Early wickets give Castleknock platform for success

Early breakthroughs by Suman Dey gave Castleknock just the start they needed in this well contested cup final between Castleknock 2^nd XI and YMCA 4^th XI.

The scene was well set with the wonderful Margaretstown Ground looking in superb condition. When the YMCA captain, Karl Metcalfe, won the toss he had no hesitation in batting first. He probably didn’t expect the immediate impact of Suman with a wicket with the first ball of the innings. This was followed by another in the over and with a double wicket maiden to start YMCA had a mountain to climb.

Opener Jack Flanagan knuckled down and saw off the opening bowlers – in fact Suman wasn’t to return after his first four overs due to injury. Unfortunately for YMCA he kept taking wickets in those four overs and ended up with the stunning figures of 3 wickets for 1 run off 4 overs.

Tight bowling from all the bowlers meant that run scoring was at a premium. When Zahid Imran took three quick wickets, including both top scorers Flanagan (20) and Karl Metcalfe (15), it was clear that YMCA would have hard work defending a target of 77.

After a wonderful Clinton family Hills Cricket Club tea, Castleknock set about chasing the target. They batted with the confidence of a team needing only 2 runs an over, but were soon hitting boundaries at will. Openers Samran Patel and Shivendra Jogi put on 33 for the first wicket and even when Shiv departed to the bowling of Sadiq, the target was comfortable at all times.

YMCA bowled and fielded valiantly but acceleration by Samran, finishing on 37*, meant that the target was reached in 20.2 overs.

Castleknock were worthy winners of this match, but YMCA with a young team are ones to watch in the future.

The Man of the Match award went to Suman for his opening spell that left YMCA decimated.

Junior Cup Final

Castleknock 2 v YMCA 4, Sunday August 25^th, Margaretstown Cricket Ground, 40 overs

YMCA 76 a/o (J Flanagan 20, K Metcalfe 15, S Dey 4-3-1-3, Z Imran 8-1-18-3)

Castleknock 77/1 20.2 overs (S Patel 37*)

Castleknock won by 9 wickets