On Mayday Monday Larne Second XI, sponsored by The Curran Court, defeated CIYMS by 3 wickets.

After the rain cleared Larne exploited the opportunity to bowl first, with excellent new ball spells by Jonathon King and Paul Ramsay. Although they only shared one wicket each, scoring was virtually impossible and CI were restricted to a miserly 31 runs after 20 overs. Off-spinner Ronny Baxter and medium pacer Dean Hodge took up the challenge and although the scoring rate started to climb, Baxter also started to take wickets as Hodge maintained an accurate line and length into an increasingly stiff breeze.

Baxter ended his 10 over spell with 5 wickets with Hodge particularly unlucky only to only collect one dismissal of his own. After 40 overs CIYMS had scored 124 for the loss of 8 wickets. Rab McClean and Darren Stanton entered the attack with the goal of restricting the scoring in the final 9 overs and both again bowled beautifully to leave Larne needing a final target of 156 for victory.

After having bowled in tandem Hodge and Baxter opened the batting and took the score to 30 before Baxter unluckily timed his defensive push too well to be caught in the covers for 14. Hodge was by this stage carrying the attack to the opposition and his new partner, Chris Keenan, was happy to play the supporting. After quietly collecting 17 runs and building a 40 run partnership, a lapse of concentration saw Keenan replaced by Trevor Dempsey.

Another 20 runs were added before a tired Hodge was dismissed for 39. Young Andy King joined Dempsey at the crease looking for his first runs of the season and he batted beautifully for 21 before he was caught in the covers. By this time Larne were only 20 runs from victory and although a further couple of wickets needlessly fell, Trevor Dempsey’s undefeated 35 saw Larne comfortably home with 4 wickets and 3 overs to spare.