Lisburn are outplayed in the Park by classy Waringstown

The defeat, in the end, was a massive 112 runs and leaves a lot of work to be done by Davey Simpson’s men even at this early stage.

Having laid new wickets at the end of last season, Lisburn were keen to try out the loam based pitch but they did not get the chance to bat first as Waringstown won the toss on a fine afternoon.

Lisburn did make a good start when they claimed the wicket of the talented Dennison as Darryl Brown had him caught by Craig Ervine for just 8 in the 6th over with the score on 21 for 1.

Opener James Hall was batting with authority and he added 26 with Kyle McCallan before the ex Ireland batsman was also dismissed, caught by Richard Simpson sweeping Craig Ervine for 9 as Lisburn were more than pleased with the score at 47 for 2 in the 14th over.

These two wickets were all Lisburn were going to claim for quite some time as Hall and Lee Nelson began what was to prove to be the match winning partnership. Hall looked solid while Nelson was always quick to play the ‘big shot’ and they very rapidly took the game away from Lisburn in their stand of 122 in the next 25 overs.

When the partnership was eventually broken by skipper Davey Simpson who had Hall caught by Darryl Brown at mid off for a good 70, the Waringstown professional Khan joined the quick scoring Nelson but they had added just 18 when he was run out for little reason by Craig Ervine for just 12 as the visitors reached 187 for 4.

Lee Nelson was the man of the moment and he completed a fine century in the 45th over adding a further 42 with Greg Thompson before the Waringstown all rounder was caught by Darryl Brown of Davey Simpson for 10.

Waringstown were not finished as they put on another 12 for the 5th wicket before their innings closed at 241 for 5 in the 50th over leaving Lee Nelson unbeaten on 118 not out which included a number of large sixes and 11 boundaries.

The Lisburn bowling had been useful particularly in the opening stages of the Waringstown innings but with the dropped chances they seemed to lose some conviction. Davey Simpson led the way with 2 for 50 in his 10 overs.

Lisburn’s young opening batsmen Adam Berry and Glen Halliday began slowly but seemed in little trouble against Waringstown’s bowlers, Khan and Eaglestone but they gradually fell behind the required run rate before Halliday was clean bowled by McCollum for 7 with the score on 15.

Craig Ervine, always Lisburn’s best chance of producing a match winnings innings, had to graft against some very accurate bowling as he and Berry added a further 44 very useful runs for the 2nd wicket. However, after the partnership had lasted for 12 overs, the Lisburn innings was decimated with the loss of three wickets for the addition of just 8 runs. Adam Berry was stumped by Bushe off spinner Kidd for Lisburn’s top score of 24 while, crucially, Craig Ervine was lbw to McCallan for 17. Richard Simpson quickly followed for 1 as the Lisburn reply plummeted to 74 for 5 in the 23rd over.

Robert Rankin, batting at number six was joined by captain Davey Simpson and the pair set about rebuilding the Lisburn innings and this they did, adding 29 before both players were dismissed with the score on 103 and 113. Simpson was bowled by Kidd for 14 while Rankin, after some good looking shots was clean bowled on the return of pace bowler Eaglestone for a defiant 23.

The rest of the Lisburn batting order could only muster 16 as they struggled to the disappointing final tally of 129 all out in the 43rd over and beaten by the overwhelming margin of 112 runs.

Lisburn now turn their attention to the Senior Challenge Cup on Saturday when they travel to Stormont to take on the dangerous CSNI team. Results against the Civil Service/North side have not been good over the past few seasons and Lisburn will have to bat with more resolve if they are to progress to the second round. They are already out of the Irish Cup, beaten by Clontarf two weeks ago and so a cup run would lift their spirits.