Today’s review looks at the first group of the Tillain Cup competition, which this year was sponsored by IBI Corporate Finance. Just like in the Senior Cup, the competition was split into two groups, with two semi-finalists emerging from each group to face off.
We start with Group A, which was contested by Longford and Civil Service 1st XIs, with 2nd XIs from YMCA, North County, Balbriggan, Merrion, Malahide and Rush rounding off the group. There were 7 rounds of fixtures played out to decide the qualifiers from the group stages.
Round one saw YMCA travel to North County, the Claremont Road side batted first and thanks mainly to 24 from Jamie Forbes and 23 from Ian Anders, with starts from a few other players, a total of 138, all out from the final ball of the innings. Anthony Mooney the pick of the North County bowlers taking 3/22 from his 4 overs. North County made a good fist of the chase, with Manmeet Singh (32) and Ben McBride (27) in the runs, however Aviral Shukla accounted for both players in his spell of 4 overs, taking 3/19, and alongside two wickets for each of Mikey O’Reilly and Jamie Forbes, YM ran out relatively comfortable 22 run victors. Nearby, Longford batted first in Rush and a half century for Muhammad Sheraz Tariq (52) along with support from Fadi Khan (22), Umar Sarfraz (26*) and Ashir Javed (25) saw them to a total of 180/8, Noman Shahid and Jack McGee claimed three wickets apiece to keep something of a lid on the Longford innings. Rush were in a bit of trouble at 49/5, thanks mainly to Danish Javed’s 3/28, however a big partnership between Saadat Gull and Gary Smith dragged them right back into it before two run outs, firstly Smith for 47, and then Gull for 57, halted their progress and the chase petered out, the home side finishing 164/8, just 16 runs short. The third northside fixture of the day saw Civil Service visit Malahide, the away side batted first, and four of the top five tucked in, with Srikanth Boddu (32) Muhammad Safeen (51), Arjun Chandrasekar (34) and Mubasher Siddique (40*) all in the runs in helping them to a total of 179/5, Callum Riches the pick of Malahide’s bowlers with 2/26 from 4 overs. Malahide started reasonably in their chase, with Adam Doyle and Nick Turner seeing them to 71/1, however when Turner fell, Muhammad Javed entered the attack for Civil Service, taking the guts out of the Malahide middle order, with 5/20, including a hat-trick, from his 4 overs. Malahide were left reeling and two wickets apiece for Rajath Parashurama and Siddique allowed them to reach only 109/9 from their 20 overs. The only game played south of the Liffey in round 1 saw Balbriggan visit Merrion, where they batted first and were tied down by good early spells from Vishal Singh and Peter Forkin, taking two wickets each, before Conor Austin’s 4/11 mopped up the tail and left the away side 77 all out inside 18 overs. Eoin Birch’s 26 the only real resistance in the Balbriggan batting. Beant Bathal’s 29 along with Vikas Dhiman’s 25* ensured a comfortable 8 wicket win for the Anglesea Road outfit inside 12 overs.
