On Saturday 5 July, Larne Second XI, sponsored by The Kiln, defeated Derriaghy by 6 wickets in League Division 2 Section 2.

On winning the toss Derriaghy opted to bat on what looked like an excellent strip. After a loose start Larne’s opening bowlers Heggarty and Erdis settled into decent spells. Erdis in particular bowled an excellent line and length with no reward while Heggarty used all his guile to pick up 3 wickets at the other end. Gareth Gaw and schoolboy Eddie Hunter then joined the attack.

Hunter suffered a little at the hands of Derriaghy’s South African however, Gaw’s left arm spin eventually had him caught at mid-wicket – an excellent catch by Brian Spence. The rest of the Derriaghy batting only offered minimal resistance and they were all out for 150, with Gaw the pick of the Larne attack.

150 appeared a less than daunting total given the perfect conditions for batting, and so it proved after a terrible start – both the Larne openers being dismissed within 2 overs. No.3 bat Alan McKee continued his superb form from the previous game at Sandy Bay and stroked the ball to the boundary almost at will, being especially severe on anything short of a length.

Teenagers Brain Spence and Daryl Service gave Alan solid support however it really was a one man show. The winning total was reached after only 26 overs with the only dissapointment that McKee missed out on a century by 4 runs.