Downpatrick are giant-killing aces

Downpatrick are giant-killing aces

18 May 2016

AN unbeaten century from Amit Patel helped Downpatrick to a shock victory over North Down in the first round of the Senior Challenge Cup at The Meadow on Saturday.

The Downpatrick professional produced a man of the match of the performance with perhaps his best innings for the county town side, his 102 including eight boundaries and two sixes.

Downpatrick captain Craig Boultwood won the toss on a glorious day and put the Premier League side in to bat.

With Ross Boultwood recovering from a knee injury and Alastair Graham on holiday, Downpatrick were missing their regular opening bowlers. Paul Tate playing in his first game of the season after recovering himself from illness, stepped up to the mark and gave the home team early momentum with the wicket of Ross Ewing in the third over.

The second wicket partnership featuring North Down’s two overseas players, Mulder and Malan, looked promising with both players taking the score to 100 before Thomas Magowan struck with the wicket of Mulder for 45, Ian Vallely taking a fine one-handed catch to dismiss his Australian counterpart.

Magowan and the experienced Dale Mullan controlled the middle overs very well with tight bowling, allowing for singles to be taken but conceding very few boundaries.

Although with Malan at the crease and seemingly cruising in third gear, Downpatrick knew they would need to get him sooner rather than later.

It took the introduction of Amit Patil to bring about a mini-collapse and get Downpatrick right into the game. The off spinner bowled Alistair Shields through the gate and then followed with the prize wicket of Malan after the South African ran down the wicket and was stumped by Craig Boultwood for a well made 85.

Peter Eakin came and went and Jordan Wade came into the attack and accounted for Daniel Graham leaving North Down struggling on 175 off 43 overs after a promising start.

Burns and Peter Shields accelerated the scoring in the final seven overs with some very quick running andsome clean hitting. They got the visitors up to 240, Burns doing the bulk of the damage with 62 not out off 35 balls.

With a score of 240 to chase against Premier League opposition, it was going to take a big effort from the top order in particular if they were to come out of the tie victorious.

Downpatrick started well and at a good pace with Ian Vallely particularly harsh on anything short. It took a good ball to dismiss him for 23 and this brought Patil to the crease with the score on 31 after seven overs.

Patil and Mullan accumulated runs with a partnership of 37 until Mullan was bowled by Mulder with the score on 70.

Craig Boultwood was next in and he and Patil again looked to pick up their ones and twos and consolidate from the loss of the first two wickets.

They batted the next 12 overs for 34 runs, but knew that on a good track and with plenty of batting to come they could afford to give themselves some time and get their eye in.

This proved to be the case, the experience of both batsmen showing as they they accelerated the run rate when appropriate, timing their chase to perfection with 109 runs coming off the next 13 overs.

Patil was at his best stoking the ball to all areas of the ground, with a couple of reverse sweeps particularly eye-catching, and skipper Boultwood showed some promising signs of early season form with some crunching drives over cover and cuts through point.

Boultwood was eventually dismissed in the 43rd over after a sharp return catch by professional Malan, his 67 including 10 boundaries.

Ryan Smyth was judged lbw for five before Jordan Wade joined Patil in getting his side across the finish line.

A magnificent effort from the Downpatrick men to produce a real cup upset early in proceedings.

Amit Patil was rightly recognised as Man of the match with his 102 not out and 3 wickets for 33 runs.

The draw for the quarter-finals takes place next Tuesday and all at Downpatrick CC will look on with interest to see who they will face next.