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North County v Railway Union, played at Inch on Monday 2nd August

My third match of the long weekend, North County v Railway Union, should have been the best of the three in terms of the quality of cricket, and there were some fine individual efforts with bat, ball and in the field, but neither side functioned as the powerful unit each should be.

County won the toss and batted.  Kevin O'Brien looked fluent and sharp from the road end, and after one over from Saad Ullah, Trent Johnston took over at the Knockbrack end.  He too looked in good order.  Conor Armstrong has lost his fluency of former seasons, but Mossie Shiel is gaining in confidence, and played the better of the two left handers.

The pair had put on 51 when Mohammed Tariq, replacing O'Brien, bowled Shiel for 23.  Seventeen runs later Paddy Conliffe, replacing TJ, trapped Conor lbw for a very quiet 16.  Now came the best batting of the innings as another pair of left-handers, Richie Lawrence and John Mooney, took the score to 114-2 at drinks with some good shots and smart running between the wickets.

Then Lawrence lost concentration, wandered up the pitch to Lambert, missed, and was stumped, eventually, by Sam Farthing for 35 out of 118.  Paddy Conliffe had got the elbow at the Knockbrack end, replaced after three overs by Kenny Carroll's chinamen and googlies.

Brian Shields, the first right-hander of the day, tried to hit Kenny back over his head, didn't clear him, but the chance didn't stick.  A couple of balls later it was deja vu all over again and the catch was taken.  John Boy took the initiative as Ciaran Garry settled in, but missed a straight one from Carroll to be bowled for 35.

Don't ask me if it was the chinaman or googly – I was looking through the lens of a camera from square on.  John doesn't know either: “It must have seamed,” he said.  That was 134-5, and after pulling Kenny just over Tom Fisher at deep square for 6, Jonno Andrews offered a catch to Johnston.  TJ took it – 146-6.

Jimmy Boyland holed out off Carroll, and when Eddie Richardson did likewise, County were 160-8 and in danger of presenting the game to Railway.  The other Armstrong, Dara, has long since lost his fluency, but he doesn't give his wicket away.  Ciaran Garry was still there, still playing the odd good shot, and there were still ten overs left.

Carroll finished his spell with 5/28, Lambert had been finished a while with 1/26, so O'Brien and Johnston returned.  While Dara kept them out, Garry went on the offensive and started to find the boundary and twice cleared it.  He had reached 52 in the final over when he was caught off Tariq.

Dara Armstrong (19*) and Terry Richardson (4*) then added seven more runs to get the total to 222-9, not a great score for the Inch, but something to bowl at.  Despite their opening spells, both O'Brien and Johnston remained wicketless and went for above fives.

I haven't done the stats, but I'd be surprised if Kenny Carroll and Tom Fisher weren't the best opening pair in Division 1 this season.  Normally Fisher is straight into his stride while “Squacko” might have a look for a few overs.  Not this time.

Kenny had made all 14 when he was bowled in Jimmy Boyland's second over.  Graeme McDonnell added another boundary and succumbed lbw to the last ball of the over.  Tom told me later that he thought Graeme unlucky, but he reckoned he'd been very lucky not to go in the first over.

So did the bowler and the keeper, who would have been in a good position to judge.  There may not be any harm in cover and square leg joining in the appeal to support their mates, but to question the decision by feigned indignation, surpise and/or teapots, which they did, is so much horse manure and really needs to be cut out of the game.

Fisher scored 13 of the next 18 runs before he was bowled by Mooney.  Trent Johnston came in and looked in great nick, dispatching the ball to all parts.  Kevin O'Brien wasn't scoring runs, but he certainly wasn't in trouble.

The he shelled one from Mooney to mid wicket where I'm sure Mossie Shiel, fairly close in, was trying to get out of the way.  As he arched backwards the ball stuck in his raised left hand, and wor Kev had to go.  It was 48-4 in the tenth over.

The next ten overs saw TJ and Conor Mullen add 52 runs much as they pleased.  Richie Lawrence, whose off-breaks are delivered after a very brief jog to the crease, bowls the occasional no ball.  He bowled one now, and Mullie whacked it into the ground and up to short mid on, where John Boy stretched his tall frame to make an excellent stop.

Seeing TJ out of his ground, backing up, in the same movement as intercepting the ball he threw down the stumps, as good a piece of fielding as you'll see this decade – or last.  Trent had made 35, and Railway now wanted another 122 in 30 overs, no bother if somebody could hang around with Mullie.

Paddy Conliffe couldn't, attempting a run where there wasn't one to be run out at the second attempt by Dara Armstrong.  Now it was the time for some Railway players to turn on the self-righteous indignation, shouting from the pavilion that the wicket hadn't be broken legally on the second attempt.  Umpire Gordon Black was satisfied that it had been, and Paddy had to go without scoring.

When Mo Tariq first came to Ireland he was a more than capable bat and a half decent bowler.  His bowling has probably improved, but his batting has gone the other way unless he goes for his shots.  He decided that the situation required him not to do that, so he prodded and poked while at the same time expressing the Pakistani gene for being unable to run between the wickets.

He was dropped on 4 and on 7, both straightforward chances, and somehow managed to add forty runs with Conor Mullen, who by now had passed fifty and needed to double that for a Railway win.  Finally Mo squirted a catch off Shiel which wasn't dropped, although Lawrence made it look a lot more difficult than it was.

Sam Farthing helped add another 11, when he was lbw to Jonno Andrews, and Saad Ullah pfaffed around for a few more runs before being dropped at slip by Mooney.  Saad responded to Mullie's call for a single, but the brilliant John Boy atoned for his drop by throwing down the bowler's end wicket.

A few more runs and Greg “Lambo” Lambert was lbw to Boyland.  Railway were all out for a very disappointing 166, Conor Mullen still there on 68.  Boyland finished with 3/33 and Mooney with 2/32.  County remain top of Division 1, and it's difficult to see how Railway can overtake them.