Downpatrick 1st XI got their season off to a positive start with a nail biting victory against their local rivals Saintfield in the opening match in the 2011 Ulster Bank League Section 1 on Saturday at the Demesne.

Downpatrick won the toss and elected to bat first and opening batsmen Dale Mullan and Ben McIlroy built a solid start to the innings. Having survived a fiery spell form Saintfield opening bowler Mark Yeates, they took the score to 67 before Mullan was bowled by Adam Sofley for 33. This brought Downpatrick professional Muhammad Farrukh to the wicket and he picked up from his fine batting displays of the previous week to form a a 63 run partnership with McIlroy, who was batting with great confidence and fulfilling the potential that he has shown for the last couple of seasons.

With the score on 130 McIlroy was caught at mid wicket to become the first victim of Saintfields new young professional BJ Barnett. With the score on 170 Muhammad Farrukh was bowled by Yeates for 30 and was quickly followed by James Cunningham who was trapped LBW by John Wheeler for 4. This brought together James Magowan and Paul Tate, who combined to add 70 runs before Magowan was caught off the bowling of Sofley for a solid 69. Gavin Ringland was bowled by Yeates for 7 and in the penultimate over Tate was bowled by Yeates for a fine 37 and Justin Rea (10 not out) finished the innings in style with a six off the last ball to leave the Downpatrick total at 282 for 7 after their allotted 50 overs.

This looked like a formidable total and when Saintfield lost Gareth Harrison for 0 (caught Gill, bowled Cunningham) quickly followed by Conor Patterson bowled by Magowan for 5 to leave Saintfield struggling at 8 for 2 Downpatrick looked to be very much in the driving seat. But Saintfield’s new young professional BJ Barnett had other ideas. BJ had arrived in N Ireland with a reputation as an excellent batsman and his first league innings showed that he will make a mess of many bowling figures this season. With Ricky Owens playing a supporting role  BJ set about the task of chasing down the challenging Downpatrick total and they took the score through to 91 before Owens was run out following a mix up and it appeared that he had sacrificed his wicket to ensure that the Saintfield professional remained at the crease.

Saintfield captain Ray McCavery joined Barnett but only 1 run had been added before McCavery was bowled by Justin Rea for 0. Ian Magowan and Barnett formed an excellent partnership to take the Saintfield total through to 163 before Magowan was run out for 28. Barnett had passed his half century at this stage and was looking very comfortable dispatching the Downpatrick attack to all parts of the ground and as he progressed past his century the pendulum appeared to have swung in favour of Saintfield. With the total on 222 Downpatrick captured the wicket that they badly needed when Farrukh had Barnett trapped LBW for a very impressive 133.

At this stage Saintfield still needed 61 to win and the game was back in the balance. With the total on 233 Saintfield lost the wicket of J Wheeler out for 3 to a fine catch by Danny Carson of the bowling of Magowan and Downpatrick again looked favourites to win but that changed when A Jamison and Ali Graham continued the chase and when young Justin Rea came on to bowl the penultimate over Saintfield needed just 12 to win. As the excitement mounted Rea had Ali Graham (18) caught by Magowan with the last ball of his over he bowled Adam Sofley to capture a 6 run victory for Downpatrick.


Downpatrick Batting Statistics:
B McIlroy   68
D Mullan    33
M Farrukh 30
J Magowan  69
P Tate  37


Downpatrick Bowling Figures:
J Magowan 2 for 66
J Rea 3 for 43
M Farrukh 2 for 43