The Ulster Grasshoppers have made a winning start on their South African tour with a 59-run win over Groot Drakenstein.
Batting first they recovered well from a precarious 119 for 7 to post 198 thanks to a valuable 8th wicket stand of 48 between joint top-scorer Glenn Halliday (36) and Calum Atkinson (19).
There were also runs for Aaron Wright (36), Jack Beattie (25), Jonathan Waite (19), Seb Best (15), Matthew McCord (14*) and Matthew Daly (12).
The Lisburn influence continued with two wickets apiece for Atkinson and Richard Simpson, plus a double too for former Irish international James Cameron-Dow.
Nel's half century gave the hosts some brief hope, but four wickets for North Down's Ally Shields sealed the ultimately convincing win.
Matty McCord bowled with great pace in fiery new-ball spell, but with little luck, while Johnny Waite's stunning one hand catch was a worthy recipient of the champagne moment.
MATCH SCORECARD
| Toss won by | Ulster Grasshoppers |
| Home Side | Groot Drakenstein |
| Batsman | Fieldsman | Bowler | Runs | Min | Bls | 4s | 6s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A Shields | c T Bolton | b L Carruthers | 3 | 17 | 16 | 16 | 0 |
| J Waite | c T Bolton | b N van Woerkon | 19 | 35 | 28 | 3 | 0 |
| A Wright | lbw | b M Nel | 36 | 62 | 49 | 3 | 0 |
| S Best | c&b C McNaught | 15 | 57 | 32 | 2 | 0 | |
| J Cameron-Dow | c ? | b C McNaught | 2 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| J Beattie | st T Bolton | b Z Barnard | 25 | 42 | 26 | 3 | 0 |
| R Waite | c Z Barnard | b C McNaught | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| G Halliday*+ | b Z Barnard | 36 | 56 | 36 | 3 | 0 | |
| C Atkinson | c L Carruthers | b N van Woerkon | 19 | 28 | 18 | 3 | 0 |
| M Daly | lbw | b N van Woerkon | 12 | 15 | 10 | 2 | 0 |
| Matthew McCord | not out | 14 | 10 | 9 | 1 | 0 | |
| extras | (b2 lb5 w7 nb3) | 17 | |||||
| TOTAL | 10 wickets for | 198 |
| FOW |
|---|
| 1-14(J Waite) 2-32(J Waite) 3-76(A Wright) 4-79(J Cameron-Dow) 5-84(S Best) |
| 6-84(R Waite) 7-119(J Beattie) 8-167(G Halliday) 9-173(C Atkinson) 10-198(M Daly) |
| Bowler | Overs | Maid | Runs | Wkts | wd | nb |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| L Carruthers | 7 | 0 | 27 | 1 | - | - |
| N van Woerkon | 7.5 | 0 | 33 | 3 | - | - |
| C McNaught | 7 | 1 | 27 | 3 | 2 | - |
| M Nel | 7 | 0 | 38 | 1 | 3 | - |
| Z Barnard | 5 | 0 | 28 | 2 | 2 | - |
| M Devine | 4 | 0 | 38 | 0 | - | 3 |
| Batsman | Fieldsman | Bowler | Runs | Min | Bls | 4s | 6s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C Chantler | b C Atkinson | 20 | 54 | 31 | 4 | 0 | |
| W Loudens | c J Waite | b C Atkinson | 2 | 43 | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| M Nel | not out | 54 | 127 | 78 | 6 | 1 | |
| C Schultz | b R Simpson | 1 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | |
| N van Woerkon | c G Halliday | b R Simpson | 6 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 0 |
| L Carruthers | c G Halliday | b J Cameron-Dow | 17 | 45 | 26 | 1 | 0 |
| I Nel | lbw | b A Shields | 3 | 7 | 8 | 0 | 0 |
| C McNaught* | c J Cameron-Dow | b A Shields | 0 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| T Bolton+ | lbw | b J Cameron-Dow | 1 | 5 | 7 | 0 | 0 |
| Z Barnard | b A Shields | 14 | 32 | 19 | 2 | 0 | |
| M Devine | b A Shields | 1 | 9 | 12 | 0 | 0 | |
| extras | (b2 lb4 w12 nb2) | 20 | |||||
| TOTAL | 10 wickets for | 139 |
| FOW |
|---|
| 1-32(W Loudens) 2-45(C Chantler) 3-46(C Schultz) 4-52(N van Woerkon) |
| 5-99(L Carruthers) 6-102(C McNaught) 7-104(T Bolton) 8-135(Z Barnard) |
| 9-138(M Devine) 10-139(I Nel) |
| Bowler | Overs | Maid | Runs | Wkts | wd | nb |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Matthew McCord | 6 | 0 | 27 | 0 | 1 | - |
| M Daly | 1 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 3 | 2 |
| C Atkinson | 6 | 0 | 18 | 2 | 1 | - |
| R Simpson | 5 | 0 | 26 | 2 | - | - |
| J Cameron-Dow | 6 | 2 | 14 | 2 | 1 | - |
| A Shields | 6 | 0 | 22 | 4 | 4 | - |
| S Best | 3 | 0 | 14 | 0 | - | - |
