Gaston stars with the bat

PROMISING footballer Alfie Gaston proved he is adept with a cricket bat as he is with a football as he starred for Coleraine Second XI recently in a dramatic three runs win over Letterkenny Seconds.

Gaston, who made his senior league debut for Coleraine last season and who has been named in the County Londonderry squad for this summer's SuperCupNI, finished on 63 not out for the Sandel Lodge side.

Having won the toss, Coleraine elected to bat first in what was to be a thriller of a game.

Letterkenny made an early breakthrough, claiming the prized wicket of Jonathan Elder who was bowled for 2.

Coleraine’s Stephen McCartney (27) was joined at the crease by a returning Steven Harper (14). The pair batted confidently, putting on 32 runs. Harper was timing the ball beautifully until he was bowled by a delivery which stayed extremely low.

An unfortunate Colin Manson shared the same fate as Harper as he was skittled by an unplayable daisy cutter which crashed into the base of his leg stump.

In a matter of moments, Coleraine were reduced from 40-1 to 45-3.

However, a highly entertaining knock from youngster Alfie Gaston helped resurrect the innings. Gaston, fresh off a magnificent 106 on Friday evening, took little time to get his eye in, as he and his mentor, McCartney, put on 70 for the third wicket.

After McCartney was bowled, young Gaston continued in style, finishing the innings on 63 not out and guiding the 2nds to a total of 147/5 from 30 overs.

As has become customary, Dylan Laverty (1-25) got Coleraine off to a great start by bowling Letterkenny opener with a beautiful in swinging delivery.

Fellow opening bowler Lorcan Macauley bowled with hostile pace, regularly beating the bat but without any luck as Letterkenny progressed to 60-1 from 11 overs.

It was a change of pace which put Coleraine back on top. The spin bowling Ali Handforth (4-13) and seam bowling of Coleraine debutant, James Panek (2-28) combined for a match- defining spell which saw the Letterkenny innings subside from 60/1 to 73/6.

Letterkenny struggled to play the slow stuff from Handforth and had trouble coping with the nagging accuracy of Panek.

However, there was another twist in this tale, as the Letterkenny lower order wrestled back some control as Deepash, Khurana and Sharma all made vital contributions to rescue their team's innings.

The Coleraine bowlers continued to chip away, with developing partnerships broken thanks to the bucket hands of Elder who held onto three difficult chances.

The game continued to ebb and flow until it reached a crescendo with Letterkenny needing four runs from 12 balls with only one wicket remaining.

Running thin on bowling options, skipper Handforth handed the ball over to David Feeney, who plays primarily as a batsman, to bowl the crucial penultimate over.

A seemingly unfazed Feeney delivered just what the doctor ordered, bowling stump to stump and producing a beautiful looping delivery that trapped Tanim LBW.

This moment of magic from a thrilled Feeney gave Coleraine Seconds the win by three runs.

The Seconds remain in third place in the league and will now turn their attention to the cup, as they travel to North Fermanagh for the first round this Saturday.