North Fermanagh Cricket Club had a tough weekend with two difficult matches against strengthened opposition.

Saturday saw the NFCC team travel to Magheramason to take on Bready.

Greg Piergrosse, NFCC Captain, lost the toss for the first time this season and was put into bat. Ian Wilson (9) and David Mills (0) opened the batting and struggled to score runs on a lush outfield that prevented the ball from running to the boundary.

The dismissal of Mills, caught from the bowling of Alana Dalzell, brought Greg Piergrosse (29) to the crease but he was restricted to scoring singles.

Timothy Beacom (5), Graeme Fitzpatrick (3) and Scott Croft (3) all struggled to get into their usual driving game and were dismissed by the bowling of N. McCombe.

Sam Galloway (16*) worked well with Greg and helped to add runs and make the score more respectable. After the dismissal of Piergrosse, Duncan Robertson (1) and Gordon Fitzpatrick (3) continued to support Sam with Dave Hardy (1*) coming into bat in the final over to see out the 30 overs.

In reply the big hitting S. Allen (46*) supported by J McCombe (10) and N.McCombe (15*) efficiently worked away at the required run target. J. McCombe being caught from the bowling of Graeme Fitzpatrick.

Sunday saw NFCC once again on the road with a trip to Newbuildings for the 20/20 semi-final match.

The game started well with NFCC winning the toss and fielding first.

Graeme Fitzpatrick opened the bowling with a single run scored from the first over. Timothy Beacom was trusted with the ball from the other end and repaid that trust with the wicket of G. Sweeney (5), caught by Matthew Morrison.

The following over Graeme added to the tally with the wicket of J. Bell (3) caught behind by Graeme’s father Gordon Fitzpatrick.

The new batting pair of J. McCorkell (93*) and P. Singh (47) then steadied the Newbuildings team and the NFCC bowlers struggled to work their way through the defence.

Greg Piergrosse eventually dismissing Singh, with the wickets of J. McIntyle (4) and S. McCloskey (1) following soon after, also from the bowling of Piergrosse. Newbuildings finishing on 161 for 5.

North Fermanagh opened the batting with captain Greg Piergrosse (6) and David Smith (13).

After Smith was bowled from the bowling of McCloskey, Graeme Fitzpatrick (45) soon got into his stride and with a flurry of boundaries helped to increase NFCC score.

Unfortunately, the fall of wickets at the other end didn’t allow for Graeme to build a scoring partnership with anyone. North Fermanagh eventually finishing on 101 for 9. North Fermanagh Cricket Club would like to wish Newbuildings all the very best in the Final.

Training continues Tuesdays and Thursdays 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 - Tuesdays at 5.30-6.30pm for 5 – 10-year-olds and Thursdays 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.

Anyone interested in learning more about cricket and having fun can contact North Fermanagh Cricket Club via Facebook or Instagram.