12th August 2012

The Club managed a clean sweep on Saturday with all four teams recording victories.

The 2nd XI followed the example of the firsts in defeating North Down at The Green in Comber. Their 50 run victory was another major step in their bid to stay clear of the possibility of relegation.

Meanwhile the 3rd XI defeated fellow title-chasing Derriaghy III by 6wks at Cranmore. Derriaghy batted first and posted a useful score of 121-9wks in their allotted 30 overs. Best of the bowlers were Cameron Williams with 4-33 and Jewel Sayeed with 2-22. Other wicket-takers were Jack Hewlett and Charlie Johnston.

Peter Bardgett and Cameron Williams got the innings off to a good start but Peter was bowled for 14 with the score on 29.  Accurate Derriaghy bowling tied Instonians down so that by the end of the 19th over the score stood at 56-4wks, an asking rate of six an over. At this point Peter Johnston and Jack Hewlett were at the wicket. After a few shots nearly went to hand they got on top of the bowling, compiling an excellent stand of 70 in nine overs to complete a fine win with 3.1 overs to spare. Peter hit 37no and Jack finished on 26no. This win keeps the 3rd XI in with a good chance of promotion.

The 4th XI travelled to Laurelvale to play on the senior ground. Laurelvale III batted first and drew first blood (nearly!) when captain Gareth Walker sustained a broken little finger in the first over. Laurelvale totalled 106-8 in their 25 overs. A first wicket partnership of 44 threatened a big total to chase but once Sahil Saxena made the breakthrough wickets fell regularly. Sahil finished with 3-23, Ben O'Donnell took 2-3 and Peter Kerr 2-40. Instonians reached 104-5wks mainly due to innings of 26 from Ben Rose, 31 from Sahil, and a belligerent 25 from Niall Brown, but a collapse saw four wickets falling for no runs, forcing Gareth to go to the wicket. A bye and a wide tied the scores and a scrambled run won the match as Laurelvale messed up a runout. Rhys O'Donnell was given out by the umpire but the Laurelvale captain sportingly pointed out that the wicket-keeper had dropped the ball before breaking the wicket. This close victory keeps the 4th XI at the top of the table but they have completed all but one of their matches and so may be overtaken by other sides.