There have been days this year in Divisions 1 and 2 when it seemed that most of the matches were ending up with 24 or 25 point victories for one of the teams. The quality of some of the contests led some to question the differences in standard between the clubs. Yesterday was not one of those days. Concerns about the uneven standard of clubs across the top divisions are unlikely to go away but it was refreshing at least to have a day when so many runs were scored and so many close finishes recorded. And that is before we add in a dose of controversy.
First off let it be said that Fridays predictions turned out to be pretty accurate. Clontarf beat Merrion II [no marks for that] although Merrion did manage to take a number of early wickets and put the Clontarf batting under a little pressure and ultimately managed to bowl them out, though only after conceding 282 runs. [No scorecard yet]
Balbriggan beat Rush [didn’t expect that]. Unfortunately only the first innings details are available in full with Rush getting 229 in 45 overs [Gull: 59]. Balbriggan put in their best performance of the season to chase down the score for the loss of seven wickets. An important win for Balbriggan, which they needed to kick-start their season.
Terenure were expected to beat Malahide [especially with home advantage] but they did their best to throw it away. When the neutral supporters [including the author] left early to try to get the end of other matches in play, Terenure were firmly in control needed only 30 more to win with wickets in hand and batsmen settled. The home crowd obviously knew better and were nervously recounting previous instances where the team had managed to lose from a winning position. Well they nearly did it again and ended up scraping home by one wicket. Malahide, who generally fielded very well and took a couple of excellent catches, will nonetheless regret that they did not hold on to some other difficult chances.
Efforts to get back in time to see the end of the Pembroke v YMCA match were thwarted by a build up in traffic for the Rod Steward concert. It was pretty easy to follow in the back of a taxi, however, as wickets fell steadily and Pembroke’s early success in bowling YMCA out for 189 was wasted. YMCA have been a very resilient team this year and so it proved yesterday. Struggling in the batting they were able to call on Angus Dunlop who hit a quick 39 [four 6s] to give them a total that they could at least defend. Another mean bowling performance from Simmi Singh [8.5 overs 10/3] spearheaded a strong team effort in the field. In the end the 61 run victory was comfortably the widest victory margin of the day across the division.
All three remaining D1 matches pretty much went down to the wire. At the start of the day you would have got long odds [I didn’t even bother to check] on Phoenix in their away fixture against The Hills. The Hills had seen a dip in form of late and had lost their last two league matches, but still looked too strong for Phoenix. In the event schoolboy Tom Anders coming in at number eight scored 76* off 72 balls [7*4s and 3*6s] and, helped by a near run a ball 54 from Corie Dickeson, ensured Phoenix reached a competitive 247/7 in the fifty overs. With Nicolaas Pretorius caught behind in the first over The Hills were immediately on the back-foot. No one for The Hills managed a 50 and at 212/8 Phoenix must have felt they had a good chance. But the 9th wicket partnership put on 32 and with only six needed from the last pair, Thomas Murphy [21*] and William Archer [3*], the victory was secured off the last ball. If The Hills do end up winning the league this year they will certainly look back at this match as a key moment.
Following the North County v Merrion match on the ‘live scores’ was certainly not the same as being at the match but it was still pretty exciting [and I suspect a lot easier on the nerves]. It says a lot about how far club cricket in Leinster has progressed that 275 is now a par score on many grounds. In this case North County batting first reached 278/8 off their 50 overs with Eddie Richardson leading the way with another century [106]. Tyrone Kane was the pick of the bowlers and the only one to complete a ten over spell [3/45].
The Merrion chase was very well constructed. An opening partnership of 69 between Beasley and Ackland in 14 over laid the foundation. Two more 50 partnerships followed, and at 185 for two off 32 overs Merrion were in the driving seat. But then the wickets started to fall and five wickets went down for less than 40 runs. With nine plus overs remaining Merrion still needed 60 with three wickets standing. Dom Joyce [21*] was still at the crease but it was Simon Morrissey who did most of the damage with a belligerent 42 not out off 28 balls to bring the team home in the 49th over. Eddie Richardson followed up his century with 2/37 and was the only bowler on either team with an economy rate of less than 4. An important win for Merrion who now join YMCA and The Hills on five wins.
The final match between Railway Union and Leinster is still clouded in a certain amount of mystery and the official scorecard has yet to be put up. The bare facts are that Railway batted first and finished the first innings on 310/4 with centuries for Kenny Carroll [140*] and Pat Collins [113] and another double century partnership. At tea time I suspect it was only the most committed Leinster supporters that were thinking of making a track down to Rathmines to see the end of the game. As it turned out Leinster put on a great fighting performance and were within five runs when they were bowled out off the last ball. But that wasn’t the end of the drama as apparently the umpires intervened to award the match to Leinster for a slow over rate in the second innings. No official result card up as yet so watch this space.