Although the league positions have not changed much following the weekend matches [Railway Union and North County swopped 4th and 5th positions and are now separately by one point], the results are likely to have an important bearing on the both ends of the table.
For the first time the current leaders YMCA have managed to put a little space between themselves and the chasing pack. It means that the August 17th clash between YMCA and second place Merrion is critical and Merrion will probably have to win this to stay in contention. Despite losing narrowly to The Hills, Merrion still retain a ten point margin over their third placed rivals. The Hills and YMCA have a fixture to complete [31st August].
Railway are another win and some bonus points adrift. Railway will be very pleased with their results over the last two weekends and have moved away from being dragged into a relegation battle. Their comprehensive win [full points] over Phoenix on Saturday puts them in a comfortable mid-table position. North County are pretty much in the same boat having failed to pull back YMCA in their latest encounter. With YMCA still to play Leinster and Pembroke [and currently 46 points ahead of mid-table sides] it is difficult, though not impossible, to see them being overhauled by either Railway or North County at this stage.
If the battle for the Championship remains very tight between the top three teams the position in the relegation zone is that bit clearer. On paper Pembroke could be overtaken by Leinster or Phoenix but at this stage with a 60 point margin over the former it will require an extraordinary series of results for the two bottom teams to escape. Further, Leinster have played both matches against Pembroke so the opportunity for catch up is very limited. Phoenix do play Pembroke [11th August] but even a victory here will not be enough. For Leinster to escape, they need to win three more games than Pembroke in the run in and to do better on the overall distribution of bonus points. With North County, YMCA and The Hills as their next three opponents that will be a tall order. For Phoenix to escape, they need something approaching a miracle. Beating Merrion in their next match will definitely be their last chance this season.
Regarding the matches themselves, the sunny weather produced more high scores. It is probably worth noting that the lowest first innings score of the weekend was 220 [Phoenix] and that resulted in a nine wicket lose to Railway thanks to yet another century from Pat Collins [102*], ably supported by Kenny Carroll [98*]. The other three first innings scores were between 280 and 319. Perhaps even more remarkable was the fact that all four matches produced second inning totals in excess of 200, with The Hills the second team to successfully chase down a score against Merrion [292].
Max Sorensen’s rapid 83 for The Hills was just enough [win by two wickets in the last over] to see off Merrion in what was an excellent game of cricket of a high standard with tremendous ground fielding from both sides. Given the high scores it is perhaps a little surprising that there was only two other centuries on the day, Eddie Richardson’s [to go with his 6/39] in North County’s failed effort to overhaul a YMCA score of 280/8 and Simmi Singh’s 120 for YMCA. The 35 run margin of victory was the same in both this and the Pembroke v Leinster game.
Who’d be a bowler.
Merrion v The Hills
Merrion 292-9 (Ackland 62, Thompson 63)??The Hills 295-8 off 49.2 overs (Baumgart 50, Sorensen 83, McLoughlin 58)
The Hills (21) beat Merrion (4) by 2 wickets
North County v YMCA
YMCA 280-8 off 50 overs (Singh 120, van der Merwe 73, Richardson 6/39)
North County 245 all out (Richardson 121, Singh 4/38]
YMCA (21) beat North County (4) by 35 runs
Pembroke v Leinster
Pembroke 319-7 (McCarthy 77*, Kelly 65, Tucker 50)
Leinster 284 all out (A Ward 69)
Pembroke (21) beat Leinster (4) by 35 runs
Railway Union v Phoenix
Phoenix 220 all out
Railway Union 223-1 (Collins 102*, Carroll 98*)
Railway Union (25) beat Phoenix (0) by 9 wickets