PEMBROKE WIN SENIOR 2 CUP FOR FIRST TIME SINCE 1976!

Pembroke 2s completed a comprehensive win over their Malahide counterparts at a sun drenched Jack Harper Park. Captain Joe Prendergast led the way with the ball after Greg Hollins had toiled hard to set Malahide an imposing target.

At Jack Harper Park:

Pembroke 202 All Out off 49.4 overs (Greg Hollins 67, Danny Hogan 44, Macdara Cosgrave 23, Zack Micklewright 23; Ravi Kumar 4-45, Timcy Khanduja 2-32, Cameron Shoebridge 2-41, Mohit Sane 2-41)

Malahide 172 All Out off 45.4 overs (Matthew Langan 41; Joe Prendergast 4-44, Zack Micklewright 2-16, Macdara Cosgrave 2-37)

Pembroke won by 30 runs and are Senior 2 Champions for 2023.

For some historic context, Pembroke has won this competition on 4 occasions, the last of which occurred in the heatwave summer of 1976, some 47 years ago.

Their opponents have won this trophy on two occasions, most recently in 2001 - so not as long a wait as Pembroke but still 22 years ago.

So to the match itself, Pembroke won the toss and chose to bat first on a beautiful sunny day at Jack Harper Park in the heart of Balbriggan.

Pembroke made steady progress throughout their innings and were indebted to Greg Hollins who came to the wicket with the score on 55-2 and only departed when his team had reached 201 in the final over. Hollins had top-scored with 67 (3X4s, 2X6s).

The primary partnership of the Pembroke innings was 75 for the 4th wicket between Hollins and Danny Hogan who scored 44 off just 51 balls.

For Malahide, Ravi Kumar was most successful with 4-45 but there were also solid contributions from Cameron Shoebridge, Timcy Khanduja and Mohit Sane who all picked up a brace of wickets a piece.

Set a challenging 203 for victory, Malahide openers Jamie Grassi and Timcy Khanduja made a cautious start against some tight opening bowling from Micklewright and Sumit Kumar with the first 9 overs yielding just 27 runs.

Donncha Tucker then made the initial breakthrough dismissing Grassi with only his second ball.

With Malahide struggling to gain any momentum, Pembroke captain Joe Prendergast then removed Adam Doyle and Khanduja (14 off 53 balls) in successive overs to reduce Malahide to 53-3 in the sixteenth over. This quickly became 64-4 in the 20th over as Prendergast struck again to remove the dangerous Mohit Sane. Pembroke now very much in charge.

Matthew Langan and Aaron Doyle then sought to consolidate for Malahide and in doing so added 36 for the 5th wicket albeit off 11 overs. When Micklewright dismissed Aaron Doyle, Malahide had slumped to 100-5 off 30.2 overs.

Malahide now faced a steep task with 103 still needed at 5.33 runs per over with just 5 wickets in hand.

Matthew Langan was joined by Seán Drumm as Malahide looked to up the tempo as they added a further 33 for the sixth wicket in six overs. Malahide now 133-6, 70 needed off 14 with 4 wkts remaining.

Macdara Cosgrave then took the key wicket of Langan for a well-made 41 as the Malahide innings faltered. Ravi Kumar provided some late order hitting, clearing the rope on two occasions before Prendergast returned to pick up his 4th wicket. Micklewright then dismissed Shoebridge to send the Cup back to Dublin 4.

It is fair to say that Greg Hollins batting was the primary difference between the sides as he guided his team to what proved to be a winning total.