AN EVENING OF NAIL-BITERS! SPRINT COATINGS DIVISION ONE ROUND-UP (27TH JUNE)

It was an evening for tense finishes in Sprint Coatings Division One, as no fewer than three of the four games saw the game going right down to the final over, with the games in both Sydney Parade and Castle Avenue going right to the final ball!

Kicking off proceedings in Jack Harper Park, the impact of the Maritz sisters on the Balbriggan side was immediate, as they secured victory over Leinster by 6 wickets. Alexandra Atkinson was the pick of the bowlers for the home side taking 3/11, whilst there were two wickets for each of Reena Devi and Lara Maritz. That restricted Leinster to 102 all out, and the chase began in quick time as Lara Maritz hit 36 from 21 balls at the top of the order, laying a foundation for Claudia Green to top score with 41 from 29 deliveries, dismissed just five runs short of victory which was secured in the 13th over with 6 wickets to spare.

There was a slight delay to proceedings in The Village, however a 15 over game provided plenty of fireworks. Batting first Malahide compiled 119/4 in their 90 balls, Amy Hunter top scoring on her belated seasonal debut with 44 from 31 balls, whilst Christelle van der Schyff supported with 25. Alice Tector and Georgina Dempsey were the pick of the bowlers for Phoenix, taking 1/13 and 1/11 respectively off their 3 over spells. After a slow start Phoenix put themselves in the driving seat thanks to a good partnership between Tector and Gaby Lewis, however when Haley Moore dismissed Lewis for 45, the visitors were in trouble. Needing 10 off the final over, Sarah Brophy stepped up and delivered a nerveless effort, taking two wickets and conceding just four runs to secure a five run victory, a second consecutive league win for Malahide.

Next up, in Castle Avenue, Merrion batted first and stumbled badly, falling to 7/3 after four overs. An excellent partnership saw Ally Boucher and Izzy Joyce adding 80, before Boucher was dismissed for 20, with another excellent unbroken partnership of 49 from the last five overs between Joyce and Rebecca Stokell boosting the score to 151/5. Joyce finished unbeaten on 83 from 55 balls, whilst Stokell made 18. The chase was always there-or-thereabouts in terms of run-rate, and always just ahead of the game in the wickets column, as 'Tarf were anchored by opener Christina Coulter-Reilly through an opening stand of 31, before adding 47 in just 29 balls with Freya Sargent for the third wicket. When Sargent was dismissed for 29, Coulter-Reilly had to go about hunting down the runs quickly, Clontarf entering the final five overs requiring 48 for victory. A partnership of 48 saw Gemma Sargent adding just one as the Clontarf opener took matters firmly into her own hands. Needing 9 to win from the final over, Coulter-Reilly found the rope from the first ball, however Niamh MacNulty bowled crucial dots with the second and penultimate deliveries as the over went for just 7, seeing Coulter-Reilly finishing unbeaten on 88, and Merrion win by one run.

Finally our featured game in Pembroke saw the home side winning the toss, and for the first time all season they batted first. Orla Prendergast and Isobel Jennings got things off to a brisk start, Prendergast dominating an opening partnership of 79 in the first 9 overs, before being dismissed by Chloe Ericson caught on the rope by Rebecca Gough for 42. Jennings then fell just two runs later for 16 as Tara O'Brien clean bowled her, at which point the home side's innings lost momentum in a good spell for The Hills. Sarah Forbes made 21, however when she was dismissed with the score on 112, the team could only add another run-a-ball for the final four overs to make their way up to a modest total of 136/5, one which they knew from their own experiences at home so far this season was certainly chaseable with a decent batting effort.

The Hills' chase began with a very strong effort, in spite of losing Lara McBride in the first over, as Tahlia Dunne and Elise Noble moved the score to 42 in just five overs. Noble fell to KimLi McDonald, giving her the first of her wickets for the evening, however Jane Maguire and Dunne were able to move the score along nicely, reaching 80 in the 11th over. That saw Maguire fall foul to Zoe Bell's excellent spell of bowling, with the Pembroke teenager clean bowling the Irish international for 16 and cutting the partnership short. 7 balls later and with 8 more runs added, McDonald induced a false shot from Dunne, which landed into the confident hands of Prendergast, running in from cover, to make the score 88/4. Bell then also coaxed a false shot out of Aimee Maguire, as Prendergast once again did the honours, The Hills then 92/5 and in all sorts of trouble compared to just 10 balls earlier. Rebecca Gough and Clíodhna O'Reardon made a very strong fist of the chase, moving the score along to 124 before Forbes snared a return catch from Gough to dismiss The Hills' number 6 for 18 and give Pembroke a sniff. Prendergast returned to bowl the 19th, and a cut to the rope from O'Reardon gave the over a fine start, before a boundary off the final ball meant that the Skerries side needed five to win. That saw KimLi McDonald returning to the bowling crease and producing one of the overs of the season, a dot was followed by the wicket of Aisling Byrne, caught nicely by Zoe Bell at point, before two more dots were followed by a leg-bye. That brought O'Reardon on strike, needing a boundary to win, however McDonald held her nerve, beating the bat as The Hills could manage to only scramble a bye as Pembroke secured a two run win. McDonald finished up with a wicket-maiden, the undoubted hero of the hour as her 3/21 made her the pick of the bowlers, whilst Zoe Bell's 2/20 was another brilliant effort to drag the side back into contention in the second 10 overs of the second innings.