North Fermanagh Cricket team are back to winning ways as Saturday saw the return of Bready Cricket club to the NFCC Grounds, Kesh.

After another busy week by the grounds team at the club, the pitch was looking fantastic giving the opportunity to play again on a super grass wicket.

Greg Piergrosse, NFCC Captain, won the toss and showed faith in his bowling attack by electing to field first.

Greg’s decision was rewarded with Chris Faris taking his first wicket, that of S. Allen (1 run), in the first over. Faris clearing the stumps with a crisp ball that turned beautifully.

A. Dalzell (2 runs), North-West Cricket Ladies’ Captain, displayed great technique, playing super drives from the bowling of C. Faris, S. Croft and D. Mills but determined fielding from the North Fermanagh team prevented her from adding runs.

Faris struck again in the fifth over with another pinpoint delivery to dismiss Dalzell. A. Fleming (12) and C. Allen (10) slowly added to the Bready run tally, but the left arm spin of Timothy Beacom bamboozled Fleming and he was dismissed Leg Before Wicket (LBW).

The wicket of P. Robinson (0) soon followed, caught by D. Mills from a ball that he had bowled himself. One more run was added by C. Allen before he was also caught, this time by C. Faris, again from the bowling of D. Mills.

M. Hayes (1) and M. Rutherford (2) added a few more runs before Hayes was caught out by S. Galloway and T. Beacom dismissed Rutherford, again LBW.

A. McNeil (43) proved costly for Fermanagh though and several well struck boundaries by the Bready man added to his team’s score. A super catch by Sam Galloway on the boundary from the bowling of Ben Duffy eventually saw the dismissal of McNeil.

Struggled at first

The final partnership of J. McMorris(2*) and J. Mutch (3) added a final few runs but the wicket of Mutch from the bowling of Duffy ended the Bready innings after 27 overs. Bready finishing on 96 all out.

T. Beacom (1) and D. Mills (14) opened the batting for North Fermanagh and struggled at first to add runs from the accurate and speedy bowling of A. Dalzell and M. Campbell.

Beacom was the first to walk after a ball from Dalzell glanced off his bat and carried to the waiting hands of the Bready wicketkeeper.

Mills was just getting into his rhythm when a fast ball from Campbell didn’t rise as much as previously, and he played the ball onto his own stumps. M. Morrison (0) soon followed Mills back to the clubhouse, being bowled, again by Campbell.

A partnership from C. Faris (12) and S. Croft (27) helped to steady the ship with Croft getting into his stride and playing a range of shots around the park.

A sweetly hit forward drive dispatching the ball for six being the standout shot of the day and Croft was eventually caught from the bowling of McNeil.

The introduction of G. Piergrosse (13*) settled the nerves and a controlled display helped to slowly add the required runs to the total.

After the dismissal of Faris; Duffy (1) and Galloway (10) helped to add runs and the final partnership of Piergrosse and Gamble (4*) helped the North Fermanagh team reach the required target with five overs to spare, finishing on 98 for 7 from 25 overs.

Man of the Match was Scott Croft.

This coming Saturday sees the North Fermanagh team back on the road.

They return to Burndennett hoping to continue their winning run against a team they beat in the 20/20 format only a few weeks back.

Training continues on Tuesday and Thursday from 6.30pm at the ground in Kesh.

Anyone interested in participating are welcome to attend and give cricket a go, experience is not required, and all are very welcome.

North Fermanagh Cricket Club youth weekly coaching sessions continue - Tuesday at 5.30-6.30pm for 5 – 10-year-olds and Thursday 5.30- 6.30pm for 11-16 year olds.

These sessions are free and open to all who are interested – it was great to see lots of boys and girls down at the club last week enjoying learning about cricket from NFCC’s Cricket Ireland qualified coaches.