Cloney take the plaudits in reduced overs game

As this was a second re-arrangement the match was reduced to 20 overs and played over one night.

Skipper Keith Martin won the toss and elected to bat on a track that has history of being fast and true. The decision seemed to back fire as from the first delivery it was obvious that the track has somewhat deteriorated and was slow with the top surface lifting making batting increasingly difficult.

The skipper who opened along with Lyness Topping was the first to depart. A lifting ball of a length flicked his glove and carried through to the keeper. With Keith’s departure the prolific Neil Carson entered the fray.

Topping along with Carson pushed the ball about and rotated the strike well but due to the nature of the 20 over game Carson tried to up the tempo only to be caught on the boundary for 10 and the score on 35.

Gary Knox was next up but he too failed to make any inroads as he was dismissed cheaply leg before for one. Allen Martin then made his journey to the middle and with some good running along with Topping the pair brought the score to the half century mark before Martin was bowled to a rash shot.

Wickets fell regular as everyone tried to score quickly David Marshall and Colin Hylands both out to poor shot selection while Stephen Hanna was run out going for a suicidal two.

Main stay of the innings Topping eventually succumbed for a vital 24, holing out to deep mid wicket. With his dismissal he was soon followed by Jonny Stevenson and Ben Daly leaving Tim McClure the not out batsman.

Donacloney made 83 with still four balls of their allocation remaining.

After seeing how hard a batting track it was skipper Keith Martin decided to open with spinner Gary Knox along with strike bowler Jonny Stevenson. The decision paid dividends immediately as inside the first four overs Knox and Stevenson had reduced the Academy reply to 19-4 with two wickets apiece. Knox’s victims were both trapped leg before, while Stevenson scalps were both cleaned bowled.

Stephen Hanna and David Marshall entered the attack and continued the good work, Hanna helping himself to two wickets and Marshall taking one to leave Academy floundering at 34-7.

Academy’s tail wagged and a fight-back was initiated until some indecision crept in leading to a run out with the total now 51-8. Tim McClure claimed the ninth wicket with the score on 59 while Hanna returned to the attack to take his 3rd wicket to dismiss Academy for 61 in the 17th, giving Donaghcloney a 22 run victory.

All bowlers bowled superbly with figures as follows: Stevenson 2-22 from four overs, Knox 2-7 from three overs, Hanna 3-3 in 3.2 overs, Marshall 1-13 from thre overs and McClure 1-13 from three overs.

Skipper Keith Martin was delighted with the performance. "Initially we misjudged the track, thinking it would be ideal for batting and we were fortunate that Lyness Topping held the innings together with a vital 24 runs although we still thought that 90 or 100 would be the par score.

"Once again our bowling was superb, the five guys gave nothing away and they were well backed in the field. After the first couple of overs we were confident that we could gain the victory to continue our good form."