IBI CORPORATE FINANCE PREMIER LEAGUE & CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND-UP
Today’s featured game of the day saw an excellent unbeaten 76 from Stephen Doheny lead Merrion to a 4 wicket victory over Malahide in Anglesea Road. Having won the toss and elected to bat first, Malahide’s skipper Cameron Shoebridge would have had his head in his hands in the 4th over, as a Hugh Kennedy hat-trick got things up and running for Merrion in reducing their opposition to 12/3.
Ryan Hackney was resolute in his defence up the other end, as he accumulated runs and moved the score along reasonably well in moderate partnerships with Callum Riches and Fintan McAllister before the dismissal of McAllister sparked something of a collapse, as Sean Stanton took three wickets to put Merrion well on top.
Hackney went past 50 and in partnerships with skipper Shoebridge and Peter Saville managed to scramble the score up to 169 all out in the 43rd over. Hackney finishing 68*, with Sean Stanton and Hugh Kennedy both taking 3/35 to be the pick of the bowlers.
Merrion’s chase was middling throughout, as three “starts” of partnerships saw the home side reach 105 before their 3rd wicket fell as Jack Carty (20), Swapnil Modgil (18) and Mike Lewis (18) all shared partnerships with opener Stephen Doheny.
Two quick wickets for Agbinesh Paul saw a minor wobble with Merrion 121/5, however Doheny remained throughout and passed his half-century with just 34 more required to win. A 42 run partnership with Franco Marais who made 20 really put the game to bed, and in spite of the latter being dismissed with just 7 needed to win, Doheny saw his side home with exactly 11 overs to spare.
Elsewhere in the Premier League, an unbeaten 144 from Poonish Mehta led Pembroke to 282/6 against The Hills, before the Sydney Parade outfit kept their hosts to just 260/9 from their 50 overs and sealing a 22 run victory.
In Balbriggan, the home side made 245 thanks to 60 from Chris de Freitas, with everyone in the top 8 also making at least 15, as there were three wickets apiece for Clontarf for Fionn Hand and Ruan Cronje. The Castle Avenue side however were never really in the chase, as two wickets for each of Ryan Hadley, Dylan Lues and Farooq Nasr, with three for Andrew Darroch, saw Balbriggan restrict them to 158 all out and a 87 run victory.
Finally, Phoenix defied three wickets for each of Harry Tector and Mikey O’Reilly to make 214, thanks mainly to scores of 49 and 43 from openers Stephen Black and Nicolaas Pretorius respectively. The YMCA response never really got going, and a top score of 32 from Tim Tector was the highlight, as Oliver Hald and Dev Ranolia took three wickets apiece in bowling the ‘Nix to a 94 run victory.
In the Championship, Leinster posted a massive 319 against Railway Union, thanks to half centuries from Ben Mitchell, Saqib Bahadur and Tristen de Beer, the last of which was a bludgeoned 52 from just 36 balls, including 4 fours and 4 sixes. Three wickets for each of Ben Mitchell and Saqib Bahadur then ensured man of the match would be a contentious decision, as Railway could muster just 103 all out in their reply.
In Kilcock, North Kildare batted first and made 201 all out thanks once again to Kaustab Pawar making a half-century. The one man show then continued in the second innings as he took 3/25, but it was Abdul Sattar who starred taking 4/31, as Rush could manage just 144 in reply, seeing the home side to a 57 run win.
In Terenure, Raghav Grover took 4/23 from his ten over spell as the home side kept Cork County to 182 all out from 48 overs, there were also two wickets for each of Sadiq Safi, Dylan Cleary and Mick Cotter. Grover continued his influence into the second innings, he made 38 as he shared a partnership of 93 with opener Séamus Lynch for the 3rd wicket, before the Lightning’s most recent debutant was dismissed for an excellent 81 from just 48 balls, Sid Nair’s 25* steered the home side to a three wicket win.
Details are yet to be fully confirmed from the game in Inch, however what is known is that North County made 242 in the first innings and restricted Cork Harlequins to just 169 in reply, sealing a 73 run victory and propelling them above Railway Union in the league table.