Seconds squeeze past The Nedd

COLERAINE Seconds made it eleven straight league wins on Sunday but were pushed all the way by the Nedd.

Coleraine won the toss and decided to bat first, fearing that the wicket would deteriorate later on in the game. They were soon under the cosh, however, as Gareth Burns produced an outstanding yorker to dismiss Clive Edgar with the second ball of the match.

Coleraine regrouped as Jonny Elder and Vishal Chopra both looked in sparkling touch. Chopra raced onto 19 before he called Elder through for a run behind square and was left stranded short of his ground by a direct hit.

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Peter Wallace also looked to be in good touch, getting off the mark with a glorious four straight back down the ground. He and Elder had taken the score onto 50 before Wallace fell to an excellent delivery from Declan McKeever that cut back sharply.

This brought Stephen McCartney to the crease as Coleraine sought to regain the momentum once again. Meanwhile Johnny Elder was grafting away admirably in hot and humid conditions. He showed his class with a wonderful leg glance which raced away to the longest boundary on the ground.

Just before the drinks break though he had a rush of blood and came down the wicket to Ray Murray and was well stumped by Seamus McDermott for 22.

When Neil Morrison was bowled by Jonny Young shortly after the drinks break, Coleraine found themselves 85 for 5 in the 23rd over. However, the coming together of Stephen McCarthney and Bernard Findlay changed the course of the innings.

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The Coleraine batsmen rotated the strike superbly and were prepared to chip the ball over the infield to put the pressure back on the Nedd fielders.

McCartney’s knock was epitomised by an elegant cover drive for four which drew comparisons with the former England captain Michael Vaughan. As McCartney closed in on his fifty he was clean bowled by Gareth Burns for 44 to bring to an end to his partnership with Findlay which was worth 65. He received a warm round of applause by spectators who recognised the importance of his knock in holding together the Coleraine innings.

With the score on 150-5 after 35 overs, this gave Bernard Findlay and Alistair Handforth the opportunity to do what they do best, that is, smash opposition bowlers out of the ground. The two batsmen held nothing back and added crucial runs at the end of the Coleraine innings.

Handforth was caught and bowled by Jamie Magee for a quickfire 19 while Findlay became the second Coleraine batsman to miss out on a deserved half-century as he struck two imperious fours through mid-off before being bowled by Declan McKeever’s last ball for a priceless 45.

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Coleraine managed six off the last over before Andrew Douglas was caught off the last ball to take their score to 192 all out.

The Nedd batsmen made their intentions clear from the outset with Jonny Young prepared to come down the track from ball one.

After a couple of clean hits early on, he soon rode his luck as the ball began flying around in the air as the Coleraine bowlers cursed their ill-fortune. With the Nedd batsmen prospering, David Doey made the bold move to bring himself into the attack in the eleventh over to take the pace off the ball.

While he was unlucky not to get the breakthrough he did succeed in slowing up the run rate as his first four overs went for just 12. Vishal Chopra took over from Andrew Douglas at the other end and it was more of the same as the Nedd batsmen found the nagging length on the spinners hard to get away.

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At the half-way point the Nedd looked to be coasting at 82 without loss but with 111 runs still needed for victory Coleraine knew that wickets would be the key as it would be difficult for new batsman to score at above a run a ball.

However, the vital wicket seemed to be eluding them as the batsmen took the score past 100. Eventually the breakthrough would come in the form of a run out as Jonny Young chanced coming back for a second to Andrew Douglas in the deep and Vishal Chopra had the presence of mind to deflect his throw onto the stumps to remove Young for well played 69.

Despite having wickets in hand, with 62 runs required for victory from the last 10 overs Coleraine felt the pendulum was swinging back in their favour. Alistair Handforth came back into the attack and picked up the vital wicket of Declan McKeever who was caught behind by Clive Edgar for an excellent 52.

With his tail up the Coleraine strike bowler proved impossible to get away and he had Seamus McDermott and Sean Murray clean bowled in quick succession. As the run rate shot up Coleraine were able to set the field back in order to cut out the boundaries. Despite a valiant attempt by Jamie Magee and Gary King, Handforth and Doey held their nerve to lead their side to victory by 11 runs.

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While Alistair Handforth had the most impressive figures with 3-37, Andrew Douglas and Vishal Chopra also deserve a great deal of credit for conceding just 25 and 26 runs respectively in their eight over spells.

Vice-captain David Doey was delighted with how his men stuck to their task. “I thought our batsmen fought hard in difficult conditions and full credit to Stephen and Bernard for getting us the score we did,” he said afterwards.

“I always knew that the incoming batsman would struggle to cope when the run rate went above a run a ball and while it was a little too close for comfort at times I think it was the wake up call we needed ahead of this week’s cup final.”

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