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Old Dunumians Cricket
After an absence of more than 10 years, the Old Dunumians v Down High 1st XI fixture was resurrected. As per tradition, the Old Dunumians batted first and openers Daniel Carson and the evergreen “Jute” Magowan found the pace of Down High openers Justin Rea and Aaron Cairns to their liking as they found the boundary with ease. They took the score to 56 for 0 when Carson retired, having scored 30 and Magowan followed shortly after when he was run out for 26.
This brought David Rea and Peter Bell to the crease and Justin Rea immediately decided to bowl his last over at his dad. Experience was the winner here as Rea senior managed to see out the over. Bell hit a couple of swift boundaries before being well caught by Tommy McConnell on the boundary. Aaron Ferris was then caught behind and the recently-departed Ivor Monaghan made his way to the crease. Having not played cricket for 6 years, he breathed a sigh of relief when he got off the mark with his first shot before expertly pulling Cairns for a boundary. His innings was cut short when he was run out and, when David Rea (32) retired after clubbing a huge six, Stephen Calvert and Alan Reid found themselves together with a couple of overs left. Alan’s son John bowled the last over and he showed his dad no mercy when he ran him out. The Old Dunumians finally posted a score of 132 for 8 off their 20 overs.
In response, Down High’s openers Pat Calvert and Aaron Cairns got off to a watchful start. It wasn’t until the 7th over that Calvert decided to take a shine to Ivor Monaghan’s bowling, hitting him for 2 sixes and 2 fours in successive balls. Calvert eventually retired on 42. The introduction of Maths teacher David Doey saw him take the prize wicket of Aaron Cairns and he followed this up with the wicket of Jack Calvert. Old Dunumians skipper Stephen Calvert decided that every player would get 2 overs and former Head Boy William Edgar had the dangerous Justin Rea caught in the boundary. Edgar lured Rea into a big shot with a full toss and secured a second wicket when Michael Stoneman was caught at cover. After the run out of Thomas Boyd, James Scott and John Donnan set about rebuilding the innings with Donnan in particular looking good as he hit David Rea for successive fours. However Rea had the last laugh when he clean bowled Donnan shortly after. When Scott fell to an excellent catch by William Edgar, former Ireland bowler “Jute” Magowan had John Reid and Jack Miller stumped to leave Down High 104 for 9 after 17 overs. Patrick Calvert returned and he reached his 50 with a huge six. With 17 needed off 2 overs, the Old Dunumians wrapped up victory when Phil Moreland took a great catch off Aaron Ferris to dismiss Tommy McConnell.
The match was played in an excellent spirit and thanks go to Ken McCammon and David Napier for umpiring. Thanks also go to David Rea for organising the use of Downpatrick Cricket Club and arranging a buffet tea afterwards. Hopefully this game will continue to be an annual event.
The picture show the two teams and umpires Ken McCammon and David Napier.
