To nobody’s great surprise Merrion have started the season with two wins. In 2016, despite victory in the Irish Senior Cup, they got relegated, an outcome brought about at least in part by not having an overseas player. That situation has been rectified this year and Jamie Brown with runs and wickets has already proved his worth. On Saturday they posted their highest total in recent years, 358/7 against Balbriggan, thanks to a century from John Blakeney and 96 from Brown. With Ed Joyce in the side, alongside his brother Dom, John Anderson and Tyrone Kane - there is hardly a stronger batting line-up in the country at present.
The bowling is also looking more balanced. On Saturday Tom Stanton celebrated his call up to the Leinster Bolts U23s with his first five wicket haul [5/45]. Max Neville [once he recovers from injury] Tyrone Kane and Dom Joyce will lead the attack and with much better spin options [Ed Joyce also bowled a few overs and took a wicket] Merrion look a much stronger team than last year.
Tom Stanton in action for Merrion against Balbriggan. Photo by Rodney Smythe
They are joined with two wins out of two by Dublin University. With exam timetables to add to their selection discussions each week, DU can find it difficult getting out their full team. But when everyone is available they have a strong side as their demolition of North Kildare on Saturday shows. A score of 208 all out might only be counted as about par, top score from captain Will von Behr [64], but they then went on to bowl out NK for 63 with George Dockrell [3/2] and von Behr [3/3] competing for the honours. DU have some big games coming up but are certainly in with a shout of improving on their third place finish of last year.
The third team with two wins is Malahide. It is probably fair to say that in recent years Malahide have flattered to deceive. Good wins interspersed with inexplicable losses. More depth to both the bowling and batting this year will give them the steel to mount a real challenge for promotion. Their improved batting line-up can be gauged from the scorecard from their weekend game with Railway. A century by Danny O’Shea [106] was followed by 50s from Finton McAllister [52], Sean Davey [50] and a second in a row for captain Alan Reynolds [54]. The resulting total of 333 was their highest for some time. But it is their bowling that they will have to look to if they are to be in the mix for title and promotion at the end of the season. Peter Chase [4/28] did the early damage with the ball but in the end they were unable to secure the full points as they might have expected to.
The reason they did not take full points is down to some remarkable batting by Alex Stiles. He scored 151* at a run a ball with 15 [4s] and 4 [6s]. Records and birth certificates will have to be checked but he is certainly one of the youngest players to make 150 in an innings in senior [D1/D2] cricket. His partnership of 190 with Ciaran Divney [80], who also made a career best score, may also be a record for the ninth wicket. What it means for Railway, however, is that they are now two games without a win. There is a long way to go and there is much that is positive to take from last weekend, but it is still a setback to their hopes of returning straight away to D1.
The other team with no wins so far is Terenure. A lost to Malahide in the first round by four wickets, a game in which they had chances, was followed by another close game with Rush. In this case they fell short by just 10 runs. Holding the strong Rush batting line up to 238 was a fair achievement, especially in Rush, but despite seven players getting into double figures only one, Ali Shah [73] managed to kick on. For this year Terenure may well look to rebuild and spring a surprise when they can.
Rush on the other hand already have a good blend of experience and youth. Defeat by Merrion in R1 probably does not push them too far off course and if they can defeat Trinity [a key match] and string together a few other victories against their main competitions - a channel to promotion is possible. But it may be a year too soon. With a very good youth set up the priority perhaps should be to blend their young players into the team and allow them to gain the experience to compete at the highest levels of club cricket.
The last two teams to be mentioned are North Kildare and Balbriggan. North Kildare were brought back to earth when they were well beaten by DU in College Park on Saturday. In R1 they showed real determination in the batting to make the 200 runs needed to defeat Railway. A century by Manjeep Singh [108*] led to this win but the brittleness of the top order batting was exposed by the students with none of the first seven making it to double figures. For NK the season may well hold more losses than wins, but as long as there are some more of the latter the club can continue to build and gain experience at this level.
Balbriggan were well beaten by DU in R1, only managing 138 in their first innings. Against Merrion they made it past the 250 mark, but in a losing cause. Adrian Harper has top scored in both matches and made 79 on Saturday before being run out but will need a lot more support from the rest of the batting if Balbriggan are going to pose a challenge to the stronger teams in the Division. To be fair Balbriggan have had to do a lot of rebuilding of their team this season and players do take time to adjust to new conditions. There is still plenty of time to recover from a bad start. Check out updated League Table.