The Leinster Senior Cup is suffering something of an existential crisis. Strong support for the idea that the 60 Over format had passed its sell-by date [too long a day, costly for clubs and contributed little to player development] did not extend to deciding what should replace it. The cup format remains popular with players and spectators [and is an important part of the traditions of cricket in Leinster stretching back to 1935] but on what basis should it be played. 50 overs is too familiar, T20 already catered for and double innings T20 is too gimmicky.
So the competition this season will be by way of a 40 over a side match - the same as for the other cup competitions. It will be interesting to see if it produces a different dynamic to the contest than in the league.
The open draw has produced an interesting set of matches between D1 and D2 clubs - with Clontarf and YMCA obtaining byes. Starting time for all is 13.00.
• North Kildare vs. Terenure (Kilcock)
• Leinster vs. Railway Union (Rathmines)
• Balbriggan vs. Pembroke (Balbriggan)
• The Hills vs. Rush (Skerries)
• North County vs. Merrion (Balrothery)
• Phoenix vs. Malahide (Phoenix Park)
North County v Merrion
The pick of the above is the game between North County and Merrion. Given the choice of D2 teams NC would probably have preferred to avoid Merrion but they do have home advantage and with pending Leinster Lighting commitments [and recent injuries] Merrion are not at full strength.
In their encounters over the past five years NC have not made good use of home advantage and have lost all five meetings with todays opponents. But this run has to end sometime. Eddie Richardson will no doubt have a big say in this and has been in tremendous form with bat and ball. But it is the NC attack as a unit that will be needed to overcome the strong Merrion batting line-up with Patrick Tice returning for the unavailable Michael Lewis behind the stumps. Also missing are Ed Joyce and Tyrone Kane.
Merrion: D Joyce [C], P Tice [W], T Stanton, J Anderson, J Brown, M Neville, V Dhiman, N Sharma, B Lakhotia, S Stanton, J Blakeney.
North County:
Leinster v Railway Union
This game represents an opportunity for both teams to re-start their season and build confidence for the league. For Railway this is of particular importance as on Monday they have a double-pointer v Dublin University. But focussing on the match in hand Leinster have the stronger all-round side and are favourites. But their performances [one win out of four] have been pretty mixed so Railway will feel they are in with a good chance if their string their individual performances into a team effort.
Leinster, missing George Dockrell due to exams, line out as follows:
Leinster: C Mallon [C], D Coad, J Carroll, G Delany, A Anwar, JP O’Dwyer, I O’Herlihy [W], P. Byrne, S. Bahadur, J Brown, B Azhar
Railway have a number of changes from last week. Robin Russell, Niall Hunt, Shariq Khan and Ciaran Disney come in.
Railway: Kenny Carroll [C], Abdullah Hafeez, Rachit Gaur, Ranil Dhammika, Mo Tariq, Ciaran Disney (W], Saad Ullah, Hamza Maan, Robin Russell, Shariq Khan.
North Kildare v Terenure
The only all D2 clash - and this could go either way. North Kildare have one win under their belt but otherwise are a bit short of time on the pitch. Terenure have yet to make their mark in the league but have an interesting selection in Jeremy Bray who returns to Leinster cricket after a few years absence. This will certainly boost confidence within the team.
Terenure are missing Dan van Zyl who is unavailable and James Smith who is injured. The team is;
Terenure: Conor Mullen (C), Ajaz Shah, Diarmuid Lynch , Dónal Lynch, Jeremy Bray, Kenny McDonald, Michael Cotter, Mohammad Arshad, M Waqar Hussain, Subby Ramnathpur, Yasir Cheema
North Kildare: Neil Vorster [C], Josh Uddin, Sean Dalton, Manjeet Singh, Tom Satchwell, Imran Ul-Haq, Paul Ryan, Robert Neavyn, Mathew Auret, Clint Auret, Wasif Ali.
Balbriggan v Pembroke
The gap in current league positions would suggest that this should be a comfortable win for Pembroke. Home advantage may count for something but Balbriggan have not managed so far to recapture the form of last year. But a cup match, especially one under a different format, does not always go according to plan. Balbriggan have a reasonable attack and Pembroke’s betting has been known to falter under pressure, though it is greatly strengthened by the day-release of Lorcan Tucker from Trinity. But the bigger question may be, can the Balbriggan batting cope with Pembroke spin.
Pembroke: Lawson P [C], Balbirnie J, Cutler N, Garth JJ, Hoey B, Hogan D, Hopkins R, Lawson T, Little J, Tucker F, Tucker L [W]
Balbriggan: Duane Harper {C], , Adrian Harper, Ehtesham Ahmed, Shamin Ahmad, Connor Fletcher, Adam Keefe, Trent McGrath, Kashif qazi, Kashif Ali, Mudassar Aziz, Cian Nulty
The Hills v Rush
The Hills lost their first match of the year last weekend in a shortened game against Phoenix. They will welcome the visit of Rush as an opportunity to get back in gear. Rush have started to put together some good performances this year but it will be a big step up to take on one of the stronger D1 sides. One presumes that The Hills will be at or near full strength as they won’t be impacted by the demands of Leinster Lighting. Rush are also missing Stephen Doheny from their line-up which will not help their cause.
Rush: Lynal Jansen (C), Neil Rock (WK), Saadat (Tipu) Gull, Allan Eastwood, Shahid Iqbal, Daniel Coffey, Shahrukh Shamim, Aaron McGuire, Alex Neary, Jack McGee, Nathan McGuire.
The Hills:
Phoenix v Malahide
The final match of the first round sees the in-form Phoenix take on a Malahide side that is unbeaten this season [although possibly a little short of match practice]. A key factor, however, may be the absence of Peter Chase from the Malahide team. Indeed the Malahide team contains no fewer than three players who make their first appearance this season, including two youth players [Riley Shoebridge and Zak Woods Oliver] on debut.
Phoenix have Robin Kelly back from injury and with what looks like a full squad to choose from seem to have the stronger hand.
Malahide: A Reynolds [C], J Newland, F McAllister, K Reynolds, D O'Shea, S Davey, M Hingston, R Shoebridge, , D O'Halloran, G Stewart, Zak Woods Oliver.
Phoenix: Nicolaas Pretorius (W/C), Reinhardt Strydom, Robin Kelly, Rory Anders, Adam Chester, Ari Karvelas, Tom Anders, Ben White, Ian Anders, Gordy Millar, Graham Morris
As the Leinster Senior Cup enters a new era there will be close attention paid to the success of the new format. How will players adjust to the ten fewer overs per innings? Will it turn out closer to the one-day 50 over game or a T20? We will watch with interest.
The Playing Regulations provide that in the event of a tie a ‘one-over eliminator’ will be used in an uninterrupted match. But this only applies [perhaps sadly] if the number of wickets lost by each team is also the same. If there are interruptions to either innings resulting in loss of overs then DLS will kick in. If there is not time for an OOE [or conditions do not permit it] then a bowl out will ensue.