North Fermanagh Cricket team continued their excellent start to the season with two further wins over the weekend.

Saturday saw the First 11 take on Coleraine Cricket club at the NFCC Grounds, Kesh, whilst on Sunday the Second 11 welcomed Brigade Cricket Club.

Graeme Fitzpatrick, NFCC First team Captain, won the toss and showed faith in his bowling attack by electing to field first.

Graeme’s decision was rewarded with Scott Croft taking his first wicket, that of A Block (0), LBW, in the first over, Croft bowling an exquisite ball that cutback in and struck the batters pad squarely.

J. Elder (0), followed his opening partner back to the clubhouse in the following over after being caught by Dave Hardy in the slips from the bowling of David Mills.

The remaining Coleraine players struggled to put any form of run together, with the bowling of Tim Beacom and Graeme Fitzpatrick restricting any opportunities to score.

Stubborn

S. McCartney (8) put in a stubborn display but an outstanding diving, low catch by Tim Beacom from the bowling of Graeme eventually led to his dismissal.

Debutant, Kieran Shead, put on a fabulous display with the ball to help dismiss a further three Coleraine players, with Greg Piergrosse taking the last wicket in his opening over; Coleraine finishing on 54 all out of 22 overs.

T. Beacom (7) and D. Mills (13) opened the batting for North Fermanagh and worked steadily to add runs from the accurate and speedy bowling of D. Laverty and B. Atchison.

Mills was the first to walk after a ball from Atchison kept low and struck the wickets.

Accurate

Incoming batter Scott Croft (0) soon followed Mills back to the club house again being caught out with another accurate ball from Atchison.

The dismissal of Beacom soon after from the bowling of A. Handforth could have signalled concerns for the Fermanagh men, but the partnership from Greg Piergrosse (8*) and Matthew Morrison (16*) helped to steady the ship with Morrison getting into his stride and playing a range of shots around the park.

A sweetly-hit pull shot dispatching the ball for six, onto the middle of the neighbouring football pitch, proved the standout shot of the day.

The North Fermanagh team reached the required target with 14 overs to spare, finishing on 55 for 3 from 16 overs.

NFCC 2nds welcomed a youthful Brigade 3rds to Kesh on Sunday and put on an excellent display for the spectators at the club.

After winning the toss, Captain Asif opted to bat first, and Osama Chadhry (81) continued his excellent form with the bat until he was caught out on the boundary from the bowling of Hussain.

Rawal Waseem (54) and Hewad Mahmood(46*) both helped to add to the home-sides score, finishing on 270 for 7 of 30 overs.

The young Brigade side put on a valiant batting effort in their innings, but strong bowling from Chaudhry Lukman and Badar Mahmood helped to prevent any real scoring opportunity to get started, with the away team being bowled out in the tenth over.

This coming Saturday sees North Fermanagh firsts back on the road with a fixture away to Drummond in Limavady.

The Seconds are once again at home on Sunday, playing against Ardmore. 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.