DUNDRUM captain Alan Tormey made one of the bravest decisions to bat first on a very green wicket after a poor effort with the bat the previous day, but it was to prove correct as they scored 224 writes Jeffrey Maquire.
Rahi Kakade scored a very hard hitting 113 including 7×4 and 4 big sixes on the largest outfield in NCU cricket and a classy 50 from Andy Bassett. Cliftonville couldn’t believe they were getting to bowl first and took two wickets in the first three overs, but Joel Maguire again flattered to deceive and was caught behind for ten with 46 runs of 12 overs .
Dundrum needed to post a score as the bowlers all looked ready for the green deck and Kakade and Bassett both gave a chancexa0 but played sensibly with runs flowing at the Oval ground. Rahi scorerd a majestic hundred in just 83 ballsxa0 and Bassett xa0had a half century in 67 balls withxa0 five very hard hitxa0 boundaries down the ground in a 137 run partnership.xa0
Cliftonville fought back as only Lee Connor (16) Kester Baptiste (12) scoredxa0 double figures as the last 7 wickets fell for only 43 runs. And more importantly 6 .2 overs wasted which should have the game out reach. Dundrum had a great start by taking 4 wickets for just 50 with the damage done again by Mark Yeates and Kester Baptiste with two apiece, xa0and if they had took one of the four chances from the dangerous batsman Davy Munn, victory should have been assured.
However, xa0Munn single handily went after all the bowlers scoring 71 before Lee Connor’s 2 for 34 xa0bowled him xa0out. xa0Andy Bassett showed how fit he is and the talented all rounder and under-15 coach bowled superbly ten straight overs deserving more than 1 wicket for 38.
The bowlers were on top with Yeates 4 for 25 and that with a slight injury, and Baptiste’s 2xa0 for 17 including ten wides in 2 balls and Dundrum could not see the wicketxa0keeper being allowed to stand up again, and as he is the fielding coach he received a bit of xa0stick for dropping his third easy catch in two days. xa0But both him and Yeates took 6 wickets over the 2 days as Gavin McNerlin xa0 took xa0the last wicket as Dundrum won by 73 runs in the first league match of the wet season.
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SUN xa0Dundrum v Templepatrickxa01pm Sat Dundrum 2nds V Cliftonville 2nds cup]]>
