Cregagh V Armagh (20/09/09)

Armagh’s third game of the marathon weekend was a tough looking trip to Gibson Park to take on an extremely competitive Cregagh side. With the majority of the team having enjoyed the previous evenings league winning celebrations and benefit karaoke for soon departing professional Charu Kulkarni, few would have been glad with Cregagh winning the toss and electing to bat in the warm sunshine. Indeed Armagh were made to work very hard for any breakthroughs on a good pitch against watchful batting. Stinson wasn’t able to repeat the six wickets of the previous afternoon but did get one when Bligh struck to Russell at cover. Stuart Lester bowled another excellent spell and took the wicket of Walker by removing his off stump. With only one game to play it would certainly appear that Lester would be the leading bowler for the summer with plenty of success for his accurate medium pacers. Cregagh continued to bat well and Armagh needed some inspiration from Matthew Brownlee who took his first three wickets in senior cricket and deserved much better figures than what his final analysis might have suggested. With some beefy late hitting and smart running curbed by the excellent efforts of the Armagh fielders, Cregagh were able to post a steady score of 148 for 5 from their 30 overs.

In response Armagh got off to a flyer with Russell and Steenson blazing the ball around the sizable Gibson Park outfield. In an interesting role reversal, Russell was happy to take the back seat as his younger partner led the way in playing some mightily impressive and sweetly struck shots to the boundary. His fine cameo of 39 containing 6 boundaries and one maximum was ended after edging through to the wicketkeeper, but having improved his senior top score twice inside three days represented a good weekend for the young batsman. Michael Villiers was bowled by a clever delivery and CP Kulkarni fell victim to yet another desperately poor leg before wicket decision making Armagh slightly nervous in the seventies, but fortunately Russell was joined by Phil Doyle to steady the ship and take Armagh closer to victory. The latter was looking in improved touch but was caught for 16, leaving his younger brother Harry to join Russell to knock off the required runs. Russell reached his half century with a flicked four off his legs and in winning the game with a cover drive four managed to bring up his five hundred runs for the season, an impressive effort indeed and in sealing a 6 wicket win, meant that Armagh had won a remarkable fifteen league games in a row.

CREGAGH

P Walker                        b Lester   19  

A Bligh+             c Russell b Stinson   17  

D McCormick*                  b Brownlee   35  

M Javed             c P Doyle b Brownlee    7  

J Stewart                     b Brownlee    2  

A Baker                          not out   14                                         

S Porter                         not out   33                                         

N Adams                                                                               

D Harris                                                                              

R Moore                                                                               

C Copeland                                                                            

  Extras      (b 2, lb 5, nb 6, w 8, p )   21

  Total             (5 wkts, 30.0 overs)  148

FOW: 1-34 (A Bligh+) 2-60 (P Walker) 3-79 (M Javed) 4-90 (J Stewart) 5-103 (D McCormick*)

CP Kulkarni*          6    1    15    0

M Stinson             6    1    21    1

H Doyle               6    0    35    0

S Lester              6    0    24    1

M Brownlee            6    0    46    3

ARMAGH

C Russell                        not out   59  

M Steenson         c Bligh+ b McCormick*   39  

M Villiers                      b Porter    1  

CP Kulkarni*               lbw McCormick    4  

P Doyle               c Moore b Copeland   16  

H Doyle                          not out    9  

A Bratten                                      

S Lester                                                                              

G McCarter+                                                                           

M Stinson                                                                             

M Brownlee                                                                            

  Extras     (b 1, lb 2, nb 0, w 21, p )   24

  Total             (4 wkts, 28.4 overs)  152

FOW: 1-65 (M Steenson) 2-73 (M Villiers) 3-78 (CP Kulkarni*) 4-132 (P Doyle)

R Moore             3.4    1    30    0

D Harris              2    0    24    0

S Porter              6    1    25    1

D McCormick           6    1    17    2

A Baker               2    0    15    0

P Walker              5    0    25    0

C Copeland            4    1    13    1

After the Sunday evening conclusion, a tired but extremely happy Charu Kulkarni said that “he was proud and delighted with the efforts from his team, not only over a tough weekend but over a tough season. He felt Armagh showed skill and character throughout and had proved themselves to be the best team in the division bar none.”

This weekend, Armagh are scheduled to play Drumaness away from home in the final league fixture of the 2009 campaign. With Charu Kulkarni returning home midweek, Gareth McCarter will step up from his role of vice captain to lead the side in what is essentially a fairly meaningless fixture. Armagh will surely want to complete a memorable season with a successful conclusion though so will be hoping for another champion performance at the Meadow.