North Down skipper Martin Moreland up for Bready Cup clash

It's four all between the North West and the NCU after the first round of matches in the O'Neills Ulster Cup and this weekend sees two games in each jurisdiction.
North Down captain Martin MorelandNorth Down captain Martin Moreland
North Down captain Martin Moreland

And the main on offer is at The Green where North Down take on Bready.

North Down have something of a love affair with this competition and the 40 over contests seem to bring out the best in them.

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It is also special for their skipper Martin Moreland and he is looking forward to the clash.

“We are the holders and it was my first trophy as captain of North Down, so I’m hoping the lads continue with a good defence.

“ We have two home games this weekend, CIYMS in the league on Saturday up first and fair to say that whoever loses that one can pretty much forget about any league challenge.

“We know Bready are a good side on their day and seem to have found a bit of form and obviously their skipper David Scanlon has been grabbing the headlines this week with his performance for the Warriors against the Knights.

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“Though offset against that we hear that they will be missing David Rankin, Craig Young, Ross Dougherty and Kyle Hamilton.

“We actually have Peter Davison back from the Euros though Peter Shields misses out with a broken finger.

“We are also hopeful that Nathan Burns will keep wicket although he also picked up a knock to his hand.

“ We have tried a few combinations on the bowling front this season to get it right but it seems to be working with Pieter Malan taking the new ball.

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“Pieter is not a complicated cricket he likes to keep things simple and the boys seem to respond to that. I don’t think he has failed to get to 30 in any game.

“We have not had the rub of the green in the league to date and we are looking forward to the CIYMS game, a lot of the guys on both sides attended Grovsenor Grammar so we know each other well and obviously Nathan and Jacob Mulder played there.

“I expect the usual high scoring games from the Comber pitch.”

Ardmore against CIYMS should be fun with Stevie Dunn against his old team and Johnny Thompson getting a “home” fixture!

Brigade will be hoping that another trip to the NCU is as successful as their day at Instonians and in the final game Strabane entertain Waringstown.

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