20th Century Boy

Bready’s recent good form continued at the weekend with an emphatic maximum point win over Coleraine. Central to that success was a century from former Irish international David Rankin, who has been a mainstay of the Magheramason side’s batting line-up over the past two decades.

“I’ve lost count of how many hundreds I’ve scored but I think it’s around the 20 mark,” said Rankin, who was capped twice against Scotland on his home ground in 2015.

He’s relishing the mentoring role of a youthful side, along with captain Ian Young and David Scanlon.

“I've been one of the more senior members of the team now for ten years so I’m well used to it,” said the 36 year-old. “I try and help the younger lads as much as I can during training and matches, so hopefully some of that rubs off on them.

“We're still a very young side so we aren’t thinking too far ahead with regards to silverware. If we can blood through a few more younger lads and keep improving those in the team for the remainder of the season then that's a win for us long-term.”

Rankin may be rightly playing down their chances of capturing one of the major prizes, but they take the first step tonight as they take on Brigade in the Faughan Valley Cup semi-final, while they return to Beechgrove in the Premiership on Saturday, ahead of a trip to Ardmore in their rearranged  match the next day. Three wins and Bready will be right in the mix for silverware.