Sunday next (26th July) see the finals of another two of Leinster T20 competitions at the Railway Union club (Park Avenue), members of which have a strong association with both competitions.
Details are as follows:
Russell Court Trophy – Dundrum 3 v Laois 3 – Start Time 1.00 p.m.
Whelan Cup – Leinster 5 v Rush 3 – Start Time 4.30 p.m.
Russell Court Trophy
With the growth in numbers of teams and clubs in the past fifteen years, it was realised that many players at the lowest levels were not making it into the then existing T20 competitions. This was remedied in 2012 when some members of the Railway Union club (in particular J.R. Rangan of Russell Court Hotel, who provided a trophy) suggested a new T20 competition for teams in the lower league divisions. It was proposed that the early stages be run as a “round robin” and this format was used in 2012. Some problems arose with it and for 2013 and 2014 the competition was run on a straight knock-out basis. This year the Open Competitions Committee returned to an amended “round robin” format which guaranteed all teams at least two games. There were some difficulties in getting clubs to return result cards so that there was for a time some mystery about who had reached the quarter final stages but the competition has progressed to the final.
Having initiated the competition, Railway Union teams were rewarded by being winners in its first two years. Last year Laois 3rds were successful and are repeat finalists defending the trophy against Dundrum 3rds. Laois found themselves in a group which due a defection had only two teams but successfully overcame North Kildare and then beat Rush and AIB in the knock-out stages. Dundrum won both their group matches against Greystones and Dublin University and then defeated Pembroke and Civil Service.
Whelan Cup
It is not always appreciated that competitive T20 cricket existed in Leinster long before it was adopted in the first class game. The first competition was in 1952 with a trophy presented by Alan Murray of Pembroke C.C. in 1954. The popularity of this competition led to Billy Whelan, then Senior Vice President of Railway Union C.C., presenting a trophy in 1972 for competition at Intermedaite level. Its format was not strictly T20 as it was 15 eight ball overs a side – then the standard arrangement in Australia – the idea being that for light reasons it helped have fewer intervals between overs in an evening competition. The number of balls bowled was of course the same as 20 six ball overs. This format remained until 2014 when it was realised by OCC that most current players – even those from the Southern hemisphere - had no recollection of eight ball overs and it was brought into line with other competitions.
Both clubs in this year’s final have had successes in earlier seasons. Leinster were successful on four occasions, most recently in 2013 while Rush shared the trophy after a tied final in 1981 and won it outright on three occasions since then, 2006 being the latest.