Coleraine ease past St Johnstone in NW Cup

David McBeth the St Johnston skipper won the toss and chose to bat.

Opening bowling pair Jarred Barnes and Gordon Cooke began well dismissing both openers early on.

This brought David Lapsley and Andrew Fleming to the crease. This pair added a 53 run partnership which gave Coleraine a wake up call.

Some wayward bowling and good batting helped St Johnston along to 58-2 with Lapsley the aggressor scoring 44 and Fleming 10.

Coleraine professional Roshene Siva was then brought into the attack and this proved to be the difference once again. The Sri Lankan dismissed seven batsmen in his 7.4 over spell, conceding only 10 runs.

Varun Chopra bowled well in his partnership with Silva claiming one wicket. The only other St Johnston batsman to get into double figures was Alan MacBeth with 20 not out.

Coleraine’s innings was uneventful as Scott Campbell and Tim Chopra chased down St Johnston’s 89 inside 16 overs without either batsman being dismissed. Campbell finished on 43 not out (four 4’s), while Chopra finished on 36 not out (four 4’s).

After Saturday’s senior cup fayre the attention switched to the start of the North West T20’s on Sunday afternoon.

Coleraine had been set to stage a double-header with the home side playing both the Bee Gees and Donemana but the latter game still went ahead despite Graham Boyd’s team’s forfeiture.

Roshen Silva may have taken seven wickets on Saturday but the Sri Lankan remains a batsman first and foremost and he played the anchor role in this one. Silva only managed three boundaries in his 51 but that, along with 27 not out from David Cooke and 25 from Tim Chopra helped the home side to a modest 120 for 4 from their 20 overs.

Jordan McGonigle (2-15 from 4) was the pick of the Tyrone side’s attack but it was their batsmen who stamped their authority all over the contest with a winning reply.

Openers William McClintock (41- 6 fours and 2 sixes) and Ricky-Lee Dougherty (40*) set the tone with some aggressive stroke-play as Jan Frylinck (22*) closed out an emphatic 8-wicket win with four overs to spare.

Coleraine know that there will be much harder games to come in the next few weeks with their Irish Cup and league campaign continuing. Next up for Coleraine is newly promoted side Drummond (away) next Saturday and then the following day the Bannsiders travel to South Dublin to play the rearranged Irish Cup game against Merrion. The draw for the Senior Cup quarter finals will be carried out on Monday.