On a cool but dry Sunday, the Fifths entertained Donaghadee Thirds at Sandy Bay with Larne winning the toss and electing to bat.  Esler Burke and David McVeigh opened the batting and put on 8 before McVeigh was out caught.  Ryan Glenholmes, batting at number 3, looked in good form and top scored with 17.  On a very slow batting track the Larne side were finding it difficult to score runs, and luck was against them when Esler Burke was out caught at first slip. 

The ball flew off the edge of Esler’s bat and hit the Donaghadee wicket-keeper on the shoulder, popping up in the air to first slip who took a straightforward catch.  Chris Dempsey; Stuart Johnston and Phil Mawhinney tried to score runs but the visitors were taking wickets with regularity.  John Hood hung around to score 15 with Larne debutant Richard Swann looking in good touch as well.  Richard Hood, Andrew Wharry and Stephen Dick all added some runs but the Larne side were unable to bat their allotted 40 overs being all out for 72 after 27.3 overs.

The home side made a very positive start to defending their total with opening bowlers, Chris Dempsey and Ryan Glenholmes, taking 3 early wickets between them.  However a massive downpour of rain changed the entire balance of the match.  The conditions were such that the bowlers were struggling to get a grip on both the ball and the very wet surface.  Donaghadee were able to exploit this and, after hitting a series of boundaries, scored the winning runs off just 14.1 overs.

RESULT – Larne V’s lost to Donaghadee III’s by 7 wickets.