Raymond Curry on fire for Bond's Glen

Fox Lodge's Jason Milligan hits a six during their win over Killyclooney. Picture by Lawrence Moore

Performance on the day went to a Raymond Curry inspired Bond’s Glen who got their campaign off to a winning start at Eglinton. Curry top scored with 37 with Simon Killen making 28 and David Cooke 19, as the visitors posted 121-6 from their 20 overs.

Andy Millar was the pick of the Villagers’ bowling as he claimed 4-16, but the skipper’s efforts were to be outdone by the Bee Gees’ all-rounder.

Despite an opening stand of 58 between Robbie Millar (26) and Scott Adair (16), the home side crumbled from there to 72-9, losing those nine wickets for just 14 runs, before closing on 92 thanks to a late cameo of 18* from Lee Ritchie.

Curry claimed seven of those wickets, six of them bowled, as Bond’s Glen celebrated a really impressive win.

Donemana recorded a thoroughly emphatic win at the Holm as they thumped Glendermott by nine wickets. Ben Mills top scored with 23 for the Rectory men with Nathan McGuire and Alan Johnson chipping in with 20 and 19 respectively in a total of 91-9.

Andy McBrine showed all his quality with a four over spell that returned figures of 3-6. Sam Huey, Gary Neely and Dean Mehaffey also picked up two wickets apiece in a solid effort from the home side, who had little difficulty rattling off the required runs.

Dean Mehaffey (19*) and Kyle Dougherty (17) put on 49 for the first wicket before Willie McClintock finished the job in double-quick time. The Donemana skipper hit 5 sixes in his 12-ball 39 not out to claim the points with nine wickets and as many overs in hand.

Coleraine sealed a wide-margin win as well, accounting for Ballyspallen at Bridge Park by eight wickets. Jacob-Logan Wilson made 36 (4 sixes), Stephen Kennedy 24, Demith Perera 21 and Stuart Kennedy 19* as ‘Spallen set a target of 124. Ravindra Karunaratne bowled well for the visitors to finish with figures of 2-10.

It was to be of little concern to the Bannsiders however, Karunaratne with a brilliant unbeaten 84 (4 fours, 7 sixes) as he and Varun Chopra (21*) got the required runs, albeit with only an over to spare.

Brigade saw off Burndennett at Beechgrove, Andy Barr (23), Mark Pollock (22) and Marty Mehaffey (20) faring best of the Tyrone side’s total of 93-8.

Iftikhar Hussain (3-13) and Ryan Barr (3-14) did the bulk of the damage with the ball and it was Hussain, again in partnership with Graeme McCarter, who helped their side chase down the target easily.

‘Ifti’ hit 5 fours and 3 sixes in his unbeaten 47 while McCarter added 4 sixes and a four in his 36*.

Dean McCarter was also among the runs at Ballymagorry as Fox Lodge began with a 92-run win over Killyclooney. The former ’Clooney man hasn’t played a lot of cricket in recent seasons but was certainly on form here, hitting 6 sixes and 3 fours in a 32-ball 59*.

McCarter and Jason Milligan (48*) added an unbeaten 88-run stand after Marco Marais announced his return to the Foxies after a six-year absence with an excellent 56 (5 sixes, 2 fours).

The target of 182 was well beyond the visitors; Alan Colhoun’s 22 the best of their 90-9 in reply. Jonny Robinson, Gareth Heywood, and Jamie McIntyre all claimed two wickets for the winners.

Jamie Magee’s 43* and 41 from David Rankin helped Bready start with a win too- outpointing Ardmore by six wickets.

The Bleachgreen side posted 104-6 from their 20 overs; Ryan Brolly making 30 and Conor King 21, while there were two wickets apiece for debutante Scott Macbeth and overseas man, Irosh Samarasooriya.

Bready seemed to be cruising in reply before Ardmore fought their way back into it with the winning runs finally coming with just five balls to spare.

In the final game of the day, and the closest, Strabane beat St Johnston by nine runs at the Park. Ryan Gallagher anchored the Red Caps’ innings as he made 47 with Tanvir Hassan adding 22 and Etesham Ahmed 18 in the hosts’ total of 122-7. Anish Kumar with 4-20 bowled best for the Saints, who came up just short in reply.

Sabin Babu made 44, Michael Rankin 22 and Ian Macbeth 21 in a reply of 113-9, Rhys Logue with three wickets and Tanvir with 2 helping Strabane to start with a win.