Brigade in control of NW senior cup final
Runaway league leaders Brigade are on the verge of retaining the North West senior cup after dominating day one of this year’s final against their near neighbours Glendermott.
In front of a sizeable crowd and in perfect conditions, Andy Britton’s team recovered from a modest enough start to post a huge 305-8 from their 50 overs having won the toss and deciding to bat.
Glendermott started well, restricted Brigade’s strong batting line-up. David Barr made 29 and Kyle Magee 21 on the batting side however after 27 overs the league leaders had been restricted to 85 for 4.
A quick 31 from David Murdock (3 fours, 2 sixes) gave Brigade’s inningd a bit of impetus after that before a 110-run stand between Johnny Thompson and skipper Briitton turned the afternoon their way.
The partnership came off just 64 balls- Thompson hitting six fours and 2 sixes in his 66 while Britton had six boundaries and three maximums in his 61.
A late 20 not out from Ross Allen also helped the cause although Glendermott contributed to the own woes by giving up up an extra 12 penalty runs having taken forever to bowl their 50 overs.
Steve Moore claimed 2-38 from his four overs while Keshan Wijerathne added 2-42 and Alan Johnson 2-44 as the bowling unit striggled to contain late on.
Having been in the contest for the first half of the innings, Glendermott couldn’t get to grips with things after that big partnership and their reply with the bat was also soon in trouble.
Scott Laird made 30 at the top of their order and Alan Johnson added 37 in the middle however that apart the card made for sorry reading.
Ryan Barr’s 15 was best of the rest, as Rachit Gaur Gear (3-38, Britton (2-20) Ross Allen (2-34) and Ryan Macbeth (2-38) shared the bowling honours.
A final total of 139 all out left the Bond Street boys 166 behind yet Britton refused to enforce the follow-on. Instead his top order negotiated a further 19 overs adding 94 runs for the loss of 2 wickets before stumps were pulled at 8:30 p.m.
The game will recommence at 11 a.m. on Saturday with Brigade 260 runs ahead with 31 overs and 8 wickets still in hand.
It may not be mission impossible for Montgomery’s troops from here, but it’s not far off it.
