Carrickfergus Cricket Club made it 2 wins from their opening 2 league games with a 5 wicket win over Lisburn CC on Saturday, in a high scoring game at Middle Road.
Lisburn captain Adam Berry won the toss and had no hesitation in batting first after a week of warm weather left Middle Road looking ideal for batting. Richard Hood struck first for Carrick, taking his first Premier League wicket, bowling Richard Simpson for 10. Skipper Berry joined South African professional Gionne Koopman and together they added 51 before Berry was well caught-behind by Max Burton off Daniel Poulton’s bowling, Robert Rankin soon followed, before a 112-run partnership between James Magowan (55) and Koopman took the score to 181-4 with 10 overs left. At this stage, Koopman, who had worked the ball around the ground reaching his fifty from 113 balls, began to accelerate. Bringing his 100 up in the 45th over, he then added a further 60 runs off his next 21 balls to take Lisburn to a healthy 298-5 from their 50 overs. Koopman finishing on 160 not out from 165 balls.
Carrick openers Iain Parkhill and Jack Burton looked to start the reply positively, but both were dismissed inside the first 6 overs by Mark Berry. Jamie Holmes and Patrick Botha arrived at the crease with the score on 14-2, adding a further 56 before Holmes (24) became Berry’s 3rd wicket of the day. Alex Haggan went next and at this stage, Carrick looked in real trouble at 70-4. However, Botha continued to attack, punishing anything that was overpitched, ably supported by fellow countryman Daniel Poulton. The two added 109, before Botha was dismissed for a rapid 106 from just 66 balls. Ryan Eagleson joined Poulton with Carrick still needing 120 to win from 21 overs, and the pair rarely looked in trouble. In the end, Carrick reaching the target of 299, with 5 wickets in hand and 19 balls to spare. Eagleson finishing 32 not out and Poulton, with his maiden hundred for the Club, 103 not out from 104 balls.
Carrick now switch their attention to white ball cricket, with a home game against North Down in the T20 Cup on Friday 12th and then an Irish Cup against Phoenix at Middle Road, the following day.
The match was kindly sponsored by Media Design & Print.
