There was action in both the Northern Bank senior cup and the Billy Henderson Properties league on Saturday as the North West's cricketers finally got a break from the rain. Sion Mills hosted Donemana in a re-scheduled second round cup tie as the remaining three quarter final games went ahead but there was to be no fairytale for the Division 2 team as their illustrious visitors won easily to book their own last eight tie at Fox Lodge, that game actually scheduled for today.

Sion have struggled so far this season and once again fielded without two of their key players in John Brown and Lee McGonigle but there was little sympathy on show from the visitors who won the toss and decided to bat. The only logical explanation for that decision was that the Holm side might have wanted to get some match practise in ahead of yesterday's tie at Ballymagorry but it's difficult to know what sort of test they were expecting from an understrength Division 2 outfit.

Ryan Hunter and Graeme Boyd both made half centuries but professional Kamran Sajid fell 8 short of joining them before Andy McBrine stamped his class on the contest. The youngster blasted 7 sixes and 4 fours in an unbeaten 117 that saw the former champions post 299 for 4 in their 50 overs and despite the onslaught the hosts' bowlers made a real fist of keeping the score down. Lee Finlay did best returning figures of 2 for 42 but a target of 300 was never in any danger and to be honest it is games like these that make you wonder what the point is in putting teams through the wringer like this.

Ryan O'Neill made 21 in a reply of 109 all out meaning that Donemana had 190 runs to spare and skipper Richard Kee knows that he is unlikely to get it so handy from here on.

The winner of today's Fox Lodge versus Donemana tie then will join Strabane, Bready and Coleraine in the semi final draw after those three won through on a day of pretty comfortable successes. Bready had looked up against it going into their match at league leaders Brigade; the visitors on a poor recent run of form particularly with the bat in recent weeks. Former Bready player Chris Dougherty got the hosts off to a reasonable start as he made 35 at the top of the order but David Scanlon and Ian Young were proving too much of a handful for the rest as Brigade slumped to 87 for 5. Johnny Thompson and Dale Culbert recovered the situation a little towards the end and the late rally helped the holders finish on 187, a modest but tricky target for the out of sorts Magheramason side. Once again the bowling honours were claimed by Marc Fleming who returned figures of 4 for 35, though it wasn't clear why they waited so long before throwing him the ball after a string of impressive performances.

Bready's reply showed no sign of any crisis of confidence either as David Rankin in particular got after the hosts' attack. The opener smashed 12 fours and 2 sixes on his way to a very entertaining 81 and was particularly sore on Johnny Thompson to the extent that the Brigade seamer only sent down three overs in total. Mark Olphert was bowled by Mark Simpson early on but incoming batsman Steven Clarke picked the ideal time to get his season up and running as he and Rankin led the Beechgrove side a merry dance. Clarke was joined by professional Agha Sabir Ali when Rankin eventually went, bowled by Iftikhar Hussain, and those two closed out the most impressive of wins for the visitors, a full 8 wickets and 18 overs in hand at the end.

Coleraine(pictured above right)  hosted Eglinton (pictured below) in the second quarter final and it was expected that this would be another close contest to call given that just three runs separated the sides on the opening day of the season. The villagers batted first and a steady fall of wickets saw them reduced to 92 for 5 before an 89-run stand between Richard Wylie and Neal Stewart put them back in the match. Wylie hit 5 fours and a six on his way to an impressive 78 and even when he became the third of Johnny Martin's victims, Stewart battled on to finish unbeaten on 52 as Andy Christie's side made 215 for 6 in their 50 overs. It looked a pretty big ask for Coleraine in the circumstances but the Bannsiders sent Mohammad Salman in to open the innings with Ian McGregor and Eglinton could find no way through. McGregor was patience personified as ever, he hit 7 fours in an unbeaten 74 while Salman hit 12 fours and a six on his way to 86, the pair putting on 171 for the first wicket. That partnership broke the visitors' resolve completely and skipper Tim Chopra joined McGregor to see the job out after that for a thoroughly comprehensive 9-wicket win.

