1sts lose at Donacloney

After over three weeks without a game, Lurgan resumed their season with a 6 wicket defeat in a two night game against Donacloney at the Factory Ground. It was a poor performance in all aspects of the game, not enough runs scored, loose bowling and lethargy in the field meaning that the home side were always in charge of the game.

On the first night it was Donacloney who won the toss and put Lurgan into bat. Stephen Johnston (8) and Callum Gibson (5) were quickly back in the pavilion with just 17 on the board. Niranjan Godbole and Callum Grieve then took the total to 98 when just after the drinks interval, Godbole was caught by Harland at square leg hooking Lyttle just one short of his half century. Grieve went soon after for 29 with score on 112 and after this wickets fell at regular intervals. While there were useful contributions from Peter Maxwell (20), Zaheer Ali (17) and Ollie McCollum (14no), on a wicket that gave the bowlers some assistance the scoring rate overall was too slow, on too many occasions the bad ball going unpunished.

With rain about on the second night, Donacloney openers Harland and Campbell wasted no time in chasing the 172 target to ensure they were well ahead on the D/L calculation should the weather intervene. Any bowling that was full or short was severely punished and the home side were going along comfortably at around 5 an over. Zaheer Ali claimed 2 wickets in quick succession, bowling Campbell for 18 and having Harland caught behind by Clarke for 30. The only moment of controversy in the game came a few balls later, when the Lurgan paceman rapped the pads of Donacloney professional Desai low down standing back on his stumps before he had scored. Whether the ‘not out’ decision would have had any effect on the outcome is debatable as Donacloney eased past the Lurgan total in the 36th over with Lyttle finishing on 59 not out. Peter Maxwell claimed 2 wkts for 34 runs off 10 overs and Zaheer Ali 2 for 29 off 5 overs.

Lurgan will be looking to bounce back to form immediately against Downpatrick at home on Saturday, and on Sunday away to Armagh in a league game reduced to a 20/20 match following two postponements’

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