Enniskillen Cricket Club made the long trip to Belfast on Saturday last to take on Cooke Collegians 4s in the first round of the Northern Cricket Union Development Cup. 

But it proved a trip well worth making as they produced an impressive performance to win by 80 runs.

On a beautiful day returning skipper Stephen Maxwell won the toss and elected to bat with a dry and short outfield which promised a high-scoring affair.

Opening batsmen David Cadden and Bibin Matthew started cautiously in the face of some accurate bowling from the Cooke Collegians opening bowlers.

Also, the outfield which had looked fast proved to be not as much as anticipated and runs were hard to come by in the opening overs.

When Matthew fell for a patient 17, Aby Theckanath joined Cadden and immediately set about pushing the run rate up.

Cadden also found a bit of fluency and they pushed the score along nicely. When both departed Cadden for a watchful 27 and Theckanath for a sparkling 43 off only 27 balls the new batsmen, Stephen and Kenny Maxwell, Paul Ramsay and Bibin John all perished trying to up the run rate further.

Thuwan Puthra then entered the fray and scored a quickfire 26 at more than a run a ball before he was run out off the last ball of the innings.

The score of 153/9 whilst seemingly below par was certainly a competitive one. 

After the break however, Enniskillen's opening bowlers Bibin, Matthew and Jaice Cherian started strongly and supported by excellent ground fielding kept the run rate in check in the opening overs and fellow seamers Thuwan Puthra and Satheesh Puthenveetil continued the trend making life extremely hard for the batsmen to score.

The breakthrough eventually came when after a brilliant piece of fielding from Puthra led to one of the opening bowlers being run out.

The skipper then turned to Kenny Maxwell who quite simply tore the batting line-up apart with his left-arm spin.

Maxwell got considerable turn and bounce from the wicket and had three batsmen clean bowled, a stumping and a catch as he registered the first five-wicket haul for the club this year.

With the Cooke Collegians innings in tatters, Cherian Matthew and Puthra cleaned up the tail in rapid time to bowl the home teams out for 77 and an 80-run victory.

This team is now starting to show its potential and with quality in all areas, the hard work at training over the winter months is now starting to pay off.

Skipper Stephen Maxwell led the team superbly and marshalled his bowlers to their potential with pressure exerted from ball one.

Next up for Enniskillen is a league match at home to BMA 2s on Saturday next with the second round of the cup scheduled for June 22 at the Mall in Armagh.

Match summary 
Enniskillen 153/9
A Theckanath 43
D.Cadden 27
T. Puthra 26

Cooke Collegians 4s 77 all out 
K.Maxwell 5/18
J.Cherian 2/16
T. Puthra 1/4
B.Matthew 1/8

Enniskillen won by 80 runs