Booby Gamble returns for YMCA today.
Over the past couple of weekends the previews of matches has contained more on the weather than current form. Sadly this weekend is no different and once again we face the prospect of more DLS determined results. But all is not lost - yet - as clearer weather is promised for this PM before rain spreads over night.
The four RCD1 games today all start at 13.00:
YMCA v Clontarf
Pembroke v North County
The Hills v Cork
Phoenix v Leinster
Each round of the competition has its own particular characteristic. Looking at R5 it is one where the top three teams in the table [Clontarf, Phoenix and The Hills] have the opportunity to consolidate their positions and pull away for the rest. With that of course comes the risk that one of them may fall victim to what we might count at this point as an upset. The possibility of reduced overs contests will add to the uncertainty.
The final match sees North County take on Pembroke. This is probably the most interesting tie of the round. A win for North County would see them confirm their position in the top half of the table and opens up the possibility of a challenge for honours. For Pembroke, whose form has been mixed, a win would create welcome distance from the relegation battleground.
The team news for the weekend.
Clontarf are missing Andrew Poynter [on coaching duties] but otherwise look at about full strength. The Phoenix team also has a familiar look to it with all the regular players on the team sheet. The Hills have used 16 players this season so one presumes the selection will be from this squad - so it properly comes under the heading of the known unknowns. Pembroke are missing Andrew Balbirnie from the their team. YMCA are missing players to exams but have Bobby Gamble in for his first game of the year. Padraic Flanagan also gets a recall in a much changed bowling attack. Leinster turn out pretty much as normal. Cork have used 18 players already this season and need a large squad to fill away fixtures. North County have Manmeet Singh back in the team.
Clontarf: Joe Morrissey [C], David Delany, Declan Gallagher, Bill Coghlan, Waqar Azmat, Sameer Dutt, Ropu Islam, Conor Kelly, Robert Forrest, John Mooney, Brad Barnes.
YMCA: J Tector [C], J Cassidy [W]. T Fisher, S Singh, O Gunning, H Tector, S McCauley, B Gamble, R Jones, J Parkinson, P Flanagan.
Cork: S. Grobler [C], I. Coleman [W], C. Hassett, M. Bauer, G. King, M. Smith, S. Wattoo, D. Carey, T. Clifford, A. Younus, A. Hameed
North County Eddie Richardson [C], Jamie Grassi [W], Terry Richardson, Andrew Sheridan, Conor Sheil, Tomás Sheil, Nathan Rooney, Adam Coughlan, Manmeet Singh, Cian Mulvaney, Niall McGovern
Pembroke: Lawson P [C], Balbirnie J, Cutler N, Garth JJ, Hoey B, Hogan D, Hopkins R, Lawson T, Little J, Tucker D, Tucker F
Leinster: JP O Dwyer [C], Ian O Heirlihy [W], Craig Mallon, Joe Carroll, Chris Janik, Gareth Delaney, Arslan Anwar, Pete Byrne, Saqib Bahadur, Jayden Brown, Bilal Azhar
Phoenix: Nicolaas Pretorius [C/W], Reinhardt Strydom, Robin Kelly, Rory Anders, Adam Chester, Ari Karvelas, Tom Anders, Ian Anders, Ben White, Gordy Millar, Graham Morris
The four RCD2 games today all start at 13.00:
Terenure v Railway Union,
Malahide v Merrion,
Trinity v Rush,
North Kildare v Balbriggan.
Two critical matches in this round. The first sees the two unbeaten sides in the league, Malahide and Merrion, come head to head. Merrion have additional wins [and bonus points] under their belt so they might be counted as having the upper hand going into the match - but a win by Malahide would throw the race [if with the weather it can be counted a race rather than a stumble] to the title wide open. Malahide line out with what looks like a well settled team. For Merrion, Tyrone Kane is still injured and Mike Lewis comes in for Patrick Tice.
The second big game, as always, is the double pointer involving Trinity. Today they take on Rush and will be trying to put behind them their awful two hours against Railway when they collapsed to 57 all out [to be rescued later by the weather]. But they will have Lorcan Tucker and George Dockrell back which should bolster the batting. But also won’t want another re-fix as their season draws to an end and their players begin to disperse. Rush will be equally keen to establish themselves as a serious challenger for promotion - for which a win today is a must. Rush are still without Stephen Doheny but add massive experience with the introduction of Conor Armstrong for his first game of the season.
In the other two games railway will need to get over their disappointment of last weekend when they were denied their first win by a couple of overs. They take on Terenure, who are also looking for their first league win, but without Kenny Carroll or Alex Stiles in their team. Terenure are also not at full strength with Dan van Zyl missing.
In the final game North Kildare take on Balbriggan. Last weekend Balbriggan batted really well against D1 side Pembroke in the cup. If they can take this form through to today’s game they have a good chance of securing their first league win of the season. Anthony Moor comes in for his first game following his move from YMCA.
Railway: Ciaran Divney [C/W], Rachit Gaur, Abdullah Hafeez, Furqan ul Haq, Ranil Dhammika, Robin Russell, Mo Tariq, Saad Ullah, Hamza Maan, Eoghan Grehan, Shariq Khan.
DU: Will von Behr [C], Lorcan Tucker [W], Michael Hogan, George Dockrell, Josh Dascombe, Matthew Strong, Isobel Joyce, Conor Hoey, Mohit Sane, Niall Hunt, Tom Gibbs
Balbriggan: Duane Harper [C], Adrian Harper, Connor Fletcher, Adam Keefe, Trent McGrath, Ehtesham Ahmed, Farooq Nasr, Anthony Moor, Mudassar Aziz, Cian Nulty, Kashif Ali.
Malahide: A Reynolds [C], F McAllister [W], J Newland, C Riches, S Davey, P Chase, K Reynolds, D O'Shea, N Boyne, N Turner, D O'Halloran
Rush: Lynal Jansen [C], Neil Rock [W], Saadat (Tipu) Gull, Conor Armstrong, Allan Eastwood, Shahid Iqbal, Shahrukh Shamim, Aaron McGuire, Nathan McGuire, Jack McGee, Alex Neary.
Terenure: Conor Mullen [C], Michael Cotter[W], Alex Matthews, Ajaz Shah, Diarmuid Lynch, Dónal Lynch, Jeremy Bray, Kenny McDonald, , Mohammad Arshad, Subby Ramnathpur, Yasir Cheema
Merrion: D Joyce [C], M Lewis [W], J Blakeney, John Anderson, J Brown, V Dhiman, B Lakohatia, M Neville, T Stanton, S Stanton, N Sharma.