Halverstown v. Ballyeighan

Social Fixture, Monday 6th August
Halverstown won by 52 runs.


HALVERSTOWN 207-8 (35 overs)
D. Ryall 85
I. Walker 34
H. Beaumont 23
---
B. Hobbs (!) 3-15


BALLYEIGHAN 155-9 (35 overs)
F. Moore 69
---
I. Walker 3-10
D. Ryall 2-14
H. Ronaldson 2-16

Match report by Des Drumm


Ballyeighan, place of mystery. When we travel there we can’t find it. When we come back we have no idea where we have been. When we are scheduled to play at home we never know if they will come. And when they do, we never know if they will score over 300 and skittle us out or  if we will win easily. We never know the men of mystery who play for them, sometimes from Galway, Thurles or Laoise, sometimes even from the strange place called Ballyeighan.

The confusion Ballyeighan elicits was no less this year. A late fixture, it was accepted reluctantly since we had 1st and 2nd team games as well as a Social game the previous day. To add to the confusion I asked players which game they fancied. When we called to confirm on Thursday, Ballyeighan had it for a home game- as did we. We would not travel because of the fixture congestion, so they offered to come to us. Then Bell’s Academy (no surprise) called off the Sunday game; then both the 1st team  and 2nd team games were cancelled. Instead of me begging players for Monday, the boot was on the other foot as players claimed to have opted for Monday.After all this, I was still surprised by the appearance of at least one player, which resulted in us having 12. Luckily Chairman Hobbs was around and he volunteered to play for them- or maybe we volunteered him. They arrived early with a largely young team wearing a variety of tops- Laoise, Thurles, Clonmel and Ireland. The latter worried us, as did their warm-up in the nets.

Since my last experience of Ballyeighan was their 310, I chose to bat first so we could get home early and maybe even get to see Katie Taylor fight at 3pm. It was a source of  surprise to both them and me  that we posted 207. A steady 34 (OK, slow- but he was tired after making the sandwiches)  by Iain Walker against some good bowling, then a thrilling 85 by Darren Ryall which included two 6s and nine 4s, followed by  a stylish (naturally) 23 from Hubert, were the highlights of an innings. Bill Hobbs tried to rally them (boo!), taking 3 for 15 of 3 overs  but  their young team was rather dispirited by the end. 

Lacking pace bowlers, our bowling line-up did not look to be especially strong, but it bowled extremely well. Adi was outstanding opening the bowling, taking a wicket with his first ball and bowling three consecutive maidens and conceding just 13 runs in 5 overs against good batsmen. He was ably assisted by Joey Brown; then Jeremy Kemp and myself helped keep the scores down.Third change  was the killer: Darren’s 2 for 14 off 3 and Hugh Ronaldson’s excellent  2 for 16 off 4 saw the game as good as won. However, the final change, following Adam Myers’ tidy spell,  was the piece de resistance: Iain Walker- now recovered from his sandwich making exertions - mopped up the tail end with 3 for 10, with his sandwich- making partner, Robert Pocock, taking one for 12. They were such a success that we all want them to make the sandwiches again….