The big game of the day for many was at the Hunter Grounds where Limavady entertained Strabane in what turned out to be the closest of the three quarter finals albeit here again the match was over as a contest some way out. Niall McDonnell and Kevin Martin gave the champions a solid start before both went in quick succession and when Peter Gillespie fell to Des Curry soon afterwards, Strabane looked in bother. Skipper Jonathan Beukes steadied the ship with a solid half century and Mark Gillespie joined the South African in an 88-run fourth wicket stand that set the Red Caps on the road to recovery. Still, there was little or no resistance in the tail after that pair went and Strabane's total of 206 looked 30 light. Stuart Thompson was again the pick of Limavady's attack as he claimed 3 for 41 while Ricky McDaid added 2 for 40. The Roesiders' reply got off to the worst possible start however and with only 6 runs on the board they lost talisman Des Curry to the bowling of Martin Deans. Strabane celebrated that like the match-winning moment and maybe they weren't far wrong because without their injured skipper Andrew Riddles, Limavady looked completely reliant on their top five. Stuart Thompson then fell to Phil Eaglestone meaning that the hosts needed something very special from professional Adnan Akmal but the Pakistan International had made just 7 when he hooked one down to fine leg, again off the bowling of Eaglestone, and Martin Deans took a well judged catch. That left Limavady on 48 for 4 and only in-form Adam McDaid stood between Strabane and the semi finals. To his credit the youngster stayed defiant and he and Mark McDaid briefly looked like breathing life into the finish but there just wasn't enough in the lower order to get the hosts back into it. McDaid eventually went having made his half century with Limavady still 60 runs adrift at the end, Eaglestone bowling superbly to claim 3 for 15 with Mark Gillespie and Martin Deans both chipping in with a couple apiece.

There was just one game in the Billy Henderson Properties league on Saturday and in keeping with the theme of the day this too was a one-sided affair as Fox Lodge were much too strong for basement boys Bonds Glen. The Bee Gees struggled throughout their innings and despite a late cameo of 23 from Willie Jackson they were unable to break the 100-barrier. Mark Mooney picked up 3 for 9 and Johnny Robinson and Darryl Brown claimed 2 wickets apiece to restrict the visitors to 97 all out. Gary Hamilton's men then claimed two quick scalps themselves as the Foxes began the chase before an unbroken partnership between skipper Brian Allen and professional Brown sealed a cosy 8-wicket win. Still no points for the Bee Gees as their battle to escape an immediate return to Division 2 intensifies while Fox Lodge continue to find the look of a side that is close to breaking their major trophy duck.

NORTHERN BANK SENIOR CUP

Second Round

At Sion Mills, Donemana 299-4-(50  overs , Andy McBrine 117*, R Hunter 51, G Boyd 51, K Sajid 42, L Finlay 2-42 beat Sion Mills 109 all out  (33.4overs,  R O'Neill 21, S Galloway 20, James McBrine 3-11, Jun McBrine 3-26, J McGonagle 2-15) by 190 runs.

Quarter finals

At the Hunter Grounds, Strabane 206  all out (49.1 overs, J Beukes 58, M Gillespie 47, S Thompson 3-41, R McDaid 2-40 beat Limavady 146 all out  (40.1 overs ,A McDaid 55, M McDaid 27, T Riddles 23, P Eaglestone 3-15, M Gillespie 2-20, M Deans 2-38) by 60 runs.

At Sandel Lodge, Coleraine 219-1  (46.3 overs, M Salman 86, I McGregor 74*) beat Eglinton 215-6 (50 overs, R Wylie 78, N Stewart 52*, J Martin 3-46) by 9 wickets

At Beechgrove, Bready 188-2  (32 overs, D Rankin 81, S Clarke 66*, A Sabir Ali 26*) beat Brigade 187 all out (49.3 overs, C Dougherty 35, J Thompson 34, Ata-Ur-Rehman 26, D Culbert 20*, M Fleming 4-35, D Scanlon 3-41, I Young 2-21) by 8 wickets.

BILLY HENDERSON PROPERTIES DIVISION 1

At Ballymagorry, Fox Lodge 103-2 (18.2 overs, D Brown 36*, B Allen 34*) beat Bonds Glen 97 all out (31.4, overs , M Mooney 3-9, D Brown 2-13, J Robinson 2-18) by 8 wickets.