CRICKET: Hunter rattles out 82 runs as Larne ease past Ards

Eddie Hunter's 82 not-out helped Larne to a nine-wickets success in Saturday's NCU Section 3 victory at Ards.
Larne's  Eddie HunterLarne's  Eddie Hunter
Larne's Eddie Hunter

The hosts won the toss opted to bat and posted 143-9. All-rounder Hunter and Charlie Cloke bowled well, returning figures of 3-18 and 2-22 respectively.

In reply, Hunter, on the back of last week’s Junior Cup century against Muckamore II, rattled out 82 runs with Chris Dempsey chipping in with 32 not-out.

Hunter’s first wicket came the 10th over when he bowled Simms with an off-stump corker before Cloke had the other Ards opener caught by Gaw at mid-off. Larne went on to reduce the home side to 65-7, with Hunter rewarded with two further wickets. Cloke picked up his second wicket courtesy of a sharp stumping from Trevor Dempsey. Jack Campbell joined the party with two wickets of his own but Larne took their foot off the gas which allowed Ards to finish on 143-9.

Openers Hunter and Wilson put on 60 for the first wicket in quick time before Wilson was caught for 15. Chris Dempsey joined Hunter and the pair took Larne over the line at a rate of knots, with both batsmen punishing anything loose, taking the side home by home wickets. The winning runs were scored with a total of 19.4 overs remaining.

Although extremely pleased to have won so well, Larne captain Gareth Gaw was less than impressed with his team’s efforts in the field. “We will need to greatly improve for the upcoming games if we want to keep this winning run going. We host Donaghadee, the only other unbeaten team in Section 3 on Saturday, in what will be a tough fixture,” he said.