All games cancelled as rain hits

Coleraine were further affected by the soaking of their grounds with the cancellation of the prestigious 50 over Interprovincial game due to be played on Sunday at Sandel Lodge between the North West Warriors and the Northern Knights. The scenes of water lying in huge patches all over the field and on top of the tarpaulins around the covers on Saturday evening meant that there was no reasonable prospect of play on Sunday.

With a round of league games having to be rearranged and with the replay of the RSA Irish Cup still to be fixed on an agreed date, the weather is certainly causing concerns for North West cricketers. The Irish Cup game may yet be fixed for a working week day, due to the change of rules this year, where no weekend reserve date was kept aside for Cup matches to be replayed. This is creating difficulties for many players, clashing with work commitments for away fixtures, and is clearly not in the spirit of this Cup competition which is supposed to be giving all players the opportunity to play in the top tier of Senior Club cricket in Ireland.

Next week Coleraine 1st XI turn their attention to the first round of the Danske Bank North West Senior Cup when they will host Eglinton on Saturday 25th May. Coleraine have already won their first clash of the season with Eglinton in the opening game in the league and will have confidence that they can win again. Since that game, Eglinton have also had a league victory of their own and will have set their sights on revenge against Coleraine and can in no way be underestimated. These two teams are due to play for the third time in the second round of the Ulster Cup on 9th June which will also be at Sandel Lodge.

The Thirds also play at home on Saturday at CAI’s grounds against Ardmore 2nd XI in the Qualifying 2 league and the Fourths are away to Ardmore 3rds in Qualifying 3.

On Sunday 26th May Coleraine’s 2nd XI are due to play Eglinton 2nds in Qualifying 1 league at Eglinton.

All games are due to start at 1pm.