CL INDOOR CRICKET: WEEK 4 ROUNDUP

We're into the second half of the competiton now and the first match of the day saw the league leaders IPPA Falcons against the Indigo Spartans.

The Spartans won the toss and decided to bat first. The format of this competition is that batters work in partnerships, with each pair batting three overs. Wickets lost cost 5 runs to the total and runs are scored in the normal manner except that singles get you two runs.

The Falcons bowling was very tight as normal and with runs hard to come by the Spartans were -1 after their first partnership, three wickets fell. This was to continue in the second partnership with three wickets falling again and the total being -10.

Unfortunately the last two partnerships also saw a significant number of wickets fell and the Spartans ended on a total of -26 across 12 overs. Congratulations should go to the Falcons bowlers who took 14 wickets in the 12 overs.

The reply would be straightforward for the Falcons, as long as they didn't lose wickets. The first over was very cautious, just a wide, and the second over went for only 4 runs. The third over saw the batters settle though and 14 off it got the first partnership up to 19.

The second partnership saw a few wickets fall and pegged the total back to 8 after 6 overs. After a nervy 7th over with a wicket falling and a wide, the batting team flexed their muscles a bit and started hitting sixes. Over the rest of the innings they hit 8 sixes to get themselves up to a total of 51 and a comfortable victory.

The second match of the day saw the Chancers (of Merrion) win the toss and bat first against Adamstown. This was a great indoor match with wickets and runs galore between two very enenly matched teams.

The Chancers put on partnerships of 14, 13, 11 and 17 to get them up to 54 off their 12 overs. Adamstown took 5 wickets within this and fielded excellently at all stages.

The Adamstown reply got off to a shaky start, with a total of -1 off their first partnership. They settled somewhat getting up to 13 off 6 overs and 20 off 9 overs.

Would they be able to have a big last partnership and aim for the target of 55? The Chancers bowled well and worked their field placings to stop Adamstown from getting boundaries and this proved to be the different. Lots of twos by Adamstown kept the board moving, but a couple of wickets just kept them from getting close enough. They finished on a credible 36, and the Chancers had the win.

Next week sees the second last round and has Indigo Spartans vs Adamstown and IPPA Falcons vs Chancers. All four teams can still make the final which takes place in North County on March 2nd.