Before we start on the weekend offerings - a quick word about the results of re-fixtures during the week.
In the Russell Court D1 Pembroke duly won their game against Cork and took full points, thereby shooting up the league table to joint third place. It is a bit crowded in that space at the moment with three teams within a point of each other and two others with a game in hand capable of catching them.
The results for Trinity during the week - a no-point loss and an abandoned game - means that the second relegation spot from D1 is very much in play. Fears that we might have an uncontested run in for the second half of the season appear groundless and with a full round of re-fixes still to play before the half-way stage, just about everyone [perhaps excluding the top two teams] are still in the business of making sure they avoid a relegation dog-fight.
There were four re-fixes in RSD2. A much weakened Trinity team suffered at the hands of Malahide and were probably saved by the weather [again] against Railway. Balbriggan beat Railway and North Kildare beat Rush in the other two games. By my calculations [there is always a health warning here] Trinity end up on 192 points, 14 less than last year. While the ending may have been disappointing overall the students had a good season. Competition administrators will no doubt have a fresh look at the playing regulations and programme schedule for next season. But in the end Irish weather is capable of defeating even the best laid plans. What this means for the rest of the season is that Merrion need three wins [out of 8 games] to overtake Trinity, and Malahide require four or five wins [depending on bonus points] from seven games to do the same. It is more difficult, but not impossible, for any of the other teams to put themselves into contention for promotion - with North Kildare in the best position.
Note: There is a query in about the Trinity points in the table. They may have a few more. Will come back with correction if required.
The LHK Insurance Senior [Alan Murray] T20 Competition starts today. For those of you who haven’t kept up with the changes in the playing conditions, the competition this year is played over three rounds [next three Saturdays], with Quarters Finals [Wed. 12th July] and SFs / Final in Sydney Parade on 22nd July.
In the preliminary rounds there are five venues each weekend - today it is the turn of Phoenix, Terenure, Inch, Sydney Parade and Malahide to act as hosts.
Each team has two matches [everything kicks off at 10.45] and you need to check where your team is playing. Normal T20 rules apply [if such a statement can properly be applied to such games] with a SuperOver in the event of a tie. The competition format is innovative but rather than trying to explain it is better to refer directly to the regulation:
21.9 Competition Format
21.9.1 Teams from the fifteen clubs who have entered the competition play a series of matches over three weekends such that all teams play six matches each of which is against a different team.
21.9.2 These matches are arranged on a three match a day round robin basis. Each club (with the exception of Cork County) hosts one series of matches with one club (selected by open draw) hosting two series.
21.9.3 In each match, teams shall earn points as follows:
21.9.4 Following this series, the eight teams with the greatest numbers of points will go forward to the quarter finals.
21.9.5 Where it is necessary to separate teams with equal numbers of points to determine the eight quarter finalists the following system will be used:
(i) Where two teams tie then the winner of the match between them if one occurred.
(ii) If there are more than two teams tied, or if (i) does not break the tie, the teams are ranked according to their net run rate (NRR) calculated as per 21.9.6 below.
(iii) Should (ii) not resolve the matter an open draw between the team(s) tieing will be held.
21.9.6 Net Run Rate
A team’s net run rate is calculated by deducting from the average runs per over scored by that team over all the round robin matches, the average runs per over scored against that team in those matches.
In the event of a team being all out in less than its full quota of overs, the calculation of its net run rate shall be based on the full quota of overs to which it would have been entitled and not on the number of overs in which the team was dismissed.
Only those matches where results are achieved will count for the purpose of net run rate calculations. Where a match is abandoned, but a result is achieved under the DLS method, for net run rate purposes Team 1 will be accredited with Team 2’s Par Score on abandonment off the same number of overs faced by Team 2.
Where a match is concluded but with the DLS method having been applied at an earlier point in the match, Team 1 will be accredited with 1 run less than the final Target Score for Team 2 off the total number of overs allocated to Team 2 to reach the target.
21.9.7 The quarter final matches will be determined by an open draw of the eight qualifiers and played on a scheduled weekday evening.
21.9.8 The quarter final results (as per regulation 21.2 to 21.8 above) determine the four semi-finalists.
The squads for the first round of the LHK Insurance Senior [Alan Murray] T20 Competition [as provided] are as follows:
The Hills: Max Sorensen (C.), Mark Donegan (W), Conor McLoughlin-Gavin, Albert Van der Merwe, Hamid Shah, Ryan Cartwright, Nazeer Shoukat, Tomas Rooney-Murphy, Yaqoob Ali , Andrew Kavanagh, Harry Archer
Terenure: Conor Mullen (C), Ajaz Shah, David Langford-Smith, Diarmuid Lynch , Dónal Lynch, Givon Christian, James Smith , Jeremy Bray, Kenny McDonald , Mohammad Arshad, Yasir Cheema, Michael Cotter
Rush Neil Rock(C/W), Allan Eastwood , Aaron McGuire, Stephen Doheny, Shahrukh Shamim, Dean Brogan, Daniel Coffey, Niall Mullen , Patrick Sheridan , Josh Murphy , Sean Monks, Conor Armstrong
Pembroke: Lawson P [C], Balbirnie J, Cutler N, Garth JJ, Gupta S, Hoey B, Hogan D, Hopkins R, Lawson T, Little J, Tucker D, Tucker L
Leinster: George Dockrell (C), Joe Carroll, Chris Janik, Gareth Delaney, Arslan Anwar, Ian O Heirlihy [W], Saqib Bahadur, Hugh Mc Donnell, Conor O Gorman, Jayden Brown, Bilal Azhar
North Kildare: Neil Vorster (C), Manjeet Singh, Josh Uddin (W), Mathew Auret, Tom Satchwell, Paul Ryan, Sean Dalton, Robert Neavyn, Clint Auret, Wasif Ali, Darren Nicol.
Clontarf: Joe Morrissey [C], David Delany, Declan Gallagher, Ropu Islam, Waqar Azmat, Sameer Dutt, Andrew Poynter, Conor Kelly, Robert Forrest, John Mooney, Brad Barnes.
Malahide: J Newland (C), A Reynolds, K Reynolds, F McAllister, A Muntha, S Davey, N Boyne, D O'Halloran, SJ De Klerk, C Riches, D O'Shea, P Chase