Round two saw another series of tight affairs, Merrion travelled to North County where they batted first, captain Beant Bathal made 56, and 19 apiece for John O’Hara and Hermanus Bester saw the away side to 121/7, Anthony Mooney again the stand-out North County bowler, taking 3/22. John Devane’s 39 at the top of the order for the home side was the top score, and along with Ryan Tobin’s 22, they managed to chase down Merrion’s total, 5 wickets in hand, with just two balls to spare, tight bowling from Niranjan Shankar (2/17) and Bester (2/21) kept Merrion in the game right until the dying embers. Longford travelled to Malahide, where the home side batted first and thanks mainly to 25 from Andrew Pyne, managed 107 all out in the 19th over. Fadi Khan’s 4/30 the top performance for Longford, ably assisted by the economical Danish Javed, who had 2/7 from 3.4 overs. Longford’s chase never really got into gear, and at 56/6 they looked in all sorts of bother, however late contributions from Hamza Hamayun and gloveman Ahmed Sarfraz helped see them home in the 17th over. Michael Frost’s 2/17 the pick of the Malahide bowling attack. In Balbriggan, Rush batted first and Shahid Iqbal’s 47, along with a late 25 from Brandon Morris, saw them to a score of 121 all out inside the 19th over. Syed Haris with 4/20 the star of the show for the home side. Contributions from openers Abdul Sattar (53) and Ghanim Dara (39) saw the hosts almost all the way to the finishing line, before both fell and Balbriggan sealed a 7 wicket win with ten balls to spare. The final game of the day was in the Phoenix Park, as YMCA travelled to take on Civil Service, YM batted first and thanks to skipper Andrew Blair-White (25), Devansh Singh (23) and Aviral Shukla (20*) managed 130/8 from their 20 overs. Binson Thambi with 3/16 the standout bowler for the home side. On a deck which was taking turn, YM used ten overs of spin in bowling their hosts out for just 71 inside the 18th over, Deepak Jayachandran’s 26 the best resistance on offer with the bat as Aviral Shukla’s 3/16 proved too much for the Service middle order to deal with.
Round three saw Malahide host North County, the home side batted first, and thanks primarily to 36 at the top of the order from Callum Riches, they managed to make their way to 106 all out. Pritish Onmalwar taking 3/14, while Anthony Mooney’s excellent form continued with another 3/28. North County’s reply stuttered and in spite of the best efforts of Ciaran Sheridan (21) and Luke Whelan (17) they could only muster 85 all out. There were two wickets apiece for Ashish Jain, Camron Calder and Keith Reynolds as Malahide managed a 21 run win. Civil Service hosted Rush and the home side batted first, Chaiyapron Sitthisan Burke’s 3 early wickets put the away side on top, but Arjun Chandrasekar’s 37 helped his side to make 110/9 in their 20 overs. Rush were never able to get going and Shahid Iqbal top scored with 17 as two wickets apiece for opening bowlers Siddique and Parashurama ensured Civil Service got on top, and once they were they never let up, bowling the away side out for just 74 in 18 overs. YMCA travelled to Balbriggan, and made 130/7, thanks in the main to Tom Anders’ 52 and Devansh Singh’s 35, Syed Haris again in the wickets for the home side, taking 3/19 from his 4 overs. Early wickets for Mikey O’Reilly had seemed to put YM in the driving seat, but Dara (29) settled the ship again, before Abdul Samad (25), Chuka Uba (40*) and Tariq Faheem (22*) blasted the home side to victory with a late flurry of boundaries, Balbriggan making it home with 5 wickets and two balls to spare. The round was completed by a bank holiday Monday game, as Merrion welcomed Longford. The visitors batted first and runs from Mehar Imran (35), Hamza Hamayun (23) and Adnan Sarfraz (23) got them to a respectable 132/9, Peter Forkin taking 3/17 from his 4, whilst Conor Austin’s two overs, while expensive, yielded 2 for 23. Merrion looked in total control of the run chase, as Jack Atkinson and James Hitchcock put on 91 for the first wicket, that soon became 92/2 though as both were dismissed in quick succession, Longford began to turn the screw and had Merrion in a spot of bother, however some late extras accompanied by Timcy Khanduja’s 15* saw the home side scramble to victory with one ball to spare.
