01/06/2010
Coleraine Inst v Ballymena Academy - Staff Cricket Match – 21/5/2010
Teams:
Coleraine Inst Ballymena Academy
Mr R Boyd Mr A Lytle
Mr D Jamieson Mr J Nicholl
Mr K Freeburn Mr H Clemence
Dr. G Hull Mr N Patterson
Mr A Gaston Mr G Grant
Mr D Stewart Mr Clive Jackson
Mr M McNay Miss E Greer
Mr W Torrens Miss D McNeil
Mr R McKeag Mrs R Coulter
Miss G Watters Mr S Bashford
Mrs C Smith Mr G Murray
Mr J Carson
Match Summary
Coleraine Inst 120 for 8 off 20 overs (R Boyd 26, D Jamieson 19, K Freeburn 21, G Hull 24, G Murray 2-15)
Ballymena Academy 118 for 9 (J Nicholl 32, G Murray 26, A Lytle 17, M McNay 2-7, R Boyd 4-15)
Report
On Friday 21st May Coleraine Academical Institution hosted a staff cricket match against Ballymena Academy as part of the school's Sesquicentenary celebrations. With the grounds in immaculate condition, refreshments at the ready and the afternoon blessed with fantastic weather, the game was set for for an intriguing encounter. Coleraine won the toss and skipper Mr Boyd elected to bat first, backing his inexperienced and untested line up against a strong Ballymena Side.
After an inspirational team talk (or quick explanations of the rules of the game!), Mr Boyd and Mr Jamieson opened up proceedings for the Coleraine side. Both members of staff got the team off to a flying start, dispatching the ball to the boundary on a regular basis and at times in somewhat ungainly fashion. Mr Jamieson especially taking the attack to the bowlers with some excellent shots through the leg side and adopting the role of “pinch hitter” effortlessly. With the score on 44 for 0 off 7 overs, the Coleraine team were in the driving seat until Mr Boyd, looking for another boundary before being retired was caught behind to an excellent catch by keeper Mr Grant in the eighth over, off the bowling of Murray.
This dismissal brought the danger man Dr Hull to the crease with his weapon of mass destruction, the SS Jumbo. Hull and Jamieson continued the scoring with another solid partnership with Hull especially playing some sweetly timed sweep shots and taking the total score past the fifty mark without any fuss. The pinch hitter, Jamieson then fell shortly after to Murray after mistiming a shot aimed somewhere in the region of Bushmills, into the hands of mid wicket, leaving the score on 58 for 2 off 9 overs.
With the game now in the balance after some tidy bowling by Murray and good work in the field by the Ballymena side the next few overs would be vital to the overall outcome of the fixture. Mr Freeburn, playing his first ever cricket game then stepped to the crease and he soon quashed any ideas of a batting collapse with an excellent innings. Hull continued to rotate the strike and left Freeburn, shades and all to lead the attack, dispatching the ball to the boundary on a number of occasions including a huge six, landing close to the river Bann! Hull (24) and Freeburn (21) took the score into the nineties and laid the foundations for the rest of the team to take the total passed the century mark before being retired by skipper Boyd.
Mr Stewart, Mr Torrens, Mr McKeag, Mr McCook, Miss Watters and Mrs Smith all added to the scoring and put down the accelerator to reach a very competitive and impressive total of 120 off their 20 overs. Ballymena fielded well in the heat of the afternoon sun and bowled tidily to keep them in the hunt at the half way stage. Both teams enjoyed a well deserved rest and exchanged a few stories and jokes over refreshments at half time provided by the school canteen staff before the proceedings continued.
Ballymena got off to a flying start with Lytle especially playing aggressively and timing his shots to perfection. He was ably assisted by Clemence and Nicholl, taking the score into the thirties within the first 4 overs! Lytle then smashed a shot straight to cover where Mr Boyd took an excellent catch to get the Coleraine team back on track. Mr Torrens bowled well at the start and was backed up by Mr Boyd, Mr Stewart, Dr Hull, Mr McKeag and Mr Carson to keep the Coleraine side in the hunt.
Ballymena continued to score at a good rate and contributions from Mr Bashford, Mr Murray and Mr Nicholl alongside some wayward bowling helped the Ballymena side to pass the century mark for the loss of just 5 wickets. The turning point in the game saw Mr McNay bowling against his former Coleraine Inst colleague, Mr Jackson. Mr McNay bowled Jackson middle stump with his third ball and proceeded to pick up another 2 wickets to turn the game back in Coleraine’s favour. He showed good experience bowling accurately and at a good pace, something that was lacked by a number of Coleraine bowlers throughout the Ballymena Innings!
Ballymena who had been coasting towards the total until then now required 19 runs off 2 overs for victory. With some ‘interesting tactics’ Mr Murray and Mr Nicholl found themselves back at the crease during the last over alongside Mr Patterson to face the bowling of Boyd. The former Ballymena Academy man bowled well and took 2 wickets in the last over to close the game out and ensure the Coleraine team were victorious. Ballymena fell just 2 runs short in their superb run chase in a nail biting finale as the sun went down on the Inst playing fields. There were a number of impressive individual performances that stood out from both sides but the Man of the Match award was given to Dr Hull for his all round performance, including 24 runs with the SS Jumbo, 2 steady overs with the ball and a very tidy spell of keeping behind the stumps!
It was a cracking game of cricket with an exciting ending to the game which matched the enthusiasm, efforts and spirit shown by all those participating in the game! I would like to firstly thank Ballymena Academy for agreeing to the fixture and travelling down on a Friday afternoon to play the game. I would also like to thank Hector Deane for umpiring the game and a big thank you to the canteen staff for the refreshments provided which kept everyone’s energy levels up on a very hot afternoon. I hope a return fixture may be on the cards towards the end of term and another competitive and entertaining cricket can be enjoyed by staff from both schools! I think it was a very fitting way to celebrate 150 years of cricket at the school
Mr R Boyd.