BREADY, BRIGADE DOMINATE NORTH WEST AWARDS

The North West Cricket Union held its annual presentation dinner on Friday evening at the White Horse Hotel and more than 140 players and officials were joined for the glitzy occasion by members of the press and select guests.

Cricket Ireland was represented in force; Chief Executive Warren Deutrom attended as did President Richard Johnson, Chairman David Williams and head coach Phil Simmons, while NCU chairman Brian Walsh also made the trip.

Not surprisingly the senior awards were dominated by Bready and Brigade with the senior cup winners in particular enjoying a very successful evening. David Rankin picked up the Division 1 batting trophy and was also the recipient of one of the main awards, the Radio Foyle Player of the Year.

The BBC's Ritchie Kelly insisted that the big opener was a fairly straightforward choice for their sportsdesk, "the only Irish born player to post more than 1000 runs and with an unbelievable average of 113 in the senior cup as Bready broke their 16 year wait for a senior trophy".

The Division 1 bowling award went to Andy Britton, the Fox Lodge man picking up 47 wickets at an average of 15 as he returned to form with a vengeance. Iftikhar Hussain continued his award winning run by taking home the Bannigan award (Player's Player of the Year award) for the second successive season while his team mate Mark Simpson was a popular winner of the Club Person of the Year trophy.

The "young player" gong went to Magheramason after Marc Fleming claimed 43 wickets in his debut senior year and the youngster was delighted to receive his trophy from the Irish head coach.

Creevedonnell were to the fore as well, Brian Dougherty claiming the umpires' fair play award for his show of sportsmanship during the Sammy Jeffrey final this summer while Gary Neely was a clear winner of the bowling trophy with a stunning return of 51 wickets at just over 7 runs each. Alan Duddy's 439 runs at an average of almost 110 was only just trumped by the sheer volume of Adrian Murphy's 1115 at 75 as the Ardmore player won the Division 2 batting trophy for the third time.

Bready's run continued into Intermediate 1 with Brian Crumley and Adam Warnock topping fantastic personal seasons claiming the batting and bowling awards respectively. Donemana's Ivor Dunn picked up the Intermediate 2 batting while Coleraine's Nigel Barr was awarded the honours in the bowling department in his final playing year.

Gregory McDaid led Crindle to the Intermediate 3 title and won the batting award en route while Lionel Barr of Donemana was awarded the bowling shield after a string of good performances. Fourteen- year old Dylan Waterstone won the Intermediate 4 batting after a superb all-round season with Brigade while another youngster, Rory Handforth claimed the bowling honours in the division.

The New Letter's Alistair Bushe revealed his North West team of the year to round things off, the Belfast man opting for David Rankin, Steven Clarke, David Scanlon and Marc Fleming from Bready; Brigade's Iftikhar Hussain, Mark Simpson and Chris Dougherty; Junior McBrine from Donemana, Coleraine pair Ian McGregor and David Cooke and Andy Britton of Fox Lodge.

A superb night, once again organised to perfection by Jim Lindsay but the final word to guest speaker Richard Moore, Director of charity group Children in Crossfire, whose after dinner speech will be long remembered by those in attendance.