About a month ago matters in the Russell Court D1 seemed pretty settled. Clontarf, the champions, looked like they were going to comfortably retain the title and Cork County were odds on to be relegated. The only issue was which team would end up in the relegation play-off spot, though even here it didn’t look all that likely there would be a play-off as no RCD2 team were performing consistently enough to overtake Dublin University in second place. What a difference a month makes.
If anyone had any concerns about the league not being competitive enough - surely these have been laid to rest. It is worth recalling that at the same point in the first cycle of matches [after R6] Phoenix were top of the table and Clontarf second with The Hills and North County a good way back. Leinster and YMCA were fighting it out to keep their distance from Pembroke who were in seventh place. Today the teams play each other to determine who will challenge for the title. At the other end of the table the equation seems to boil down to whether or not Pembroke can beat YMCA in the final round. If they fail to do so then there is a good chance they will find themselves in the play-off spot as Phoenix have the much easier match - a home fixture v Cork. Whether to not they have to endure a play-off depends on Malahide winning their last game v Balbriggan.
Yesterday YMCA beat Clontarf in Castle Avenue. Batting first Clontarf lost a couple of early wickets but recovered through Brad Barnes [43] and Andrew Poynter [49] to 121/2. But this was followed by a dramatic top-order collapse where five wickets fell for 12 runs. Clontarf never recovered and were eventually all out for 167. It was a memorable day for Aviral Shulka, a late call-up for the injured Simi Singh, who took a career best 5/17 in his ten overs. YMCA did not have it all their own way in chasing down what was a modest total. Similar to the first innings, an early wicket was followed by a good stand between Jack Tector [28] and top-scoring Oliver Gunning [76] but there was another top-order collapse as four wickets fell for 20 runs. The difference in this case was that there was a target in sight and Alister Blair White [22*] and James Parkinson [26*] got them over the line.
Meanwhile, a few miles down the road, North County were putting together a massive score [318/6] thanks again to an outstanding performance by one of their younger players. Scoring at better than a run a ball Jamie Grassi put the Pembroke bowling to the sword with a career best 172*. Although Nick Cutler [92] led Pembroke in a fight back, they were always behind the clock and in the end fell 66 runs score. On a personal note Grassi’s century is his second of the season [and of his career] and makes him the second person to qualify for the Merchant Cup this year. It also takes him past 1000 senior career runs.
There are no scorecards for the Leinster v Phoenix or Cork v The Hills games so the details are sparse. Leinster won by 30 runs defending a total of 265/3 - runs from George Dockrell [97*], Gareth Delany 69] and Craig Mallon [68]. For Phoenix Rory Anders top scored with 82. In the Mardyke Albert van der Merwe took three wickets to hold Cork County to 174/9. Sean Terry led the chase and scored 66* as The Hills won by seven wickets.
In RCD2 the main game between Merrion and Malahide started early and was over early. Malahide were all out for 81 and Merrion duly won by six wickets to keep their unbeaten record in the league. The most notable feature of the day was the 32 runs scored by John Anderson to take his final total to exactly 1000 senior runs in the season. It is the twenty-second time 1000 runs have been scored by a player in senior cricket and he is the fourteenth player to achieve this feat. The only other Merrion player to make a 1000 runs in a season was Brad Spanner who achieved the feat in 1999 and 2000.
In the other two games in RCD2, Railway defeated Terenure by 153 runs - Kevin O’Brien scored an undefeated 101 - and Balbriggan won v North Kildare by 99 runs.
A final note of caution - the Table above is unofficial. The authorised table will be available when all scorecards are in and checked.