SANDYFORD ELATED AT LHK INSURANCE YMCA SALVER WIN

There were great scenes of jubilation in the Sandyford CC team and supporters as they were victorious in a hard fought and closely contested YMCA Salver against Balbriggan CC in Claremont Road.

Batting first, Sandyford started shakily, found their feet and then got the push on the late overs that they needed, the feeling was that 133 was only par score after the first innings however.

That innings was centred around solid knocks from Shekar Sharma (27 off 31) and Mohammad Abdullah (29 off 20). Abhishek Pandy (19 off 10) and Rachan Potluri (12 off 15) also made valuable contributions. For Balbriggan Malcolm McGregor was the main wicket taker (4/29) but an all round effort saw two wickets for each of Syed Haris and Campbell Davies-Webb.

Balbriggan would have been quietly confident that their strong batting line up would see them home, but Sandyford struck early to put doubt into that idea. A wicket on the second ball of the innings, followed up by a key wicket in Nathan Rooney meant that Balbriggan were a precarious 3/29 in the fourth over.

Stephen Harper and Malcolm McGregor steadied the ship, with Harper unlucky not to make his half century, falling 6 runs short. His dismissal led to a series of quick wickets, leaving Balbriggan with an uphill task.

At 112/7 in the 17th over Balbriggan might have felt that the match was theirs for the victory, but excellent bowling from Sandyford saw that become 112/8, then 129/9 and with just over an over to spare Balbriggan were dismissed for 129.

This was greeted with jubilant scenes from the large Sandyford supporter group and a full scale pitch invasion was their just reward for a top class victory.

The presentation party included Amanda Dunlop from the Dunlop family, donors of the YMCA Salver.