DOWNPATRICK Cricket Club’s midweek team continued their winning march against the mighty Instonians Cricket Club on Monday night. The 25 run victory was Downpatrick sixth win on the bounce. Arnab Chatterjee and Chris Gilmore opened batting for Downpatrick and looked good for the first couple of overs with boundaries coming frequently. Soon, Arnab got out to a sharp catch behind the stumps. Chris Gilmore continued his innings with some powerful blows and scored a quick 22 runs in just 12 balls. Wickets kept falling although a few big shots were coming frequently. Indhudhar and Akhil Tandon were unlucky to get out quickly. Abhishek Sanglikar, who usually opens batting for Downpatrick, came lower down the order this time and hit 22 runs from 12 balls before getting out. Aaron Ferris and Ravi Ningegowda looked to steady the innings by playing safe for a few overs and waiting for the bad balls. Soon, Aaron Ferris departed to a sharp catch when trying to accelerate the score. Downpatrick’s score at 69 runs for the loss of five wickets started worries in the dugout. A big partnership was the need of the hour to post a decent total and give a chance for bowlers to defend it. Downpatrick’s mister dependable and consistent, Siddharth Kumar, joined Ravi Ningegowda at the centre and slowly they started to build the innings. They both put together 45 runs partnership among which Sidharth had the major share and Ravi Ningegowda played a supporting role. Siddharth finished his innings at 34 runs not out which included two four’s and three sixes and, as per midweek rules, was retired. Downpatrick’s score was 114 at that time and they were still not out of the woods. Ravi took stock of the situation and started to accelerate the scoring. He finally ended up with his quota of 32 runs which included two fours and one six. At the end Downpatrick posted a respectable total of 148 runs at the end of 20 overs. With a close to 7.5 required run rate , Instonian’s started their innings pretty well, their openers put together a quick 37 runs before Downpatrick bowler Shridhar Tallur trapped the batsman’s leg before the wicket. Downpatrick bowlers kept the run rate in check and kept bowling at the right spots, waiting for wickets to fall. Prayers being answered and decent fielding made Instonians lose wickets at regular intervals. In the end, Instonians posted 123 runs. Downpatrick won the game by 25 runs with 1.3 overs to spare. The pick of the bowlers for Downpatrick were Ajil Matthew (three overs, 18 runs, two wickets), Sidharth Kumar (three and a half overs, 19 runs, two wickets), Shridhar Tallur (four overs, 21 runs, two wickets. Arun Kumar and Arnab Chatterjee both picked a wicket each as well. Downpatrick continue to retain their top spot in the Midweek League with 24 points from seven matches played. The team have already qualified for the knock out quarter finals, which start next week, and are currently favourites to win the trophy.
