County defeat Bangor for inaugural Bertie Coleman Memorial Trophy

The 2016 season officially got under way with the visit of Bangor Cricket Club to the Mardyke for two friendly fixtures on Saturday and Sunday, 23rd & 24th April. It proved to be a good weekend of pre-season cricket with the weather looking kindly on at the Mardyke for both the 40 over game on the Saturday and T20 on the Sunday. With quite a few cobwebs to brush off it proved to be invaluable match practice ahead of another busy season for the club. The match marked the inaugural contest for the Bertie Coleman Memorial Trophy in honour of the former Cork County member and club stalwart who passed away in recent years.

On Saturday, Bangor won the toss and batted first making 177 all out in 39.5 overs. Aaron Cawley and Morne Bauer set the tone early on with some tight seam bowling. Brian Kelleher, Kevin O’Sullivan and Qassim Butt also chipped in with useful spells of bowling which restricted the northerners from gaining any real momentum to their innings during the middle overs before Bauer and Cawley returned at the death.

In reply, County got off to a commanding start with openers Ross Durity and Ian Coleman looking to take the attack to the Bangor bowlers. Durity showed his finesse through backward point and the covers while Coleman played some elegant cover drives before playing around a straight one. Cormac Hassett put his jet lag to one side with a composed innings and was joined by skipper Morne Bauer as the two of them edged County to within grasp of the required total. Both batsmen departed with the home side needing just 30 runs which Duggan and Qassim Butt knocked off comfortably to clinch a 6 wicket victory

Sunday’s T20 saw a much changed Cork County side go down by 1 wicket to the visitors. Setting a target of just 97 thanks mainly to a 60 run partnership between skipper Scot Jeffers and Anthony O’Reilly, the Cork County skipper needed his bowlers to make early inroads in order to complete a weekend double for Leesiders. Wickets were shared amongst the bowling attack of Aaron Cawley, Justin McGurk, Brian Kelleher and Sachon Saxena but the home side came up short by 1 wicket.