Coleraine's hot streak goes on

COLERAINE continued their winning form with another hard fought and very close encounter at St. Johnston on Sunday.

Having won the toss, the home side had no hesitation in asking Coleraine to bat on a damp pitch.

Coleraine lost their Pakistani professional, Muhammad Salman, in the early overs, Tim Chopra joined Ian McGregor to take them past the 50 mark. However, after a lapse of concentration by Chopra, who was out LBW without offering a stroke, the Coleraine batsmen failed to build a partnership and it was McGregor, who proved his class once again with a well played 84, who steered the Bannsiders to 184-9 in their allotted overs.

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A late flurry of well timed hoics to cow corner, by veteran Gareth Godfrey, brought a few cheers from the visiting supporters.

In reply, St. Johnston got off to a great start with the aging Bobby Rao and Alan Macbeth keeping out the Coleraine opening attack. They both showed solid defences as the new ball swung both ways and when Coleraine did bowl a loose delivery it was well dispatched to the boundary.

The Saints’ opening pair had passed 40 when a rare rush of blood saw Rao come down the track and sky one to mid wicket where Stephen Dunn took a fine catch. Alan was now joined by brother David and both continued to punish any loose bowling as they reached 80 for 1.

However, when David fell LBW to Scott Campbell it brought Sachin Dixit to the crease and, not for the first time, he and Alan Macbeth had a mix-up in their running between the wickets. Having played the ball to the cover boundary, Macbeth thought there was an easy two runs when he saw Gareth Godfrey chasing the ball.

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He didn’t count on Dixit slipping at the crease when turning for the second and whilst Macbeth had reached the halfway point of the pitch, before attempting to return to the bowler’s end, Godfrey returned the ball to the 14 year-old bowler, Rishi Chopra, who caught it cleanly and removed the bails to leave Macbeth stranded six yards short.

This was to prove the turning point in the match as the remaining St Johnston batsmen came and went at regular intervals. Some fine bowling from teenagers Campbell (3-33) and Chopra (1-33) slowed the Saints’ run rate and it was left to Stephen Dunn, who bowled with pace and accuracy at the end, to mop up the tail with figures of 3-22 in his 10 overs.

There was sheer relief in the Coleraine camp when the final wicket fell, and as their scorer Garth Donaghey joined the team in a David Pleat like run onto the field, the travelling supporters were in full voice cheering their team right till the end.Coleraine’s team spirit shone through and took them to victory to give them three wins out of three and leave them sitting top of the table.

Next Saturday, Coleraine host Sion Mills in the second round of the senior cup with a 1pm start.

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