2nds fall to heavy defeat by Lurgan

Keith Ogle a good game with both ball and bat

Donaghcloney 2nds travelled to illustrious neighbours Lurgan for a two night derby match at Pollock Park last Tuesday and Wednesday evening. On winning the toss the Lurgan captain opted to take first used of the track.

With the 1^st XI out turning out on the same evenings, Raymie Matthews always new his charges faced an uphill struggle. This coupled with the loss of strike bowlers Willie Fisher and Stuart Copeland the task became even less enviable.

Lurgan themselves had strengthened their line up with McKnight and Grieve from the senior time getting some playing time and both players stepped up to the mark along with the useful McShane as they punished the weakened Cloney outfit.

In total Lurgan posted a score of 281 for 8 with the only bowlers coming out with credit being Keith Ogle and Stevie Lyttle, claiming 3 for 56 and 3 for 47 respectively.

On the second evening it Matthews knew it was always going to be an impossible task for his inexperienced line up. His fears were justified as the batting line-up failed to challenge the Lurgan attack, with both Grieve and McKnight showing their Section 1 credentials.

In total Donaghcloney could only muster 123 with Keith Ogle top scoring on 39, while vice-captain Richie Clydesdale notched up 29 and veteran Paul Lyttle

contributed 18. The overall losing margin was 158 runs.

Captain Raymie Matthews was not too downbeat about the result, ‘with both teams being out in mid-week games it always puts a strain on our resources, however we battled away and in the end I thought the ability of McKnight and Grieve accounted towards the large winning margin’.