BIG PERFORMANCES IN NORTHERN BANK SENIOR CUP

Cup action in the North West wasn’t just confined to the Bob Kerr Irish Senior Cup or the Club Turf as the preliminary round of the Northern Bank Senior Cup got under way at four Division Two venues. There were some big individual performances as well, none more so than at Bonds Glen where Philip Kelly scored an excellent 56 not out for visitors Burndennett, and then claimed 5 wickets for 27 runs in his 9-over spell. Kelly’s one-man show was all in vain however as his team-mates wilted around him.

Barry Chambers always maintains that there is at least one scorecard every season that reads like the International dialling code for Sri Lanka, and Burndennett have now provided two in a week. Last Saturday only one player scored more than 10 (and that was 11!) and this week the highest personal tally after Kelly’s was 7. It’s unlikely the club will require the intervention of a sports psychologist to work out where the current problem lies, although they have a good squad and wonderful facilities so no doubt they will bounce back very soon. For now though it’s The Bee Gees who make it through to play Ardmore in the first round proper, their perfect start to the season continuing as new skipper David Robinson claimed 5-17 and old skipper Colin Hall returned 4-16 to bowl the visitors out for 93. Despite Philip Kelly’s heroics with the ball an unbeaten 39 from Willie Jackson saw the hosts win with 4 wickets to spare.

Another side who don’t have their troubles to seek are Creevedonnell, skipper Don Dougherty still looking for his first win of the season after yesterday’s cup defeat at Drummond. The home team had Stevie Moore (48) and Shahzad Butt (35) to thank as they posted 183 with former skipper Brian Dougherty bowling really well to claim 5-23 in a ten over spell. Although the Creevies batted better than was the case in the past couple of weeks, their reply again fell below the three figure mark, and they were beaten by 84 runs. Gordon Hill was the pick of Drummond’s bowling with 3-30.

St Johnston made up for last week’s below par performance as David MacBeth (73) and Sachin Dixit (55 not out) helped them amass 234 against Coleraine at the Donegal venue. Andrew Fleming chipped in with 34 and Rodney Lockhart was easily the pick of the visitors attack as he returned figures of 4-27 from his 10 overs. That was always going to be too many for the Bannsiders who are struggling again and only Chopra and Mohammed with 25 apiece offered anything by way of resistance. David MacBeth made it a day to remember for himself as he coupled his effort with the bat with the impressive figures of 5-16 from 9 overs.

The final game of the round at The Nedd was another one-man show as Mark Roulston proved his worth to North Fermanagh. Whilst his former colleagues at Burndennett continued to toil, Roulston top scored with 86 as the Kesh men set The Nedd a stiff 193. Keith Burns and Creighton Wilson took 3 wickets apiece for the home team. In their reply, Vinny O’Hara again played a captain’s role, top scoring with 39 but it was to be Roulston’s day as he claimed 6-48. Lionel Semple chipped in with a couple as the visitors won by 75 runs. After two years without a win, North Fermanagh have now celebrated twice in a week and will meet St Johnston in the next round with a very real chance of making the quarter finals of the senior cup. Now that would be something.