebrate with the hero of the hour.
After the game, Armagh captain CP Kulkarni reflected on a mixed weekend for his team “We bowled and fielded terrifically well both games, we held catches and we made our run outs and the guys bowled good lines throughout. Unfortunately on Saturday we didn’t bat well and left a few players with something to prove here at Saintfield. I hope that they can feel they did that. David (Bullick) played an amazing knock and Stuarty (Lester) kept his nerve and hit those amazing sixes. Perhaps we can move on from here and find some consistency with the bat.”
Saintfield v Armagh
14 June 2009
The Demesne
NCU Section 3
Result: Armagh win by 3 wickets
Points: Saintfield 0 Armagh 4
Toss: Armagh
Umpires: J McCready, R Walker
Scorers: S Wilson,
Notes: Stuart Lester struck 2 "sixes" from the final two deliveries of the match to win for Armagh!
SAINTFIELD
G Harrison c G McCarter + b Kulkarni * 87
C Boultwood + c G McCarter + b M Stinson 18
R McCavrey b Lester 18
B Williams b Kulkarni * 57
R Owens * c&b M Stinson 1
B Woodruff run out (Lester/G McCarter +) 2
J Viner c Bratten b Russell 30
S Balmer c Kulkarni * b H Doyle 7
P Murray c Kulkarni * b H Doyle 1
C Gilmore run out (Villiers/Russell) 0
M Yeates not out 0
Extras (b 0, lb 6, nb 4, w 18, p ) 28
Total (all out, 50.0 overs) 249
CP Kulkarni * 10 3 29 2
M Stinson 10 1 49 2
D Bullick 10 0 37 0
H Doyle 8 0 41 2
S Lester 10 0 61 1
C Russell 2 0 26 1
FOW: 1-24 (C Boultwood +) 2-79 (R McCavrey) 3-194 (G Harrison) 4-195 (B Williams) 5-195 (R Owens *)
6-199 (B Woodruff) 7-220 (S Balmer) 8-226 (P Murray) 9-248 (C Gilmore) 10-249 (J Viner)
ARMAGH
C Russell c&b Williams 38
M Villiers c Boultwood + b Murray 15
M Steenson c Yeates b Murray 19
CP Kulkarni * lbw Harrison 34
L Hamilton c Boultwood + b Yeates 9
D Bullick c&b Harrison 74
H Doyle c Gilmore b Viner 12
A Bratten not out 5
S Lester not out 23
M Stinson dnb
G McCarter + dnb
Extras (b 5, lb 5, nb 2, w 12, p ) 24
Total (7 wkts, 50.0 overs) 253
M Yeates 10 2 25 1
B Woodruff 10 1 59 0
P Murray 10 1 33 2
B Williams 8 2 33 2
G Harrison 8 0 64 2
C Gilmore 2 0 11 0
J Viner 2 0 18 1
FOW: 1-45 (M Villiers) 2-72 (C Russell) 3-86 (M Steenson) 4-118 (L Hamilton ) 5-163 (CP Kulkarni *)
6-207 (H Doyle) 7-226 (D Bullick)
Armagh face another hectic double-header weekend as they have home games against Cregagh and Drumaness. The city side will hope that they can produce a performance of similar class to the one against Saintfield and if that is the case then hopefully good results will follow. Both games start at 1pm on the Mall.
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