BLIGNAUT & SHIELDS GUIDE THE HILLS TO T20 GLORY

It was a night to remember for The Hills CC in The Vineyard last night, as their supporters saw their side win the LHK Insurance sponsored Alan Murray Cup for the first time since 2013. Dylan Blignaut and Levon Shields were the heros for the home side, Blignaut with an excellent 42* guiding the side home in the run chase, following on from Shields’ superb 3/17 with the ball and 31 with the bat at the top of the innings.

Earlier in the evening, Tarf skipper Eoghan Delany won the toss and elected to bat first on an excellent wicket. PJ Moor set about getting Clontarf off to a good start, sharing an opening stand of 50 in 5 overs with David Delany, before Moor flicked an Ash Bain full toss straight to Athar Farooqi on the square-leg boundary where he took a comfortable catch. Ruan Cronje came to the crease next however he could manage just 5 before Bain clean bowled him.

The Hills seamer finished his spell with 2/19 from four overs, bowling out at the top of the innings. Levon Shields came into the attack and dismissed John McNally LBW for 7 as the teenager misjudged a pull shot. This brought skipper Eoghan Delany to the crease, he and David Delany moved the score past 100, before David was dismissed, also by Shields, for 31 from 33 balls. Clontarf however were 101/4 and still had 5 overs to put together a decent total.

The next over saw David Vincent dismissed by Tómas Rooney-Murphy, Eoghan Delany continued to rotate strike and run well, however he was running out of partners rapidly, Andrew Vincent was comprehensively bowled by Blignaut in the 17^th over, before Paul Ryan was bowled by Shields attempting to cut a ball which was too close to the stumps. The Hills’ leg-spinner completing his 4 over spell with the excellent figures of 3/19.

Skipper Delany managed to scramble the final total to 135/7 as he finished not out on 31, as well as the excellent efforts of Bain and Shields, Blignaut’s 1/41 and Rooney-Murphy’s 1/26 were the two successful bowlers, whilst Athar Farooqi bounced back well from an expensive opening over to complete his four overs conceding just 29 runs.

It was an excellent bowling effort from the hosting side, whilst Clontarf will have been disappointed with how their innings petered out after an excellent start in the Power Play.

The second innings began quietly, David Delany bowled four dots to Shields in the first over, before a pulled boundary over mid-on got the game up and running, a wide followed by a dot closed out the over, and allowed Mick Granger first crack at Cormac McLoughlin-Gavin. Granger bowled back of a length, and The Hills’ in-form opener uppercut the ball to the deep point boundary, where John McNally took a straightforward catch.

Murray Commins joined Shields at the crease and when Granger overstepped for his first delivery to the left-hander, Commins duly launched the free-hit for a one bounce four to the straight boundary, very next ball he then clipped a massive nonchalant 6 off leg-stump and suddenly felt to be away. The next over, bowled by Delany, saw Commins take back to back boundaries off the third and fourth deliveries, before he managed to pick out Paul Ryan at mid-wicket off the 5^th ball, where the veteran took a solid catch. Granger bowled a tight fourth over to bring the score to 31/2 and the game very much in the balance.

Teenagers Luke Thomson and John McNally were entrusted with getting Clontarf out of the Power Play, and The Hills pair of Shields and skipper Andy Kavanagh took this as their cue to get stuck in. Each of the pair taking a boundary as Thomson’s over went for 10, before Shields struck two boundaries, followed by a huge Kavanagh maximum as they took McNally’s over, the 6^th for 15. This saw The Hills finish the Power Play 56/2 and firmly in the driving seat.

Clontarf immediately turned to spin, and whilst Cillian McDonnell was keeping it extremely tight from the school end, Ruan Cronje couldn’t exert the same control from the clubhouse end. The x-factor of the leg-spinner however did come through as Cronje ripped one through Shields to see the South African dismissed for 31 with the score on 69, Blignaut came to the crease and rounded off that over with a boundary to see The Hills to 77/3 at the halfway stage.

The next over saw Kavanagh slap a cover drive off McDonnell straight to deep cover where Andrew Vincent took the catch, the score was now 79/4 and although there was little run-rate pressure on, The Hills were under some pressure to find a partnership. Blignaut and Mark Dwyer took 10 runs from Cronje’s 3^rd over, the 12^th, to settle the nerves somewhat again, however when a catch dropped just short of David Vincent in the 13^th over, Dwyer was slow to turn back and run out by an accurate throw, the score now 90/5 and Tómas Rooney-Murphy joining Blignaut who was on 12 at the crease.

The 13th over saw McDonnell finish his spell with the excellent figures of 1/10 from four overs. With 7 overs remaining The Hills required 43 to win and with five wickets down the game was somewhat in the balance. David Vincent bowled the 15^th over, and The Hills again targeted the shorter boundary and a six from Rooney-Murphy was followed up by another 6 and a boundary from Blignaut, as The Hills took the score to 110/5, meaning they needed just 24 from 36 balls to win the game.

Eoghan Delany threw the ball to brother David, and he delivered the 15^th over for just 2, Mick Granger delivered a good 16^th over, however a thin edge to the fine leg boundary saw it still go for 8. Delany’s final over, the 17^th went for 10 as Blignaut decided to take on the speedster’s last few deliveries, moving the score to 130. Granger then took his turn to bowl a spectacular over, going for just a single off the 18^th.

With Blignaut on 36 and Rooney-Murphy on 17, the score was 131/5 from 18 overs. Cronje returned to bowl the 19^th over however the chase would last just one more delivery, Blignaut slog-swept a massive 6 over the deep mid-wicket boundary to secure a 5 wicket win and send The Hills faithful into delirium.

The post-match presentation saw Levon Shields crowned Player of the Match for his 3/17 off 4 overs and 31 at the top of the innings for The Hills.

Congratulations from all at Cricket Leinster to The Hills on this fantastic achievement, they will now host Cork Harlequins in the All-Ireland T20 semi-finals in The Vineyard this Sunday, August 14^th.

Cricket Leinster hugely appreciates the brilliant work of the entire volunteer team at the Vineyard who worked tirelessly as hosts of the Final. It was also brilliant to see such a large crowd of fans and supporters of both clubs and indeed many familiar faces from within the broader club cricket community. Finally our thanks to LHK Insurance Brokers for their unstinting support of club cricket - it is very much appreciated.