Round 4 kicked off with YMCA hosting Rush, the visitors batted first and 30 for Jack McGee helped them to 95/8, three YM bowlers conceded just 18 runs, with Sam Streek taking three wickets, whilst O’Reilly and Shukla again took two apiece. Skipper Blair-White bludgeoned 54 from 39 balls as, supported by Devansh Singh’s 33*, the home side chased the total in just 11.4 overs, with 9 wickets in hand. Longford batted first on their visit to North County, and thanks to Mehar Imran’s 70, with help from Adnan and Shamas Sarfaraz, with 27 and 20 respectively got Longford to 145/8, Abdul Ghaffar’s 3/16 the pick of the bowling for North County. John Devane once again top scored for the home side with 31, but after him no other player could manage more than 19, as Longford’s Fadi Khan again was in the wickets, with 4/26, helping to bowl their hosts out for 113, and confirm a 32 run victory. Merrion welcomed Civil Service who batted first, contributions from Jayachandran (28), Chandrasekar (22) and Thambi (27) saw them to 118/9, Vishal Singh’s 3/14 the pick, supported by two wickets each for Shankar and Danny Forkin. Rohit Pahuja’s 56 set the chase up for Merrion and it was ably rounded out by 24* for Khanduja to seal the 6 wicket win inside 17 overs. Mubasher Siddique’s 3/16 the standout figures among the Civil Service bowling attack. Malahide hosted Balbriggan, and batting first the home side made their way to 120/2, Adam Doyle with 61* supported by Sean Drumm’s 30*. Ghulam Muhammed and Syed Haris with a wicket each for Balbriggan. The visitors were anchored by Ghanim Dara’s 36, as they came out victorious off the last ball in a nail-biting chase, Leslee Augustine Muttahotil’s 4/26 and Ashish Jain’s 2/14 keeping Malahide in the hunt right until the end.
Round 5 kicked off with Merrion travelling to Rush, where they batted first, again it was Hitchcock who made 77 before 30 from Khanduja and 23 from Shankar brought them up to 163/7 from their 20 overs. Noman Shahid’s 2/31 the pick of the Rush efforts with the ball. The home side were reeling at 26/4, before Shahid Iqbal’s counter-attacking 43 and latterly Sitthisan-Burke’s 23 not out saw them to 116/7 from their 20. Timothy Knight’s 2/17 the pick of the Merrion bowlers as the wickets were shared around. YMCA batted first in their visit to Malahide, and Ian Anders’ 60* from just 36 balls led Blair-Whites charges to 141/5, Matthew Jeffrey-Carrick with 2/34 the best of the home team’s bowlers. An excellent opening spell of 2/14 from Jamie Forbes accounted for Malahide’s openers before Ashish Jain (23) and Nick Turner (21) staged something of a revival, however when these pair fell, YM took control and turned the screw, allowing Malahide to reach just 112/7 from their 20 overs, a 28 run win for the visitors. North County travelled to Civil Service where they batted first John Devane made 17 but when he was run out, Aamir Bafanda took centre stage for the home side, ripping North County to shreds with a spell of 4 overs, taking five wickets for just six runs to bowl the visitors out for just 53. This left Muhammad Safeen (19*) and Srikanth Boddu (29*) to knock off the runs in just 7.1 overs, securing a 10 wicket victory for the home side. The final game of the round saw Longford travel to Balbriggan, the away side batted first and after Hamza Hamayun’s 37, captain Shamas Sarfraz thumped 78* from just 46 balls, to help his side to 177/8. Syed Haris’ 3/22 saw him the pick of Balbriggan’s attack again, supported by 2/24 by Dakshin Eashwar. The home side were always just slightly behind the run rate, causing wickets to fall at regular intervals, so in spite of Chuka Uba’s 44, and contributions of 24 and 33 from Eashwar and Haris respectively, they could only get to 146, all out from the penultimate delivery. Danish Javed (3/14) and Adnan Sarfraz (3/9) the bowlers who prevented Balbriggan getting a foothold in the game, as Longford sealed a 31 run win.
