Having avoided the local thundery weather, play got underway at Norton Hill with eight-man Old Park batting first. Shane Sheppard and Mark Galsworthy began circumspectly in the knowledge that an early loss could see the visitors’ weakened side quickly collapse, but after a few overs, some more positive shots began to creep into their innings.
Sheppard continued his good run of form, as he racked up the majority of the runs in the first wicket stand of 125, scoring another impressive 76 as the pair held out for 36 overs on a pitch that was somewhat unpredictable in its bounce.
Despite some tidy bowling by the Methodists, no chances went to hand until Mark Robinson finally caught Sheppard off skipper, Stuart Green, with just 21 balls remaining in the innings, but the Meths were fairly happy to only be chasing down a moderate total of 142 – Galsworthy remaining not out as the players left the field, having anchored the visitors’ effort with a nuggety innings of thirty.
After tea, the Methodists’ first wicket pairing of Robinson and Wayne Higgins all but saw the home side to their target, exploiting the gaps in depleted Old Park’s field and knocking the runs off almost without incident.
Martin Newman was his usual accurate self (0–18), but the other bowlers found the batsmen peppering the boundary on a regular basis – the opening stand of 129 coming in just 23 overs. Robinson was eventually snared by Gary McAlister for a fine 62, but Higgins was there at the end to hit the winning run as he finished on a very good 54 not out – the Methodists
winning a slightly one-sided contest by eight wickets.
Daniel Shearn