A little later than expected the 2011 Cricket Season came to an end with a match in Anglease Road between Merrion IIs and YMCA IIs to determine the fate of the Division IV League. For Merrion there was the added incentive that a loss would mean that they woud drop to 3rd position and Railway Union IIs would achieve promotion.
Despite a fairly long break for rain, an early tea meant that in the end only two overs were lost to the weather and the match ended in gloomy but very playable conditions. YMCA batted first and lost early wickets to the leftarm 'pace' of veteran Jeff Short. At five wickets for 55 and eight down for 122, Merrion appeared to have the upper hand but a near run-a-ball 38 from David Streek and a blistering 51* from Y Ali in 29 balls going in at number 10, meant that YMCA could post a very competitive 198. The best of the bowling was from Short with 3/31 in 10 overs, with able assistance from the leg-breaks of Rex Walsh [2/21].
The Merrion innings started well with the first wicket putting on 94 runs before Merrion schoolboy Chris Allwright was out for his third 50 in four innings for the IIs. Some hard hitting by Alan Parkinson, combined with a couple of unnecessary run out, meant that the game was still in the balance until another schoolboy, Matthew O'Driscoll, took control and steered the innings home with an undefeated 40.
A very good game to end the season.