Acting Captain Stephen Forsythe won the toss and decided to bat on what looked to be a flat pitch on a hot sunny day.
Chris Adrain and Ryan Wilson made a solid start and put on 25 for the first wicket before Ryan was bowled by G. Botha. Seamus Crowe, making his debut, joined Chris and they put on 54 for the second wicket to take the score to 79 after 20 overs before Seamus was bowled by R. Hanna, a leg break bowler.
This proved to be the turning point of the game as R. Hanna proceeded to rip through the Dungannon batting lineup spinning the ball 4 to 5 feet at times on a very dry pitch. He turned in figures of (9.4-4-21-7wkts ) to rout Dungannon's batsmen as Dungannon lost nine wickets for 39 runs ending of on a meagre total of 118 runs.
Many of the batsmen contributed to their own downfall by trying to hit the opposing bowlers for six when more circumspect shots were acquired. The team has the tendency to play shots as if it is a 20/20 game and very rarely use up even 40 of the 50 overs allocated. If the batsmen could just curb their impetuousness and wait for the scoring opportunities to arrive instead of trying to force the pace there is enough ability in the batting to put on 200 runs every innings and this would it gave our bowling attack something to bowl at and would produce a win on most occasions as we have a number of bowlers capable of taking wickets.

Unbeaten

The exception to this criticism is the unlucky Stephen Forsyth who was given out caught playing a defensive shot when he did not touch the ball and this follows after a bad lbw decision last week. His luck appears to be out at the moment.
Chris Adrain and Seamus Crowe batted well scoring 45 and 22 respectively and were the main contributors to the Dungannon total. Seamus Crowe was making his debut and it looks as if he is going to be a very welcome addition to the club with his enthusiasm and skill .
Chris Adrain passed a milestone in his cricket career as the completed 12,000 runs for Dungannon when he had scored 17 and this is more than 3000 runs more than any other player who has played for Dungannon.
The Dungannon total of 118 was never going to be enough to defeat the strong Cooke Collegians team and they reached their target in just under 25 overs.
David Ferguson and Gareth Brown opened the bowling and both regularly bowled wicket taking delivery's which hit both the outside and inside edges of the bat but they had no luck with the ball just avoiding the slip fielders and when it beat the bat it just missed the stumps. Neither bowler had any luck.
Dungannon's luck only changed when Stephen Forsythe came on to bowl the 10th over and he took three wickets in successive overs. Unfortunately such a low total proved impossible to defend although Simon McAleese took a fourth wicket. R. Hanna, who had done the damage with the ball, top scored with 37 not out to complete a good day's work for his side.
Dungannon were again missing a few regular players including captain Stephen Kelly and have yet to field a full strength team - and this is a contributing factor in the lack of success this season.
A much more determined batting effort is required to bat out the 50 overs and put a reasonable total on the board. Too many of the batsmen are playing irresponsible shots and not grafting for runs. Results will not improve until this is rectified. The ball is also a need to improve their accuracy as far too many wides are being bowled.
Next Saturday the Firsts entertain Templepatrick. They always provide stern opposition and this could be a close game and one that the team need to win to survive in this league. The club does have more good players than in recent years but everyone needs to pull their weight to achieve success.