Belli stars as Ross County lift Senior Cup with win over Forres
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Graeme Carney did what no other Ross County cricketer has been able to for 21 years last weekend – lift the Nosca Senior Cup as the victorious captain.
That Castle Leod side may have had home advantage, but they did not have things all their own way against Forres.
The loss of early wickets had County’s skipper concerned – although part of that may have been his dismissal and realising that it was out of his control – but they rallied well.
Significant scores from Rhys Morgan (39), Daryn Lucas (43 not out) and Harry Singh (35 not out) gave them something to defend, which they did in part thanks to an immense spell of bowling from Renato Belli (5–2) – with the veteran taking the final four wickets in four consecutive balls.
“It was a pretty satisfying performance,” Carney admitted.
“When we lost a couple of early wickets I thought we had it all to do. I would have taken the total we ended up with when I got out, so I was pleased with that.
“In the field, we didn’t let the pressure off. It was very satisfying, the guys took catches in the big moments to get the big wickets.
“In the end, Renato, four wickets in four balls in a cup final, what a performance.
“It’s fully deserved, he contributes a lot to the club as groundsman, and he probably didn’t think he would lift another trophy with Ross County but that’s two in one season, and he was man of the match so all credit to him.”
Even bowling, there were early warning signs as Forres batsman Pal Dhami raced to 24 before getting out to Paul Moxon.
Carney knew that it would be crucial to get key wickets early, and that was precisely how it turned out.
“I thought Forres set their field really well, they cut off the boundaries,” he said.
“We knuckled down and picked the gaps to tick over at five or six an over.
“We had set a minimum target of 150, I thought that would give us something to defend, and we got 170.
“Forres have got a couple of outstanding batsmen, so the game within the game was always if we could get those early and put pressure on them – and that’s exactly what we did.”
Tomorrow the sides face off in a rematch in the league, which County need to win while hoping other results go their way to stand any chance of adding the league title to their haul.
