Villagers stroll to cup victory at the seaside

The villagers are through to the quarter-finals of the Ulster Bank Challenge Cup where they have been drawn against big rivals North Down at The Green.

Saturday’s tie against Section One Dundrum was the most romantic of the round and when Kyle McCallan, James Hall and then professional Obus Pienaar departed relatively cheaply to leave Waringstown 57 for three, the home side had just a glimpse of most of the incredible upsets in the competition’s history.

It was the briefest of hopes as first Lee Nelson struck 53 came off 55 balls with a six and seven fours and then a century partnership between Thompson and Jonathan Bushe (27) slammed the door firmly shut.

Thompson, at first watchful, showed increasing aggression as the innings went on, and he struck four sixes and six fours a superb 71 from 83 balls.

A clatter of wickets went down in the later stages on a difficult pitch, but Waringstown would have been well satisfied with a total of 266.

Batting was always going to be hazardous occupation for Dundrum, especially against Eaglestone, with the former Strabane man reducing their innings to rubble at 16 for six.

The left-arm seamer finished with five for 25 and there were three wickets for left-arm spinner Gary Kidd as Dundrum were dismissed for just 65 in 20.1 overs.

At The Lawn, Waringstown second eleven seamer Alan Harrison could barely have envisaged what lay ahead as the first delivery he bowled was stroked for four as the villagers tried to defend a total of 211 against Belfast International Sports Club.

Harrison proceeded to burst through the opposition order in the Junior Cup tie, taking extraordinary figures of five wickets for eight runs as BISC were all out for 78 in 22 overs.

Earlier in the day Adam Dennison had top scored with 55 and Ross Waite made a belligerent 44. Craig Kennedy completed a trio of impressive innings from the young guns with an eye-catching 24.

Alan Waite’s young team face Millpark in the next round.

Waringstown thirds completed a fine day for the club with a five-run victory over Instonians in the Minor Cup at Shaw’s Bridge. The villagers totalled 164 all out off their 35 overs with captain Andrew Beattie top scoring with 39.

There were also good contributions from veteran Robyn McClimond (21), Mark Fitzpatrick (19) and Lyness Topping (17). A total of 36 extras also helped Waringstown on their way. Instonians finished perilously close on 159.