Despite the inclement weather that swept through the province yesterday, the Northern Bank Senior Cup final between Donemana and Bready got under way as scheduled at Eglinton.

Trevor Britton won the toss and decided to bat first, a somewhat ponderable decision given the overhead conditions, the fact there was some grass left on and the habitual assistance offered to bowlers in the first hour at the Village ground. And if the decision to take first use looked questionable at first glance one can only imagine how the Bready dressing room would have felt after Stephen Dunn’s first over.

For the second year in succession a wicket fell from the very first ball of the final when the left armer trapped Chris Dougherty leg before. That brought professional Con De Lange to the middle a lot earlier than he would have expected and the South African obviously decided that he would take the fight to the Holm men from the start. His first two balls from Dunn were sent crashing to the boundary and his third, held back just a fraction, was cut though square where young Andy McBrine snapped up a sharp catch to send Donemana into raptures.

One over gone, Bready 8 for 2 and the warning lights were flashing already. Steven Clarke was next in and he and David Rankin got Bready to 28 before the latter played over the top of a straight one from Shaffique and a rain interval soon afterwards saw Bready retreat to try to regroup at 41 for 3 from 13 overs. The re-start brought yet more misery for the Magheramason side as Robert Rankin was caught by Richard Dougherty off the bowling of the Donemana professional to leave Bready 42 for 4 and Clarke and Mark Olphert put on just a further 18 before the McBrine twins combined to dismiss the latter for 7.

Steven Clarke had batted doggedly to try to limit the damage but his 82-ball defiance was brought to an end by Jordan McGonagle, the former Ireland man catching Clarke back on his stumps and leg before for 36. Brian Scanlon then made 13 before lobbing one to Ricky Lee Dougherty at backward mid off as Bready limped to 94 for 7 before the rain returned to force an early lunch.

The final 12 overs was something of a rearguard action as skipper Trevor Britton joined Trevor Hamilton and those two then set about helping their team post something of a respectable total. Their patience was rewarded with a 42-run stand, easily the best of the innings as Bready scrambled to 151 for 8 in their 50 overs. Britton remained unbeaten on 32 whilst Hamilton was out in the penultimate over for 26 whilst there were 2 wickets apiece for Shaffique, Stephen Dunn and Junior McBrine.

Donemana’s reply started in almost identical circumstances to their opponents, Richard Kee trapped in front of his stumps by Craig Young without a run on the board. That brought the two youngsters, Ricky Lee Dougherty and Andy McBrine together and that pair had moved on to 32 before the latter fell to a snorter of a catch by Robert Rankin at point off the bowling of Craig Young.

Skipper Azhar Shaffique then came to the middle and hit 11 runs off his first four balls to signal his intent, however soon after that Con De Lange was introduced into the attack and with his first ball the Bready pro had Dougherty caught behind via the boot of first slip for 16. Shaffique had moved on to 35 and Junior McBrine 6 not out when bad light stopped play with Donemana on 75 for 3 off 23 overs.

Play rather unexpectedly started again just before 7pm and Shaffique and McBrine began to up the tempo straight away. The Pakistan player reached his 50 off 71 balls before a pivotal point in the match when on 61, the Donemana pro was dropped at deep mid wicket by Steven Clarke. The Holm side took full advantage of that as Bready’s collective heads seemed to drop,

McBrine upping the ante after a quiet start with the first six of the day onto the clubhouse roof to bring up a 100 run partnership. Donemana then passed Bready’s 151 total in the 38th over and soon after that Junior reached his 50, a knock that included 8 fours and that six. Then, just as the Holm men looked set to press home their advantage Shaffique mistimed a hook off Brian Scanlon and Steven Clarke made amends with a simple catch.

Cup Final Card

Bready (1st innings)
C Dougherty lbw b S Dunn 0
D Rankin b Shaffique 14
C De Lange c Andy McBrine b Dunn8
S Clarke lbw b McGonagle 36
R Rankin c R Dougherty b Shaffique 8
M Olphert c Js McBrine b Jun McBrine 7
B Scanlon c RL Dougherty b Js McBrine 13
T Hamilton c Dougherty b Jun McBrine 26
T Britton not out 32
D Scanlon not out 2
C Young
Extras 5
Total (50 overs, 8wkts) 151

Fall- 1-0 2-8 3-28 4-42 5-60 6-75 7-94 8-136

S Dunn 7-1-27-2, A Shaffique 10-1-35-2, Jun Mc Brine 10-2-29-2, Js McBrine 10-1-26-1, J McGonagle10-4-16-1, A McBrine 3-0-13-0.

Donemana (1st innings)

R Kee lbw b C Young 0
RL Dougherty c Dougherty b De Lange 16
Andy McBrine c R Rankin b C Young 12
A Shaffique c Clarke b B Scanlon 89
Jun McBrine b Britton 79
D McGarrigle c De Lange b Young 5
Js McBrine st Dougherty b Britton 12
D Olphert not out 2
R Dougherty b Britton 0
J McGonagle c D Rankin b C Young 0
S Dunn not out 0
Extras 13
Total (48.2 overs, 9 wkts) 232

Fall- 1-0 2-32 3-44 4-191 5-221 6-223 7-231 8-231 9-232

C Young 9.2-1-25-2, D Scanlon 7-0-27-0, C De Lange 10-3-40-1, T Hamilton 10-0-39-0, T Britton 9-0-36-3, B Scanlon 3-0-28-1

Play abandoned to re-start at 11am on Sunday