Waller is the hero but he can't save Lisburn CC from defeat

Eventually they lost heavily by 8 wickets, but Lisburn had a hero on the day; 24 year old Nathan Waller, back to the club from Zimbabwe, scored a superb 111 and gave Waringstown a scare in the process.

Waller came to the crease with the Lisburn innings falling around him and along with Stevie Lazars recovered the situation with a stand of 63.

The early order of Robert Rankin, Richard Simpson, Cody Chetty and captain Adam Berry had all been dismissed, Rankin and Berry off the bowling of Waringstown professional, Pienaar while Simpson and Chetty were the victims of Eaglestone leaving the Lisburn innings in tatters.

Waller and Lazars steadied the side with a very thoughtful and positive stand of 63 in 20 overs before Lazars was clean bowled by off spinner McCallan for a very gutsy 33 leaving the balance of the Lisburn innings in the hands of the later order and they responded to the situation.

Firstly, Davey Simpson used all his experience to support Waller as the pair added a further 65 with Waller being the dominant partner.

The Zimbabwean has developed into a much more mature player over the intervening years as he showed all his skill and power during the afternoon.

Davey Simpson was out in the 35th over, caught behind the wicket off Pienaar for a priceless 20 leaving Waller to farm the strike and move to his brilliant century off just 105 deliveries, his second fifty came off only 33 balls and his 111 included seven boundaries and six huge sixes, the ball being lost on two occasions.

Nathan had late support from Mark Berry and Richard McConkey which took the score to an unlikely 230 when their 50 overs were completed.

He was second last out with only a few balls left in the innings and Lisburn must have been relieved to post a more than adequate total and give themselves something for their bowling attack to bowl at during the Waringstown chase.

Unfortunately, Waringstown other ideas and their opening batsmen James McCollum and James Hall set about the chase in a very positive fashion and very soon had the upper hand on the Lisburn bowlers.

They picked off the loose ball and ran well between the wickets to add no less than 159 in their opening stand.

Lisburn had no answer with skipper Adam Berry trying everything available to him to break the partnership.

The break-through probably came too late when McCollum was easily caught by Callum Atkinson off the bowling of Stevie Lazars for 61 but James Hall went on to complete an excellent century, before he was caught by Simon Olphert behind the wicket immediately after scoring his 100th run.

The score at that point was 178 with Waringstown still requiring 52 to take the league points but any chance of causing an upset was duly scotched by a 3rd wicket stand between Cobis Pienaar and Adam Dennison which took their team through to a deserved 8 wicket win with 10 balls remaining in the game.

The only two Lisburn bowlers to take a wicket were Stevie Lzars with 1 for 39 off his 10 overs and Richard McConkey with 1 for 44 off his 8 over spell.

Again, Lisburn had been outgunned by a very strong Waringstown team.

However, on Saturday the local side at last showed some resilience mostly supplied by Nathan Waller but also by some good support batting and this is what the struggling side must continue if they are to grab a vital victory at North Down this Saturday at The Green.

Not everything has been plain sailing for the Comber club this season and perhaps Lisburn can bring off a must needed win and drag themselves from the lower reaches of the highly competitive Premier League.