MALAHIDE, PEMBROKE, PHOENIX AND LEINSTER PROGRESS IN SKELLIG SIX18 SENIOR CUP

There were wins for Malahide, Pembroke, Phoenix and Leinster in this afternoon's Skellig Six18 Leinster Senior Cup, setting up a pair of interesting semi-final ties on June 23rd.

In the featured action in The Village, Terenure won the toss and elected to bat, and having lost Ryan Smith early, Séamus Lynch and Henry Dall worked hard to get through the toughest of the batting conditions. Once they had done so, they began to find the boundary, with the score progressing nicely in the second 10 overs.

Dall brought up his 50 in the 22nd over, however the very next ball saw Lynch pick out deep square leg where Ali Frost took a comfortable catch to dismiss him for 40. Their 82 run partnership was as good as it got for the away side, as Dall was dismissed for 53, with Mike Frost making him the first of his three victims.

Frost accounted for Darsh Shetty and Farjad Khan, before Jeremy Martins' second spell dismissed Raghav Grover for 14. The score moved to 165 before Martins returned for a third spell to dismiss Sid Nair and Abdul Shokoor Amiri to finish the innings, with Dylan Cleary once again unbeaten on 2.

Martins was the pick of the bowlers with 3/30, with Mike Frost's 3/31 also impressing for the home side in a fine bowling effort on a decent batting wicket.

The chase started nicely for Malahide, with Younas Ahmadzai and Cormac McLoughlin-Gavin finding the boundary after something of a cagey start, moving along to 52 before Kripesh Shetty dismissed Ahmadzai with the last ball of the 11th over, before also accounting for Ali Frost for just 1 in his next over.

That slight wobble was nothing to worry about however as Matt Ford joined McLoughlin-Gavin, with the pair adding an excellently compiled partnership of 66 in 13 overs, before McLoughlin-Gavin top edged a sweep shot and was caught by Séamus Lynch for 42.

An unbroken stand of 40 saw Malahide to their victory target with 7 wickets and 18 overs to spare, as Matt Ford made an unbeaten run a ball 50, along with 28 from 21 balls for Jeremy Martins, to complete a clinical victory.

In College Park, Leinster batted first and made their way to 169 all out, thanks to Matthew Vercoe-Curtis' 49, with a late boost from Jai Moondra who made 32 from just 23 balls, there were two wickets for each of Gavin Hoey, Matthew Humphreys, Yash Bala and Mikey O'Reilly. After a good start, Dublin University fell from 41/0 to 48/4. From there they were never able to get back ahead of the game, and after a good partnership between Humphreys (41) and Nicolaas Pretorius (35), they succumbed to Bilal Azhar's second spell, eventually falling to 146 all out and seeing Leinster 23 run winners.

In Park Avenue, Phoenix put together 208 all out thanks to 53 from Johit Munjal, 43 for Jack Lalor, as well as a late flourish from Amish Sidhu with 33. Ashil Prakash the pick of the bowling for Railway, taking 4/34. The Railway reply saw Prakash top scoring with 27 at the top of the order, however just two more players made double figures, with the home side being bowled out for 99 in the 28th over. Dev Ranolia the pick for the away side, taking 5/9 from 5.1 overs, supported by Sidhu who took 2/23.

Finally in Jack Harper Park, Pembroke were victorious and continued on their unbeaten charge. Balbriggan won the toss and batted, however nobody could muster more than number 9 Sam Willemse's 14, as they were all out for just 92. Nick Stapleton the pick of the bowlers with 4/17, whilst Padraic Flanagan took 3/43. The chase saw Sebastian de Oliveira take three early wickets, before Nick Stapleton steadied the ship, with the Australian eventually finishing 47* in a comprehensive 6 wicket win for the Sydney Parade outfit.