After last week’s deluge and subsequent abandonment and postponement of both semi-final fixtures, the weather played ball on Saturday and the Gallagher Challenge Cup 2024 finalists are now known.
Highlights of the semi-finals
- At Moylena, in-form teams Muckamore and Woodvale battled it out for a spot in the final in a great game of cricket. Mukamore batted first and posted 238-7 from their 50 overs with Jason Van Der Merwe leading the charge with 73. Ben Calitz passed the 50 mark himself scoring 56 and formed a worthwhile partnership of 69 with Van Der Merwe. For Woodvale, Aditya Adey and Ludwig Kaestner chipped in with 2 wickets each. Onto the chase and despite 53 runs from Kaestner and a 60 runs partnership with Ronan Restieaux (32), Woodvale were unable to get over the line due to some brilliant bowling by Gallagher POTM Jason Van Der Merwe (3-30), skipper Neil Gill (3-43) and 2 wickets each for Pavan Karthik and Sathish Suresh.
- At Wallace Park, Instonians batted first and scored 180 from 37.1 overs with Irish international Neil Rock making 45 before being dismissed by Neil Whitworth. Ryan Macbeth and Josh Manley took 3 wickets-apiece for Lisburn. An opening stand of 67 by Faiz Fazal and Jonny Waite provided a solid base for the Lisburn innings as Fazal went on to make 81 not out to send his Lisburn team into the final.
Summaries – Semi Finals 13th July
Muckamore 238-7 (50 overs, S Suresh 33, J Van Der Merwe 73, B Calitz 56, L Allen 26*, A Adey 2-38, L Kaestner 2-47)
Woodvale 168 (44.5 overs, L Kaestner 53, R Restieaux 32, N Gill 3-43, P Karthik 2-18, S Suresh 2-39, J Van Der Merwe 3-30)
Muckamore beat Woodvale by 70 runs
Instonians 180 (37.1 overs, C Carmichael 36, N Rock 45, A White 20, A Ly 27, R MacBeth 3-30, J Manley 3-36)
Lisburn 170-4 (30.1 overs, F Fazal 81*, J Waite 35, G Halliday 29)
DLS par score was 169 off 35 overs
Full scorecards – https://northerncricketunion.org/ncu-nv-play-match-zone/?tab=c_matches#cd04723e9-fce2-49cf-a092-825584ed5c7c
