Historic Balbriggan win gives Phoenix their chance

Rush and Terenure started the weekend's entertainment on Friday night with a T20 match in Terenure. Terenure's Ben Speake once again anchored the home innings, with 53, but 129-6 didn't really look like a winning score. Rush also required their overseas player to dominate the innings, and Lynal Jansen's 71* saw Rush home with 5 balls and 4 wickets to spare. The loss confirms Terenure's position in the middle of the table, whilst Rush are not mathematically safe from the drop, but an exeptional amount of results would be needed for them to go down.

On Saturday, second and third place clashed in what was in essence the battle to see who came second in Division 2 this year (or so we thought!). Phoenix were in early trouble, and at 112-5, the match could have gone either way. But that was as good as it got for Leinster, as Rory Anders (88*), Adam Chester (53 from 36 balls) and Ben White (37* from 19 balls) took Phoenix to a dominant 300-7. Leinster never threatened, and subsided to 121 all out, with the wickets shared around. Leinster's promotion hopes are not quite over, but as with Rush above, it would take a bizarre set of results to see them go up.

The final game looked on paper as if The Hills would continue their pursuit of the Division 2 title. Instead it opened up a fascinating end to the season at the top of the table, and saw Balbriggan beat The Hills in Cricket Leinster competitions for the first time, at the sixth attempt.

The Hills weren't too badly placed at 52-3 (Khalid Bilal taking the first three wickets). Mike Baumgart fell to Duane Harper, before Muhammad Farrukh took the first of his four wickets dismissing Tomas Rooney Murphy. The procession continued, with Farrukh ending with 4-11 from 8.4 overs, and The Hills 82 all out, their last seven wickets falling for 30.

Balbriggan were then well placed at 61-2. John Mooney's dismissal then promoted a chaotic end to the match, as wickets tumbled as the finishing line appeared over the Balbriggan horizon. Deon Carolus took a hat trick (Khalid Bilal, Chris McMahon and Duane Harper the victims), as 61-2 quickly became 76-6 and then soon after 79-8. Tayyab Hassan became Balbriggan's final hero on the day, hitting his first ball for four, as Balbriggan (and possibly a few spectators) slumped over the line.

What has that result meant for the last few weeks of Division 2? The Hills' second successive loss has given Phoenix the chance of stealing the title. If The Hills beat YMCA next week, and Phoenix also beat Terenure, it will set up a last day winner takes all contest between The Hills and Phoenix. The only rider to that is that (depending on bonus points acheived next week) Phoenix may have to record a convincing victory on that last day - perhaps needing 24 or 25 points.

At the other end of the table, YMCA will have to beat Balbriggan on the last day of the season, and possibly beat The Hills this week as well. A win for Balbriggan this Saturday at home to Rush would make any last day permutations un-needed. 

Highest Batting average in Division 2 (Richard Bruton Cup) - (current qualification - 250 runs) 

As with the final stages of the Division 1 trophies, the Richard Bruton Cup (and the bowling (Dick Clarke Cup) and all rounders (Robert Ellis Cup) trophies) has a minimum number of runs that are needed. That figure is 500 runs, and as it stands, there is not a single Ireland qualified player who has passed that mark - in fact there is no one even remotely close.

Shahid Iqbal leads at the moment with 360 runs at 45.00, with Joe Carroll in second with 400 runs at 33.33. Carroll has only one more innings left, with Shahid having two goes at getting 140 runs. If they fail to reach the mark, the OCC will decide on a lower qualification figure, which will be known nearer the time.

Lowest Bowling average in Division 2 (Dick Clarke Cup) - (Current Qualification - 17 wkts)

The situation with the Dick Clarke Cup is a little easier to fathom. The minimum number of wickets needed by an Irish qualified player to win the award is 30 - and Leinster's Joe Carroll has already reached the mark. It means that if anyone wants to win the award (including Phoenix's Matt Lunson), they are going to have to pass 30 wickets - and to be honest it doesn't look very likely that anyone will!

Most Catches by a fielder in Division 2 (Arthur Vincent Cup)

Cormac McLoughlin-Gavin and Mike Baumgart remain the leading eligible contenders.

Most dismissals by a wicket keeper in Division 2 (Ralph Satchwell Cup)

Michael Cotter remains the highest placed keeper eligible for the Ralph Satchwell Cup, but only has one more game left; a similar scenario as that faced by Leinster's Richard Forrest and Michael Hogan. So YMCA's Sam Murphy looks best placed to over take Cotter, with YMCA having two matches left.  

Leading allrounder in Division 2 (Robert Ellis Cup) - (Qualification 125 runs and 8 wickets/dismissals. 1 pt for each run, 20 pts for each wkt, ctch or stmp)

There is no stopping Joe Carroll, and the crown is in the jewellers being polished.