Mixed fortunes for Seconds in Cup matches

The game is against Instonians at Shaws Bridge is another crucial one in their stuttering season.

Having chalked up just a single win at Ballymena out of three starts, they will be more than keen to defeat a strong Instonians side which over the past few seasons has proved to be difficult opponents.

However, with the confidence boosting victory at Brigade still fresh in their minds, Lisburn will face Instonians with a lot more optimism. There were good signs at Brigade that the Lisburn batting was beginning to blossom. A fine half century from Robert Rankin along with 60 from Darryl Brown and an encouraging 40 from skipper Davey Simpson demonstrates that they can set a testing target for the opposition.

The attack also impressed as it kept its nerve against the late onslaught from the Brigade late order and they certainly will; have to repeat this when they face the long and talented Instonians batting line up on Saturday. A win would relieve a lot of the pressure on Lisburn at this early point of the season.

With Saturday 21st being a free date, the match against Donemana in the next round of the Ulster Cup is now scheduled for Sunday 22nd at Donenama with another tight 40 over encounter in prospect.

Lisburn Seconds had mixed fortunes last weekend when they played two cup games on Saturday and Sunday. They travelled to Mallusk on Saturday to play their first round of the Junior Cup against Belfast Indian Sports Club and came away with a narrow victory by just one wicket.

Batting first the BISC scored an under par 141 with Cyril Vergese being the pick of the Lisburn bowlers with 3 for 21 with his spinners.

Lisburn struggled to score freely throughout their innings with only Rickie Finlay reaching a decent score of 30. It was left to the youngsters Cyril Vergese and Aaron McKeown to see the Seconds through to the next round helped greatly by a vast number of wides served up by BISC.

The Seconds now travel to Millpark on the 21st June for their second round match after their close shave on Saturday.

On Sunday, they travelled to Brigade for their Ulster Plate match, the scene of the ISTS victory on Saturday but they did not have the same result losing by 5 wickets.

Again, the Lisburn team could not produce a score to put their opponents under pressure managing just 147 on a hard wicket and fast outfield. Adam Berry top scored with 50 while Jonny Bell and Richard McConkey chipped in with 23 and 21.

The Brigade side got off to a good start but as they approached the winning target they lost a number of wickets due to some good slow bowling by Aaron McKeown who returned the very good figures of 4 for 29. The home side, however, were able to grab the vital runs and win by 5 wickets with overs to spare.