Nikolai Smith and Murray Commins seal Instonians’ welcome win

Having been inserted to bat after losing the toss, Instonians openers Smith and Ollie Metcalfe were able to see off the new ball and set good foundations in what was a must-win match for the home side.

The pair managed to reach a 50 partnership for Instonians after 14 overs.

Muckamore eventually made the breakthrough when Metcalfe (31), who had hit two consecutive boundaries, guided one from Neil Gill to gully with the score sitting on a tally of 69.

That brought Commins to the crease and he looked comfortably from ball one, moving Instonians past the 100 mark after taking 18 off the 22nd over.

Smith passed 50 shortly after and Commins also raced to the landmark in the 33rd over before further accelerating when Smith was trapped lbw by Fahad Iqbal for a superb 83.

Commins, who was undoubtedly deserving of his first Premier League century, was dismissed for a quite brilliant 91 as Instonians ended their innings on 242-7, with Karthik Rajavelu collecting four wickets for the Muckamore side.

Muckamore got off to a steady start in their pursuit but were finding it hard to score runs off the tight bowling of Josh Manley and James Magee as they reached 20-0 after the first powerplay.

When Jamie Rogers was ran out in the 10th over - a decision that took a prolonged period of time to make after discussions over a dead ball - Muckamore wickets started to tumble and they were bowled out for 71.

The two teams will meet again at the same venue next weekend when they clash in the Gallagher Challenge Cup semi-final for the right to play either CIYMS or CSNI in the showpiece final next month.

Elsewhere in the Premier League, CIYMS kept motoring with yet another victory as they bowled CSNI out for 86 on their way to a seven wicket win.

Both Chris Dougherty and Jason van der Merwe finished 31 not out while James Cameron-Dow (4-10) and Trevor Britton (4-18) were the standout performers for the reigning champions in terms of with the ball.

North Down kept the pressure on the leaders as they beat Waringstown by six wickets at The Green.

Batting first, Waringstown reached 206-9 with Adam Dennison scoring a superb 88 and James Hall created club history by becoming Waringstown’s highest ever run scorer after contributing 44.

Peter Eakin (82) and Ruhan Pretorius (55) were the major contributors as North Down improved their record to six wins from seven matches and remain four points behind CIYMS.