Carrick win again to ensure Premier League status
A third successive victory has guaranteed that Carrickfergus will be playing Premier League cricket again next season. They won their crucial match against basement side Ballymena in a rain affected game at Eaton Park to complete a remarkable turn round for a side who did not win their first league match until 19th July. They have now won 4 out of the last 6 matches and have not only guaranteed their safety but have also leap-frogged Lisburn into 6th place in the 8 team league.
On Saturday Carrick were 83 for 2 after 26 overs chasing Ballymena’s modest total of 145 when a torrential thunderstorm ended any chance of further play. With only two wickets down Carrick were well ahead of the Duckworth Lewis par score which was 56, to give them a 27 run victory. Michael Gilmour who batted throughout the innings for an unbeaten 35 and Jamie Holmes on 14 not out were there at the end, having made sure that Carrick remained well ahead of the par score with rain threatening for most of their innings. Skipper Iain Parkhill and Gilmour had given them a solid start with a 48 run opening partnership in 15 overs, before Parkhill hit a return catch to young spinner Sam Glass for 15. Jon Ring became Glass’s second victim shortly afterwards but that was to be the extent of Ballymena’s success.
Earlier in the day, having been put in by Carrick, Ballymena struggled to keep the scoreboard ticking over. They had struggled to 31 for 2 after 13 overs when youngster John Glass joined Pakistani professional Azeem Ghumman at the wicket, and the pair remained there for 25 overs adding 85 runs, without ever really dominating the accurate Carrick attack. Ghumman had just reached a patient fifty when Jamie Holmes finally achieved the breakthrough for Carrick. Glass followed for a very promising 40 soon afterwards, and Carrick’s bowlers worked their way through the Ballymena batting order to leave them on 145 for 9 at the end of their 50 overs. Opening bowlers Anthony Martin and Ryan Eagleson between them only conceded 29 runs in 20 overs while picking up a wicket each, while Indrajeet Kamtekar and Alex Haggan each took two wickets.
Carrick’s final league match of the season will be against CIYMS at Middle Road on Saturday starting at 11.00am