LOCAL CLUBS ENSURE STUNNING SUCCESS FOR U-19 WORLD CUP QUALIFIERS

It was a fairly barren weekend for local cricketers with the Under-19 World Cup qualifying tournament putting paid to all but a handful of domestic matches over the past seven days. The Youth competition moved to the North West at the start of the month after its opening phase in Dublin and with a place at next year's World Cup in Australia at stake there was plenty of competition among the participating nations. Thankfully though the Irish boys secured one of the six available spots and can look forward to the trip of a lifetime at the end of this winter. In all, six North West grounds were involved in staging games including Strabane and Bready and at Tuesday night's closing ceremony in Derry's Guildhall it was patently clear that the ICC had been thoroughly impressed with their efforts. There is no doubt that those involved showcased themselves in stunning fashion and the parent body will find it difficult to overlook the region in future given the efforts put in to make this such a success.

With club matches put on the back boiler at the six grounds only one league game survived on Saturday as Glendermott thumped Eglinton by 8 wickets to leave the relegation issue now a straight shoot-out between the villagers and Bonds Glen. All three of the scheduled Division 2 matches in the Billy Henderson Properties league fell victim to the rain meaning that a backlog is beginning to form as we enter the final month of the season.

It was a fairly similar picture on Sunday with just one of the scheduled five Division 1 games surviving although the Limavady v Donemana match failed to start as The Holm side decided against travelling to the Hunter Grounds. Donemana insist that they had a long-standing arrangement in place approved by the fixture secretaries that they would be allowed to rearrange for a different date on the basis of having two players (Andy McBrine and Ryan Hunter) on International duty with the Under-19's. Limavady meanwhile insisted that this was the first they had heard of it and were adamant that the game go ahead as scheduled.

The fixture secretaries asked the North West Management Committee to rule on the matter and at an emergency meeting on Friday evening the committee decided that since no date had been agreed by the clubs that the game should go ahead on its original date. That decision did not go down well with the Tyrone club and at a meeting of their players on Saturday afternoon they decided unanimously not to travel. It now seems certain that the hosts will claim the points while the Tyrone side will lodge a vehement protest against the decision.

The biggest game of the weekend domestically was undoubtedly at Beechgrove on Sunday where the North West's last remaining representative in the Bob Kerr Irish Senior Cup, Brigade, hosted crack Belfast outfit Waringstown looking to book a place in next month's final. On a very difficult pitch for batting the visitors were indebted to Jonathan Bushe who made 41 to help them to any sort of total and despite batting 50 overs to make 150 there was always the suspicion that it could be enough. None of the home team's batsmen made it to 20 when they took their turn as the bowlers dominated again and in the end it was a bridge too far for the Derry side as they fell 27 runs short of the target.

The one league game to go ahead on Sunday was at Bonds Glen where Gary Hamilton's side had a chance to seize the initiative in the relegation scrap as they entertained Fox Lodge. Visiting skipper Brian Allen got married on Friday however the left hander wasn't leaving on honeymoon until Monday morning so was able to take his place in the starting line-up. The Foxes batted first after a rain delayed start and despite 30 from Jason Milligan at the top of the order, the rest of their innings belonged to Darryl Brown.

The South African was back to his best after a quiet few weeks and he hammered 15 fours and 7 sixes on his way to an excellent 155 as the Foxes racked up 295. Kyle Moore was the most successful bowler for the Bee Gees with 3 for 54 while Gihan Dilruk, Leslie Curry and Richard Hepburn all claimed two each, Hepburn in particular bowling really well in conceding just 29 runs from his ten overs. The Bee Gees reply started really well as their professional Dilruk cut loose early on, targeting Gareth Heywood in particular as he raced to a 30-ball half century. At 65 for 1 the hosts might have felt they had a squeak before Andy Britton and Johnny Robinson took over the bowling duties and fairly tore through the Bonds Glen order. Britton claimed 5 wickets and Robinson 4 as the Bee Gees came apart at the seams to be all out for just 103.

With their Under-19 commitments wrapped up, Bready hosted Coleraine in a re-arranged league match at Magheramason on Monday and Tuesday nights. Batting first the cup holders made 226 for 5 in their 40 overs with Brian Scanlon making 38 at the top of the order before a 99-run partnership between Agha Sabir Ali and Steven Clarke gave them the advantage. Clarke went on to make a composed 64 which included 6 boundaries while Sabir hit 11 fours before being run out for 72.

Coleraine fielded without professional Mohammad Salman who has headed back to Pakistan but they turned it into a real contest on Tuesday evening as young Paul Douglas and David Cooke combined to post a 120-run stand for the fourth wicket of their reply. Douglas top scored with an excellent 72 and Cooke made 45 after Ian McGregor had got the innings off to a solid start with 40 but it was Bready professional Agha Sabir Ali who was to have the final, deciding say. Sabir bowled superbly to finish with figures of 5 for 17 including three wickets in four balls in the last over as Coleraine finished just nine runs adrift.


BILLY HENDERSON PROPERTIES DIVISION 1

At The Rectory, Glendermott 135-2-23.2 (R Silva 82*, C Averill 28*) beat Eglinton 134-10-29.1 (R Butterworth 44, M Averill 24, C Elder 4-43, R Silva 2-7, R Pearson 2-15, C Averill 2-34) by 8 wickets.

At Bonds Glen, Fox Lodge 295-10-49.2 (D Brown 155, J Milligan 30, D McCarter 23, A McGinnis 20, K Moore 3-54, R Hepburn 2-29, L Curry 2-36, G Dilruk 2-59) beat Bonds Glen 103-10-21 (G Dilruk 50, A Britton 5-21, J Robinson 4-24) by 192 runs

At Magheramason, Bready 226-5-40 (A Sabir Ali 72, S Clarke 64, B Scalon 38) beat Coleraine 217-10-39.4 (P Douglas 72, S Cooke 45, I McGregor 40, A Sabir Ali 5-17, M Fleming 2-39)