Seconds complete perfect season

Having won the toss, Coleraine skipper Nigel Barr had no hesitation in batting first as this was a tried and tested method throughout the season. However the early loss of Clive Edgar and the inconsistent bounce of the usually flat Eglinton wicket had Coleraine on the back foot.

Opener Jonny Elder was watchful in his approach and Vishal Chopra tried to play shots on a very slow batting track. When Chopra was run out Coleraine were 17 for 2 and Peter Wallace joined Elder hoping they could repeat their remarkable 170 run partnership of the previous week.

But unfortunately Wallace was caught and bowled by Zaheer Bahli as a result of another delivery that misbehaved on the pitch. Coleraine stalwart Stephen McCartney wasted no time getting his innings underway with a superb straight six followed by a sweetly timed four through the point region. Elder then fell to a catch at mid on for a well played 20 to leave Coleraine at 47 for 4.

One of the many reasons that Coleraine have a 100% record is that on the rare occasions the top order fails to score the middle order step up to the plate. But when Coleraine lost four quick wickets to leave them floundering on 80 for 8, captain Nigel Barr was seeing his hopes of a perfect season seemingly disappearing.

What he didn’t count on was one of the most devastating periods of hitting probably ever seen at Eglinton. Alistair Handforth has perfected his roll of coming into bat in the lower middle order and accelerating the scoring rate all season.

This time though he knew that he couldn’t give his wicket away and so after a few overs of consolidation with vice captain David Doey playing his part at the other end, Handforth decided to cut loose. In an outstanding display of power hitting the young all rounder hit eight sixes and one four in an innings of 65.

The Eglinton bowlers did not know where to bowl to him and it was only good fortune that no damage was done to any of the surrounding houses. Handforth was eventually caught behind but himself and Doey had put on 63 for the ninth wicket with the vice captain only contributing eight of these.

When Nigel Barr strode to the crease, Doey decided to takeover the aggressive role and he brought out his full repertoire of shots including the flat batted swat past the bowler to the straight boundary and the one-handed pull shot to the square leg boundary. Captain Barr wasn’t to be outdone and he joined in the fun with his trademark pull shot for four through the mid wicket region. Doey eventually fell for 27 and Coleraine managed to score an impressive 170 in their innings.

During the interval North West Cricket president Alan Montgomery presented the Coleraine team with their league trophy and winners medals. Coleraine then took to the field knowing that early wickets were key if they were to win this game. Opening bowlers JD Muller and Alistair Handforth didn’t disappoint.

Muller bowled the promising Jamie Millar in the third over and then followed this in the fifth over with a peach of a delivery to remove the dangerous Scott Adair. When Handforth had Andrew Pierce caught by Elder in the gully, Eglinton were struggling at 18 for 3.

The Eglinton batsmen Jordan Magee and Zaheer Bahli then frustrated the Coleraine bowlers with a partnership of 33 in 10 overs before Magee was outdone by the spin of David Doey and holed out to Muller at midwicket.

The evergreen Nigel Barr got in on the act and he picked up two quick wickets before he inexplicably dropped a simple caught and bowled chance. However he made up for this with the final ball of his spell to end up with figures of 3 for 15 off 8 overs. It was then left for Vishal Chopra to clean up the tail and he ended up with 3 wickets as Eglinton were dismissed for 112.