CRICKET: Successful season for Seconds

Four seasons ago Coleraine 2nd XI were on the verge of being relegated to the North West Intermediate League 4.

Saturday saw them complete a remarkable transformation when they ended the season in third place in the top Intermediate League only three points behind the winners Donemana. Saturday’s game also marked a special day for the Chopra family with Vishal taking the cricket field with his two sons Rishi and Varun for the very first time.

Skipper Pete Wallace lost the toss and his Strabane counterpart decided to bat first. Strabane openers were content to be patient against a tight opening spell by Andrew Douglas and Kyle Martin. However their attempt to break the shackles led to their downfall with Douglas claiming the wickets of the two openers.

The new batsmen Paul McNamee and Mark Roulston found scoring much easier and had taken the score onto 73 for 2 before Roulston was bowled by Rishi Chopra. A further wicket by Kyle Martin had Strabane on 111 for 4 after 35 overs and seemed well set for a score towards 200. However David Doey had other ideas and he picked up 5 of the remaining 6 wickets to skittle Strabane out for 130. Doey finished with excellent figures of 5 for 19.

Coleraine