The second round of the Newry & Down Democrat Senior Cup saw Larne land the plumb tie of Belfast Harlequins away and unsurprisingly, it was the section 1 team who emerged with a comfortable 95 run victory.

The home skipper Dyer won the toss and elected to bat first on a great looking pitch. The incident of the game occurred off the first ball of the match when Robert McClean beat the opener Horwood and struck his pad in front of the stumps. However, the Larne fielders were amazed when the finger didn’t go up and if ever a batsman took his chance it was Horwood who went on to score a massive 150.

For Larne, McClean and Jonathan Craig bowled fine opening spells and kept the scoring rate down but once Horwood got going preventing the boundaries became almost impossible. Gareth Gaw and Chris Erdis came on and bowled their 10 overs straight through and Gaw was unlucky not to get Horwoods wicket when he was put down when on 80.

At the other end it was Erdis who made the breakthrough when he bowled Dyer and later picked up another wicket thanks to good catch by Alan McKee. With 10 overs remaining a score of 300 looked a possibility but to their credit Larne never gave up and when Horwood was stumped by Trevor Dempsey off the bowling of Keith Aiston Larne finished strongly and restricted Harlequins to 263-8.

Good catches were taken in the deep by Gareth Alexander and Steven Gorman while Craig grabbed 3 late wickets and Aiston 2. Despite finishing wicketless the pick of the Larne bowlers was McClean who conceded just 35 runs from his 10 overs and tested all the batsmen.

Larne knew that 264 was a fairly unrealistic target against a section 1 bowling attack but with the batting being inconsistent so far this season it was important that they posted a respectable total in reply. The innings began with Gorman showing positive intent and he was unlucky to be dismissed when a well struck square cut went straight to the point fielder.

After Alexander and McKee followed for scores of 15 and 9, Aiston and David Tweed put together a fine partnership and it looked as though Larne may be able to score around 200. Tweed was striking the ball beautifully but when he was run out for 25 the innings petered out and Larne closed on 168-6.

Aiston batted through and finished on 45 not out while Baxter joined him at the end and showed what he is capable off as he finished unbeaten on 14.

The match ball was sponsored by the Port of Larne.