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James McBrine Leads Donemana To Amazing Victory
Ian Callender, 6 May 2001 IT'S first blood to Donemana. The Irish Cup holders beat Brigade in a thriller by one wicket in the first league clash involving two of the North West's big three, because James McBrine refused to surrender. Chasing only 122 after a herculean bowling effort by his side, McBrine came to the wicket at 21 for four and by the end of the 16th over Donemana were 29 for seven! But McBrine turned the rest of the match into a one-man show and with Andrew Riddles for company, and vitally, Richard Dougherty for seven overs at the end, James thundered his way to victory in typical Donemana style, hitting seven sixes and six fours to all parts of the ground he knows so well. Unfortunately for Allan Rutherford he must hold up his hands and admit that a missed stumping off Mark Simpson, when Brigade were still 20 runs short of victory, cost his side the victory that certainly Gordon Cooke and Gregory Wilson deserved. It was the Brigade opening bowlers, who wreaked havoc in those early stages, Cooke bowling superbly to finish with four for 25 and Wilson,filling in for Graeme Moore who pulled a hamstring in the second over of Saturday's victory against Fox Lodge, keeping it so tight at the other end. Then, in successive overs, he claimed three wickets - the last, it must be said, a stunning stumping by Rutherford - to leave Brigade tantalisingly short of the winning post. A look at the Donemana scorecard shows it was James v Brigade. Second top score was young Riddles with eight, from 56 balls, before he swept once too often at Pakistani professional Wajatullah Wasti and skyed a catch and although Gary Neely lasted only four balls, caught at square leg, after a spectacular dive by David Cooke, Dougherty survived 20 balls, and just as importantly, nudged six singles, including the winning run in the 40th over. The victory puts Donemana clear at the top and, significantly, four points clear of champions Limavady who sensationally lost to Fox Lodge yesterday by three wickets, their second successive defeat of the weekend. At the start of the day, there was no indication of the clatter of wickets which were to fall in such a short space of time on the usual start-of-season wicket which must be a feature around the Province after the miserable April everyone endured. John Browne and Wasti - he can never have seen a ground like this one in his life before - added an untroubled 49 in 12 overs before Jordan McGonigle had the Pakistani caught in the gully. It was to be the first of 17 wickets which fell for 101 runs in 50 overs. So much for quick-scoring Donemana! McGonigle, given a bowl by his new captain, Junior McBrine, before his mentor, performed superbly and deserved his four wickets. It could so easily have been five but Gordon Cooke was adjudged run out after a flap of hands and bat, before the bails were finally removed with Cooke trying to regain his ground. It could easily have been a stumping. Once McGonigle's spell had ended there was no rest for the Brigade batsmen from the car park end with Junior taking over and his figures of 9-6-3-3 were a just reflection of his magnificent line and length. A captain's spell and another who deserved to be on the winning side. The one consolation for Brigade is that Limavady have to come to Donemana next Sunday and it will be no easier for them. Footnote: Dwayne McGerrigle, who did not play for Donemana yesterday, has told his trials captain Allan Rutherford that he will not be available for Saturday's Ireland trial at Stormont, ending his hopes of a call-up for the Ireland 14 for the ICC Trophy in Toronto. BRIGADE
J Browne lbw b McGonigle 23
W Wasti c Porterfield b McGonigle 25
D Cooke c Dougherty b Thompson 1
A Rutherford c Thompson b McGonigle 27
G Cooke run out 11
J Brown st Dougherty b A McBrine 6
B Sturgeon c Riddles b McGonigle 2
G Wilson c Dougherty b A McBrine 16
S Scroggie b Shaffique 0
M Simpson not out 4
R Brace c R McBrine b A McBrine 0
Extras 6
Total (46 overs) 121
Fall: 1-49 2-50 3-66 4-90 5-91
6-93 7-115 8-116 9-119 10-121
A Shaffique 9 1 29 1
G Neely 4 0 21 0
J McGonigle 10 3 18 4
J Thompson 6 1 30 1
J McBrine 8 2 17 0
A McBrine 9 6 3 3
DONEMANA
W Porterfield c Wasti b G Cooke 3
R McBrine c and b G Cooke 5
A Shaffique lbw b G Cooke 0
J Thompson c Browne b G Cooke 7
A McBrine c Brown b Wilson 5
J McBrine not out 83
R Kee lbw b Wilson 1
J McGonigle st Rutherford b Wilson 0
A Riddles c Rutherford b Wasti 8
G Neely c D Cooke b Wasti 0
R Dougherty not out 6
Extras 4
Total (9 wickets, 39.2 overs) 122
Fall: 1-7 2-7 3-12 4-21 5-25
6-27 7-29 8-72 9-86
G Cooke 10 3 25 4
G Wilson 10 3 16 3
W Wasti 10 4 27 2
M Simpson 7.2 0 35 0
J Brown 2 0 17 0
© Mirror Group Newspapers 2001
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