Lurgan came out on top after beating Bangor by 76 runs (DLS) in a rain-affected final at Upritchard Park.
Despite the miserable July weather and heavy rains throughout the week, Upritchard Park looked as immaculate as ever as the teams, officials and supporters arrived at the Bangor ground but an ominous forecast of heavy showers was looming before play got underway. Winning the toss, Bangor skipper Johnny Parker opted to field first with the thought of rain to come throughout the day. Lurgan captain Stephen Johnston looked in magnificent touch from the off and would have been disappointed not to get a lucrative cup final century as he departed for 88 with 10 fours and 1 six. Before his departure, the two Stephens (Johnston and Chambers) put on a 3rd wicket partnership of 135 with Chambers (98*, 10 fours & 1 six) also falling miserably short of what would have been a brilliant century as he needed 6 off the last ball of the innings to reach the milestone but succumbed to a one-bounce four that was agonisingly close to the boundary rope. With an early tea taken due to the torrential downpour, Lurgan eventually finished on 219-8 after the lengthy break with Michael Skelly leading the Bangor attack with 3-45 and Josh Bates taking 2-32.
With the Lurgan innings complete, the Bangor openers were straight back out to try and chase down the total in front of the packed Upritchard Park but managed to face 1 over before the heavens opened for the 2nd time in the day. After losing 7 overs in the innings, Bangor was set a revised total of 198 and Lurgan applied some early pressure taking 3 wickets inside the first 7 overs and a regroup was needed from the Bangor batsmen. Some resilience from Bangor’s middle order kept them in the game with Adam McCusker (18), Andrew Kirkpatrick (23) and Ricky McClarnon (28) getting starts before the Lurgan bowlers kept the pressure on by taking wickets at crucial times. 4 Bangor wickets were then lost for just 7 runs as Lurgan got over the line to win with 1 wicket for Peter Maxwell and 2 wickets each for Adam Johnson, Callum Grieve, Paul Stafford and Darwish Nazari.
In what proved to be a problematic day weather-wise, credit must go to Stephen Burns and his ground staff for putting the work in to ensure the game went on despite getting drenched while doing so. Today, they were a credit to their club and the NCU and went above and beyond to facilitate the players and umpires. Thank you to Bangor CC for hosting the final and for Alex Adams and Richard Campbell for officiating and NCU President Brian Walsh for presenting the medals and trophy.
We were delighted that Gill Johnston from the competition sponsor GMCG Chartered Accountants was there to present the POTM award to Lurgan’s Stephen Chambers and we thank GMcG for their continued sponsorship of this prestigious competition.
And finally, thanks to Maynard Collins for providing some brilliant photos for us to use.
Congratulations to Lurgan and commiserations to Bangor – we wish them all the best for the rest of the season.
GMcG Director Gill Johnston with POTM Stephen Chambers (Lurgan CC)
Lurgan Captain Stephen Johnston with NCU President Brian Walsh
Gill Johnston (GMcG), Stephen Johnston and Brian Walsh
Alex Adams, Brian Walsh and Richard Campbell