03-05-2025
North Down begin campaign with back to back victories
Copeland was 87 not out when Peter Davison hit the winning runs as North Down passed CIYMS' total of 219 for nine with three wickets and 20 balls to spare.
CI were favourites when North Down lost their sixth wicket in the 30th over but Ireland bowler Craig Young showed his prowess with the bat, to hit 40 in a seventh wicket stand of 82 with Copeland who was also one of four North Down bowlers to take four wickets.
Lisburn lead the fledgling table on run-rate after winning the first ever Premier League game at Templepatrick by eight wickets. Last year's Section One champions, playing without an overseas professional, put up a respectable 190 for nine, with captain Ross Bryans scoring 60. But Ross Adair, on his Lisburn debut, took full advantage of two lives and an inexperienced attack to thump 93 off 71 balls with 13 fours and four sixes.
'It's clear to see what Ross can do with the bat. He was pretty destructive in the first 10 overs and then slowed it down, certainly the way he usually plays, very mature. But he was brilliant,' said his skipper Neil Whitworth, who hit the winning boundary.
'But I thought Templepatrick batted really well, they frustrated us and ran a lot of good twos which caught us by surprise a little bit so it was a good cricket match in the end.'
Instonians are the other team to have won their first two games, in the space of 24 hours. Rob McKinley top scored with 88 in their exciting nine runs victory over Cliftonville Academy yesterday but the real story of the weekend came on Friday night when Neil Rock hit 173 from just 64 balls in their rearranged 20-over game against Civil Service North.
Rock's innings, which included 11 fours and 16 sixes, in his team's 257 for six, is the highest by Instonians player in the Premier League and the 10th highest since the competition started in 2006, with all the other innings, of course, being played in 50-over cricket. Only Strabane's Aaron Gillespie, who scored 198 not out against Bonds Glen in 2022 has scored more in a 20-over club game in Ireland.
In reply to Instonians 317 for nine yesterday, Abhishek Raut hit 103 and Jared Wilson followed up his five-wicket haul with 93 from 60 balls (five fours, nine sixes) but Andrew White's two wickets in the 49th over proved decisive.
The CSN bowlers bounced back from their mauling at Shaw's Bridge to bowl out last year's runners-up Woodvale for 91. James West took four wickets and then hit 41 not out in a nine-wicket win.
Defending champions Waringstown, after their game at Woodvale was postponed last week, made a winning start with a 142 runs victory over Muckamore, almost entirely due to a remarkable career best from Tom Mayes who hit 137 who rescued the Villagers from 61 for six. He shared a stand of 180 with professional Daniel van der Merwe (76) in a total of 294 for eight.
Ardmore, Coleraine and Donemana lead the way in the North West Premiership with two wins out of two. But it was Newbuildings professional Peat Salmon who scored the only century of the day, his 109 off 66 balls (12 fours six sixes) not enough to prevent a 50 runs defeat by Donemana who had posted 324 for seven.
