Stirling debut overshadowed by clinical Brigade

Paul Stirling's Donemana debut certainly lived up to the pre-match hype, however despite entertaining the big crowd at the Holm for the opening 70 minutes of Saturday's 'top two' clash, it was Brigade who went on to claim the spoils.

The Belfast man crashed 8 fours and 7 sixes, sharing in an opening stand of 85 with Jamie Huey- who played his part with 27- however spectators were denied the chance to see him reach his century as a brilliant, running catch from Andy Britton put an end to that prospect, leaving him 12 runs short.

Unfortunately for Donemana the middle order failed to capitalise on the strong start and wickets tumbled regularly thereafter.

Andy McBrine showed his quality with an important 65 (5 fours, 3 sixes) but elsewhere catches were offered and taken.

A late 35 from Dwayne McGerrigle did help the hosts to a very competitive 282 all out, but Brigade would have willingly taken that while the early carnage was in full flow.

Scott Macbeth bowled really well for his 3-39 as did David Barr (3-44) with Iftikhar Hussain (2-21) the most economical of all.

And it was 'Ifti' who was to prove the difference with the bat too- him and Barr (47) putting on 74 for the first wicket before the visitors lost a few quick ones themselves.

At 155-4 the match was in the balance at which point Cameron Melly entered the fray. The Warriors' man and Hussain put Brigade firmly in the driving seat with an 80-run fifth wicket stand before the latter was trapped lbw by Andy McBrine for an impressive 95 (11 fours, 1 six).

Brigade celebrate the wicket of Paul Stirling

The Limavady Road side still needed 48 at that stage, but Melly was in no mood to drag it out, clubbing 10 sixes and 5 fours in an unbeaten 87- made from just 44 balls.

The 4-wicket win sees Brigade go top of the league with just 3 games to go, but with just 8 points in it and up to 25 available for every win however, there is still much to do for the challengers.

Newbuildings and Coleraine kept their outside hopes alive with wins over Ardmore and Eglinton respectively.

Ross Hunter's side bowled Ardmore out for 137 at the Bleachgreen with Peat Salmon returning amazing figures of 7-8 from his 7.2 overs; only Junaid Ali (42) and Bobby Brolly (35) offering much by way of resistance with the bat.

The West Indian also top scored in his side's reply- Peat with 38, Gareth McKeegan 37 , Ross Dougherty 23* and 'Bull' 21 in a 5-wicket success; the Brollys- Bobby and Conor with a couple of wickets apiece for Ardmore.

Scott Campbell made a brilliant 153 not out as the Bannsiders posted 317-2 from their 50 overs against Eglinton at Sandel Lodge.

The opener hit 11 fours and 10 sixes, with Louren Steenkamp adding 82, David Cooke 50 not out and Paddy Carson 22 as Coleraine put together back-to-back wins after a patchy run of mid-summer form.

Eglinton- who now need a couple of wins and quickly- replied with 147 all out; Andy Millar making 40, Lakshan Gamage 35 and Ross McLaughlin 29.

Campbell and Matthew Hutchinson claimed two wickets apiece in an impressive 170-run win.

Strabane heaped the pressure on Eglinton at the bottom with a narrow 2-wicket win at home to Bready.

Kyle Magee top scored with 47 with Ian Young adding 33, Gavin Roulston 29 and replacement overseas man Shaun Von Berg 29 in the visitors total of 171.

Ranitha bowled very well for his 2-11 from 9 overs while Mark McNulty, John Mooney and TJ Boyd also claimed a couple each.

Mooney has played many dogged innings; in his career but his 81-ball 38 not out here was as valuable to the Red Caps as any of them.

Rhys Logue's 22 at the top of the order was best of the rest, although Bready contributed to their own downfall with 49 extras topping the card.

The win means Eglinton simply have to beat Strabane next Saturday to have any chance of avoiding the drop.

In Section 2, Fox Lodge are champions-elect after an 8-wicket win away at Killyclooney.

Andy Nicholl's 55 was by a long way the best of the home side's 122 all out with Adam Walker (3-39), Jonny Robinson (2-3) and Levi Kerr (2-24) doing the damage with the ball.

Gayan Maneeshan hit an unbeaten 59 (9 fours, 3 sixes) with Alistair Doherty making 42 in a straightforward success for the leaders.

St Johnston have struggled to get past Glendermott this season but the Donegal side were able to dig in for a nail-biting one wicket win at the Boathole on Saturday.

Donemana's Paul Stirling receives his cap

Chasing the visitors' total of 156 the Saints' hopes looked forlorn again at 78-7 before Andrew McElhatton's 43 got them back on track.

Even then they still needed 17 with the last pair at the wicket, but Ryan McAuley and Scott Devenney were up to the task.

Three wickets each for Ben Mills and Ian Cooke still weren't enough for the Rectory lads for whom Trevor McDermott (38*), Trevor Britton (27) and Gordon Montgomery (22) were best with the bat.

Michael Rankin claimed 3 wickets with Devenney and David Anthony picking up a couple each in an entertaining win.

Ballyspallen recorded a huge 211-run win at Burndennett after Isaac Bird made a sparkling 170 at the top of the visitors' order in a whopping total of 373-8.

Bird hit 23 fours and 7 sixes in his knock with contributions in the middle order from Kyle Morrow (61) and Graham Kennedy (41) while Safi (3-46) was best with the ball.

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Burndennett started well in reply with Niall McDonnell making 49 and Mark Doherty 48 to take them to 100-1 early on, however Bird's work wasn't done for the day as he then swapped bat for ball and returned figures of 6-28 in a stunning day's work.

Graham and Stuart Kennedy claimed two wickets each to confirm 'Spallen's big win.