First league win gives Carrick hope
Carrickfergus Cricket Club 1st XI secured their first Premier League win of the season with a narrow 7 run victory over high flying CIYMS at Belmont on Saturday.
Having been put in to bat by the home team, a quick-fire half century by opener Michael Gilmour, which included six fours and a six got their innings off to a good start. They then lost three wickets in the space of five overs and were 83 for 3 at the end of the 20th over when Jon Ring joined Jamie Holmes at the wicket. The pair steadied the innings and then began to score freely, adding 129 runs for the fourth wicket, and taking the total past the 200 mark in the 44th over before Ring was caught for 40. The prolific Holmes looked set for a century, but fell just two runs short of his ton, his brilliant innings of 98 scored off 95 deliveries and containing six fours and three sixes. This helped Carrick reach an impressive 248 for 7 in their 50 overs, with no fewer than 92 having come off the last ten.
CI ‘s openers Chris Doherty and Rassie van der Dussen got their side off to a perfect start, hammering 133 runs without loss off only 24 overs. But after Ashwin Shetty had captain Dougherty lbw for 43, Indrajeet Kamtekar , virtually playing on one leg due to a knee injury, took three wickets in one over to leave the home side in all sorts of trouble. Van der Dussen was the first to go, caught behind for 79, three balls later Nigel Jones gave a return catch, and Johnston was bowled by the final ball of the over. Suddenly a target of 248 had become distant, and four further wickets fell as CI struggled to keep up with the par score in the increasing gloom. When heavy rain finally put an end to proceedings after 42 overs, CI had reached 209 for 8, with the Duckworth Lewis par score being 216, to give Carrick a vital first league win, and renewed hope for the second half of the season.
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Carrick lost their Ulster Cup quarter final in a close encounter at Eglinton on Sunday. Carrick batted first on the artificial wicket, which had to be used to to heavy overnight rain, and struggled along to 36 for 4 after 12 overs. However Alex Haggan then shared good partnerships with Jamie Holmes and then Indrajeet Kamtekar to help Carrick towards a respectable total. Holmes top scored with 45, with Hagan scoring 40, and Kamtekar unbeaten on 33 as Carrick reached a competitive 163 for 7 at the end of their 40 overs.
Eglinton struggled to 115 for 7 in reply, but Andy Millar proved the difference between the sides, as he followed up his 4 for 17 earlier in the day with a rapid 35 off 23 balls, to help his side to their 164 run target without further loss.
Seconds triumph away from home
Carrick’s 2nd XI returned to their winning ways after two defeats, when a very understrength team had an excellent 18 run victory at Donaghcloney on Saturday to maintain their position at the top of Junior League 2.
Bradley Luney (46) and Simon Steele (31) got the Carrick innings off to a great start, taking 86 runs off the first 18 overs, but they were unable to capitalise on this as only Robert Peszel (27) and Lee Murdock (13no) of the remaining batsmen got into double figures as Carrick reached 151 for 9 in their 30 overs.
In reply, the home side were only able to muster 133, as they were bowled out with 8 of their overs allocation still remaining. Gary Thompson picked up 3 wickets for Carrick, with Phillip Ritchie and Kyle Hutton taking two wickets each.