Portadown V Armagh

Portadown V Armagh (19/09/09)

The exciting and crucial victory against Larne meant that an Armagh victory against Portadown would seal the Ulster Bank League title, but Armagh certainly wouldn’t be taking their local neighbours lightly. Given that Chambers Park was unavailable with its Rugby commitments; the game was played at Armagh which of course was a favourable twist with the potential for the league being won on our home pitch. Armagh’s team returned to closer to full strength with Bullick and Villiers returning after missing the match on Friday. As has been the game plan for much of the year, Armagh won the toss and elected to bowl and few could have predicted just how successful they would be. Portadown were demolished for a derisory score of 21 all out with a highest score of just eight and next highest of two. Charu Kulkarni took three wickets all clean bowled as his pace and accuracy was just too much for the Portadown players to deal with. The headlines would be saved for Mark Stinson though as he would steal the Milford Cup for leading bowling analysis with a terrific spell of six wickets for a mere fifteen runs. Mark bowled with a great degree of accuracy and control of swing, aided by catches from Gareth McCarter, Andrew Bratten and a fine diving effort from Michael Villiers.

It was difficult to see Portadown putting up much of an attempt to defend their low score and so it proved as Colin Russell and Matthew Steenson were able to canter to the winning mark in just less than three overs, the latter being the slightly more aggressive as he finished sixteen not out.

After the early conclusion, Northern Cricket Union Director of Finance and Sponsorship Richard Johnson was on hand to present Armagh captain Charu Kulkarni with the Thomas Stewart Memorial Trophy as winners of the Ulster Bank sponsored Division One Section Two title. With only one defeat all season it is hard to argue that Armagh have been the best side in the division with several stand out players with bat, ball and in the field. Improvement and consistency will certainly be needed if Armagh are to make an impact on Section One next summer, but that was at the back of minds as the champagne was sprayed!

PORTADOWN

R Caddell c McCarter+ b Stinson 2

P Edgar b Kulkarni* 1

S Caddell b Kulkarni* 8

R Jose b Stinson 1

A Hammond c Villiers b Stinson 2

J Haire not out 0

M Madnic b Stinson 0

A Caddell b Kulkarni* 1

J Brady c Bratten b Stinson 2

L Flanagan lbw Stinson 0

Extras (b 1, lb 0, nb 3, w 0, p ) 4