Halverstown Grab Bragging Rights in the Kildare Derby
When you hear the words “Kildare Derby”, maybe Cricket isn’t the 1st thought that comes into your head. You probably think about the Curragh, Best Dressed Ladies and Champagne Tents, but you’d be wrong. This is Halverstown 1 taking on North Kildare 3, so bragging rights for the county were on the line. This was a clash that’s been long in the making. The clubs have only met once competitively in the last 10 years, and that was an easy 7 wicket win for North Kildare back in 2016.
Today’s game was brought forward by 1 hour due to the oncoming bad weather. Both teams were anxious to secure a win, in this Covid19 shortened season. This was the 2nd round of games in the Ed Sports Russell Court Trophy Group C. Both teams has won their previous match, so this was already a top of the table clash. The North Kildare captain called right at the toss and decided that they would bat 1st. The action began straight away when Neville Case had a big shout for LBW, but this was turned down by the umpire. He didn’t have to ask the Umpire a second time, as his next ball sent the stumps cartwheeling. Daire O’Neill on his way back to the sideline without troubling the scoreboard. We had to wait until the 4th over before Case struck again. Again it swung in and removed the stumps. This left North Kildare with 2 wickets down for just 7 runs. Certainly not the start they would have hoped for. They did steady the ship and moved onto 30 runs before losing their 3 wicket in the 8th over. David Braithwaite took an excellent catch at point off John Threadgold’s bowling. Wickets then fell in successive overs. Syed took a catch from Kevin Threadgold’s bowling before taking a wicket of his own with David Braitwaite again taking the catch. This left North Kildare 36-5 after 9.2 overs and very much in a spot of bother. However, they did have an ace up their sleeve. North Kildare Skipper Raman Bansal was not for moving; not yet anyway. He was the best of the North Kildare batsman scoring 33 before he became the 6th Halverstown Wicket. It was a recreation of the 4th wicket with Syed taking another catch from Kevin Threadgold’s bowling. This would leave North Kildare on 64-4 after 13 overs. They were starting to run out of overs and batsmen. Halverstown bowlers saw blood in the water and weren’t letting up. Kevin Threadgold took his 3rd wicket with the last ball of the 15th over with Gunter Bayer taking an incredible catch on the boundary edge. Two more wickets would quickly fall too. Syed took his tally to two wickets with Vishnu Yannam taking a steepling catch, and in the very next over Yannam took the stumps out of the ground with some serious pace bowling. The final wicket of in the innings fell with Halverstown captain, Hubert Beaumont taking a very smart stumping off John Threadgold’s bowling. This left North Kildare all out for 84 runs.
They say you should never judge a pitch until both teams have bowled on it. This wouldn’t be an easy chase for Halverstown. The expected rain fell during the innings break, but we managed to get restarted back on time. North Kildare showed their intent by taking the wicket of David Braithwaite in the 3rd over, leaving Halverstown on 7-1. His fellow opener Barry Ashmore was out caught in the 6th over from the bowling of Amol. This was heaping pressure on Halverstown as they are now 17-2. When in trouble, look to your best batsman, and in Clive Wardrop and South African Gunter Bayer, Halverstown have two of the best. They managed to push on 28-2 before Bayer was clean bowled by Usman Khalid. Halverstown were starting to get behind the required run rate. Worse news is that the dreaded rain was back. When it passed, in came the bowling hero from earlier, Kevin Threadgold. Unfortunately, he didn’t last long before being run out after scoring only 1 run. This left Halverstown on 43-4 with 11 overs played. They say, cometh the hour, cometh the man, and John Threadgold has been that man for many a long year. He held up his end, while Wardrop kept bashing away at the other end. They managed to get to 76-4 before Threadgold was also run out when trying to score a 2nd run. The rain was getting too heavy, and by this point the teams left the pitch for almost 20 mins. Halverstown needed 6 runs with 3 overs remaining. Thankfully the rain stopped for all of 10 minutes. This was enough time for Wardrop to see Halverstown home by 5 wickets. He finished on 47 not out, and Halverstown took victory by 5 wickets.
North Kildare 3 - 84 all out after 17.3 overs. (Raman 33, K Threadgold 23-3)
Halverstown 1 - 85-5 after 17.5 overs. (C Wardrop 47no, U Khalid 8-1)
Teams:
Halverstown 1 - Barry Ashmore. David Braithwaite, Clive Wardrop, Gunter Bayer, Kevin Threadgold, John Threadgold, Ahsan Syed, Vishnu Yannam, Kevin Hodson, Neville Case and Hubert Beaumont (Captain).
North Kildare 3 - Daire O’Neill, James Machin, Muddasir Zeb, Raman Bansal (Captain), Abid Ali, Usman Khalid, Srinidhi Kevasha, Devansh Bhansali, Jasmeet Singh, Andy Hirst and Amol Pathak.