Dundrum’s all-rounders secure title

4 September 2019

DUNDRUM travelled to Donaghadee for their final league game of the season on Sunday and came away with an impressive nine wicket victory.

Already top of Section 3, Dundrum were keen to finish the season on a high with a win against the second-placed team in the league.

Dundrum captain Ian Wright won the toss and on a damp day had no hesitation asking Donaghadee to bat.

Stuart Campbell and young Tom Crudgington opened the bowling well for Dundrum with Donaghadee’s opening partnership of Johnny Keenan and Ross Martin having to work hard for runs and maintain concentration through a couple of rain breaks.

After eight overs Donaghadee had accumulated 34 without loss and the game appeared evenly balanced.

Sean Cameron, Dundrum’s leading bowler, was brought into the attack and as he has done so often this season, struck straight away by bowling Martin for 20.

The hosts consolidated, playing cautious cricket, rotating the strike and looking to put the odd bad ball away.

However, Dundrum, as they have all season, fielded well to support their accurate bowling attack and, after 16 of the 30 over innings, Donaghadee found themselves on 60 for 1.

Knowing that they needed to up the run rate, the hosts started to be more aggressive, but Cameron bowled Keenan for a well-fought 23 and then in one over Peter Calvert removed Cunningham, well caught by James Martin, running around from cover to take a skied ball, and McClusky, excellently caught by Conor Moag at short cover. The hosts were 75 for 4 off 19 overs.

Dundrum’s bowlers, James Martin, Scott Symington and Neil Reilly, then combined to take the remaining six wickets for only 23 more runs.

Martin bowled quickly and straight to claim his three wickets in a 10-ball spell, finishing with figures of 3 for 7 off 4 overs.

The third catch of the innings, a sharp chance to point, was excellently taken by Rhodri Phillips off Symington’s bowling

Dundrum had bowled Donaghadee out for 98 in 27 overs. Another disciplined bowling and excellent fielding performance by the whole Dundrum team.

Dundrum openers Terry Hutley and Conor Moag started the run chase in a confident, aggressive manner and were just one run short of a 50 partnership when Hutley was out lbw trying to clear square leg.

He had scored 28 off only 26 balls and effectively taken the game away from Donaghadee in the first seven overs. Moag was joined by a promoted James Martin who went about the task of completing the run chase in some style.

He hit three sixes, two of them over cover to end 35 not out off 25 balls. Moag had rotated the strike well and put the bad ball away to finish not out on 23.

Dundrum won by nine wickets, having completed the chase in 13 overs.

The match was an excellent conclusion to a season that has seen Dundrum win 10 out of 12 league games, finishing clear at the top of Section 3 on 40 points.

Whilst 2019’s success has very much been a team effort there have been some outstanding individual performances.

Sean Cameron was the leading wicket taker, finishing the season with 31 wickets and an amazing average of 4.7, having taken six wickets in two games and also five wickets in two other games.

Symington also had a good season with the ball, taking a total of 21 wickets at an average of 7.2, including a spell of five wickets for two runs in 17 balls, which resulted in the early season win against Larne that really got Dundrum’s season going.

With the bat, opener Terry Hutley and Stuart Campbell at number four were the backbone of the team, combining to score more than 40% of the team’s runs.

But through the course of the season there were important contributions from all members of the team which allowed Dundrum to set competitive totals and chase down targets.

In the field this season Dundrum were excellent. A feature of performances has been that nearly every chance that bowlers created has been taken, including 45 catches, four run outs and a stumping.

It is hard to recall a chance being ped. Behind the stumps, Hutley has been excellent and young Rhodri Phillips, in the team primarily for his fielding, has set a standard for the rest of the team to match.

At the end of the season thanks are also due to all those that work behind the scenes to allow the team to take the field.

Jack and Tommy Curlett and Stephen Calvert, who work tirelessly to make The Meadow such a fantastic place to play cricket, Jeff Maguire for his endless enthusiasm for all things cricket, Dave Williams for his work as club secretary, James Orr for marking the scorebook and cutting the outfield, and the numerous people that help to provide teas for home matches.

Dundrum has been a good place to play cricket this year and the team is looking forward to the challenges of Section 2 next year.

Finally, a word of thanks to the many sponsors of Dundrum Cricket Club, too numerous to mention here, but their support allows this small village club to thrive. Your support is greatly appreciated.

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