Harlequins Cricket Match Report

Saturday 6 July 2002

Munster Division 3 

Harlequins 2  
Lismore  

A Grand day in Lismore

By Joe O' Mahony

It was great to be able to play this refixed 3rd division match in Lismore yesterday. This was the first time for many of the team that they had played in Lismore. With a valley sweeping down behind the pavilion, and mountains in the distance, it was indeed a lovely ground to play on. With a damp wicket, Lismore put Harlequins into bat. Always thinking about batting points Harlequins began to attack Lismore, pushing ones and twos but above all, it was the wicket that was dictating the runs. Mr B Power was the best of the opposition's bowers and did the most damage by turning the ball well, and took Quins first three wickets for 28 runs. A collapse looked in order but 'Mancy' Mark Bailey began to open up and finally began to score runs - his useful 24 runs helped the cause. Unfortunately Don Tanner, who was playing his last game for Harlequins, didn't score any! He is moving back to Australia this week and we will all miss him and Jannie. Bon Voyage Don, and may we see you again soon.

By the time Quinton Claassen came into bat things looked grim for Quins. We were 64 for 5 off 21 overs, and Quinty, who hasn't batted since early May, hit an incredible ten 6s to reach 87 not out. His innings was helped along by Jack Russell and David Nicholl Currie. At the end of our 40 overs we had accumulated 159 for 7, unfortunatly thus missing out on a third batting point by 1 run. This was a good score as we felt that a total of 120 would be enough to win the match.

As we came out to field, captain Jim Burfield knew that we were in a favourable position. He and Quinton opened the bowling, but it was Jim who took the first wicket. His style of bowling suited the slippery surface and therefore Lismore found it hard to make runs. Jim had the best bowling figures with 10 overs, 4 wickets for 12 runs. He more importantly got Mark Taylor's wicket who looked very handy. Quinton had a tidy spell with 7/9/0. He bowled off four paces rather than his usual twelve. It would have been very hard to increase the speed of the ball as the pitch was very soft.

Dave Cahill, Dave Nichol-Currie, his brother Brian, and moi, all bowled well, but special mention goes to Donovan Gee or 'Jason' as he is now to be known. Jason has had a terrible time this year in matches, but all credit must be given to him as he bowled extremely well. His 3 overs netted him 3 wickets for 4 runs. I applaud you Jason! You surprised us all.

In fact everyone had a good game and our fielding was extremely tight. We dropped only one catch, and gave Lismore even fewer chances to score runs. We didn't bowl them out, but they only scored 53 runs. This result now puts us firmly on top of Munster Division 3, and promotion is hopefully a possiblity.

Best Harlequins Performers
Quinton Claassen - 87 (not out)
Mark Bailey - 24
Jim Burfield - 10 overs - 12 runs - 4 wickets
Donovan Gee - 3 overs - 4 runs - 3 wickets