Midweek Success for 1st and 2nd XI

7 wickets for Gary Knox

The home fixture against Laurelvale was fufilled on Tuesday,Wednesday 3rd and 4th of June. Donaghcloney won the toss and elected to bat on the first evening of the two nighter. Laurelvale were soon on top with the early wickets of Hanna, Derby and Harland all going very cheaply. Mansing and M Lyttle steadied the ship and both batsmen on form punishing the bad ball. Matthew had reached 19 with some ease before being caught out of the bowling of S Hughes. That brought Jonny Dowds to the crease. He and Mansing put on a match winning 145 for the fourth wicket partnership. Mansing was in superb touch and his class was evident. He worked the field pushing singles at will and pounced on anything loose. He reached his first hundred of the season and the delight on his face was clear for all to see. J Dowds played the perfect foil to Mansing. Jonny pushed the ball about the green, rotating the strike and keeping the field guessing. He brought up in his 50 in the last over. With only two boundaries in the innings it as an example of patience and control. Mansing unleashed after reaching his ton hitting two fours and three sixes before being bowled by J Lyttle for a magnificent 132. S Lecky was there at the death with Dowds and he continued his good form with bat finishing on 24 not out.

So Laurelvale returned to the factory ground on Wednesday evening knowing they had to score 260 to win. G Knox opened the bowling and his first over was punished by D Henry who was in a very positive mood. Gary’s first over went for 14 and questions were being asked of the Cloney bowlers from the outset. Big S Lecky was his usual accurate self and he was rewarded with the first wicket in the 5th over with J Stevenson taking a fine catch to dismiss P Weir who had managed just 5 runs. Then it was time for the Gary Knox show to start. With his first over going for 14 he bowled his next 9 overs for just 8 runs claiming 7 wickets and ripping the heart out of the Laurel batting attack. It was a great exhibition of spin bowling and Gary was supported in the field with catches from M Lyttle, W Fisher and P Derby who was filling role of skipper and wicket keeper in the absence of K Martin. Laurelvale were dismissed for 87 and that meant Donaghcloney cruised to a 171 run victory.

Timmy McClure sees Cloney home

On Friday 5th June the 2nd XI beat Holywood 2nd XI to go top of Junior League 3. Skipper Colin Derby won the toss and elected to field.  Holywood got off to a steady start with Captain William Belford and J.Barrett sharing an opening stand of 35 before the loss of the first wicket in the 6th over. Jonny Stevenson had opened the bowling with economical figure of 0-9 in 3 overs. He was well supported by Timmy McClure who in his first 3 overs finished with figures of 2-18, which also included a hat-trick ball – but was not to be. Matthew Lyttle then showed no let up in this relentless pace attack as he finished his 4 overs conceding only 15 runs while taking 2 wickets. Donaghcloney then turned to Conor Woods aged 13 to bowl his spell. Conor once again dismissing Hollywood’s danger man on 45 with impressive figures of 1-26. Richard Lyttle and Kyle Weir were left to share out the remaining four overs in which they finished with figures of 0-14 and 2-19 respectively. By this stage Holywood stood at 115-6 at 19 Overs. Timmy McClure then had to face the onslaught of the last over but managed to contain Hollywood on what was a relatively small leg side boundary to 15 runs while picking up 2 wickets. Hollywood had set Donaghcloney a modest score of 131 to win. However by the time the opening batsmen had came to the crease for Donaghcloney it was 8:15 and the light was not favorable. Inform Richie Clydesdales struggled to pick Holywood’s opening pace bowler in the gloom of the factory ground was caught behind for 2 runs. Stephen Lyttle and Matthew Lyttle then steadied the ship with a stand of 25 including a 6 from Matthew Lyttle that almost provided Auto glass workers with another job. Matthew was then dismissed for 11. He was shortly followed by Gareth Copeland (11), Jonny Stevenson  (3) and Stephen Lyttle (21) leaving the score at 56-5. Richard Lyttle and Paul Lyttle now stood at the crease requiring another 75 runs fro victory. There was some useful running between these two before Hollywood introduced L.Kriss into the attack. He was dispatched for 6 first ball by Richard Lyttle (19) before he was caught on the boundary next ball playing the same shot. With Donaghcloney staring down the barrel at 86 – 6 trusty Timmy McClure arrived at the crease with 7 overs still left to bat. Both he and Paul knocked the ball about well for singles with Paul dispatching the odd bad ball. However with 4 overs to go Donaghcloney required 34 to win. It was at this stage Paul Lyttle proved a lot of doubters wrong by clearing the boundary on consecutive attempts to leave the team requiring 22 of 22 balls. The two men then used their knowledge and kept their head to knock the ball about for singles. However Paul fell with Donaghcloney needing 12 to win of 10. Kyle Weir and Timmy McClure then knocked 4 singles of the 19th over, leaving Donaghcloney 8 to win of the last over.  Holywood captain William Belford elected to bowl the last over of the match. You could feel the tension in the clubhouse. Holywood had placed two young fielders down at cow corner for Timmy McClure’s favourite shot. However the first ball was a well-played single from Timmy, followed by a wide and then another single from Kyle to get Timmy back on strike. With Donaghcloney needing 5 to win off 4Timmy McClure pulled out his traditional slog to cow corner splitting the two fielders with a powerful shot that had all about secured a victory. A wide was to follow that was to secure a memorable victory for the Cloney men and ensured they climbed back to the top of junior league 3.