Lisburn maintained their position in top bracket

Adam Berry’s team barely deserved to avoid relegation as they did not manage to win a match since they dismissed Instonians for 65 back in July but they also suffered in the latter stage of their league programme with the loss of two key players.

Professional Fiaz Fazal was called back to India with five games remaining on the fixture list having contributed massively to the Lisburn cause while Davey Simpson’s all round presence was also missing in the final run-in when he broke his finger in the game against Carrick.

The last three games, however, were lost decisively, North Down in Comber began their three match finale and ended when an 87 run defeat was suffered after the match was reduced to 38 overs.

Darren Stephens, an imported English professional was employed for the weekend taking 3 for 25 while left arm spinner Reinhardt Strydom bowled well for his 4 for 26.

The North Down total of 204 for 9 proved far too much for Lisburn as they were dismissed for 117 in just 29 overs with Reinhardt Strydom again responding with a top score of 34.

The following day Lisburn travelled to Muckamore for the vital head to head relegation battle and again the Lisburn batting could only manage a paltry 95 all out in their allotted 20 overs with the Strydom brothers providing 54 of the runs. Muckamore knocked off the runs in just 16 overs leaving Lisburn hanging onto the Premier League by a thread, beaten by 6 wickets.

Lisburn’s final match was another 20/20 affair against CIYMS AT Belmont last Friday evening and again Lisburn were no match for the Premier League leaders. The visitors amassed just 102 in their 20 overs with Richard Simpson and Callum Atkinson both top scoring with 20.

However, CIYMS scored the necessary runs for the loss of just one wicket in the short space of 13 overs.

With the succession of defeats Lisburn had to depend on the results from Muckamore,s remaining games and when their last match against Carrick was abandoned, Lisburn survived by the narrowest of margins leaving them with a lot to think about before next season begins in May.