The penultimate round began with a top of the table clash between YMCA and Merrion. Andrew Blair-White’s side batted first, and thanks to 20 from Mitchell Thompson, and Devansh Singh’s top score of 34, managed 133/8 in their twenty overs. There were two wickets apiece for Hitchcock, Shankar and Austin. Merrion’s effort was short of what was needed however as YM’s spinners Thompson and Cillian McDonnell took three wickets apiece in a dominant bowling performance, Jack Atkinson’s 18 being the only score of any sort of note, as Merrion were rolled over for 80 inside the 19th over. Malahide visited Rush, where the home side needed a late 20 from Brandon Morris to scramble them to a total of 80, Eoghan Keohane, Keith Reynolds, Neil Boyne and Ashish Jain taking two wickets each in a dominant bowling performance for Malahide. Sean Drumm’s 28 was the main contribution as Malahide lost 5 wickets in chasing down the total in just under 17 overs, David Carthy’s 2/19 were the best of the bowling figures for Rush who put up a good defence of an ultimately below par total. Longford’s trip this week was to the Park, where they faced Civil Service. Once again Hamayun was in the runs, making 32 and supported by 21 from Shamas Sarfraz they fought hard against an excellent Service bowling effort to make it to 98 all out. There were three wickets for Mubasher Siddique, along with two for each of Parashurama, Abhilash Sukumaran and Naveed Khan. Longford then went on to put on a bowling exhibition of their own, Fadi Khan taking 6/14 and Muhmammad Sheraz Tariq 3/17 as the Civil Service chase was smothered before it ever had a chance to get going. Meanwhile in Balbriggan there was a local derby against North County taking place. The visitors batted first and 24 from Ben McBride, along with 20 for Niall McGovern saw them reach 100/7, Abdul Samad’s 2/13 the pick of the home side’s bowling efforts. Keegan Laing then had a day out for North County, as he picked up the first 4 wickets to fall in a superb opening spell which cost just 18 runs. He then passed the ball on to Anthony Mooney who did his best to one up his team-mate, taking 4 of the last 6 wickets to fall, his spell costing just 15 runs. Pritish Onmalwar accounted for the other two wickets as Balbriggan could only reach 73 all out in the 18th over of the chase.
Unfortunately, North County’s tie with Rush fell to the weather conditions on the last weekend of the season, this left three games to be played out, starting with Civil Service’s trip to Balbriggan, where the visitors batted first Rajath Parashurama and Arjun Chandrasekar both made 35, and Binson Thambi a later 21 to get their side up to 161/7 from their 20 overs. Abdul Sattar’s 2/25 the best on offer from Balbriggan’s bowlers. Sattar and Steven Harper were the only Balbriggan players to reach double figures in the second innings, both making 25. Binson Thambi was the main reason behind this, as his 4/13, ably supported by 2/11 from both Ramgokul Srinivasan and Rohith Gunaseelan, saw Civil Service bowl their hosts out for just 71, and secure a 90 run victory for the away side. The final round began with Longford, Merrion and YMCA all in the hunt to qualify, however with Longford and YM facing off, only a highly unlikely tie would see both through in the event of a Merrion win. So we begin at Claremont Road, Longford arrived in good form, but Andrew Blair-White’s men had been white-hot the previous few weeks as well. The home side batted first and the skipper immediately set the tone, opening the batting with a top score of 54, he was supported by Mitchell Thompson’s 27, however only one more YM batter passed double figures as wickets fell regularly, Muhammad Sheraz Tariq and Hamza Hamayun taking three each to stifle their hosts and what was looking to be a huge score at one stage landed on 133/8. Again it was spin all the way for YM, using only three overs of seam in the innings, this tactic worked to grind Longford’s usually quick scoring top-order down and when Blair-White stumped key-man Mehar Imran there was delirium in the home ranks. Cillian McDonnell’s mesmerising spell of 4/8 accounted for three other key men, Hamayun along with Adnan and Shamas Sarfraz all falling cheaply, after which Longford were down for the count. Thompson and Shukla again contributed two wickets each in seeing the visitors to 55 all out and a convincing victory for YM to secure them a home semi-final tie. Merrion were able to call on the services of Hugh Kennedy for the first time in the season in the final round of fixtures, and he proved to be a key inclusion as himself and James Hitchcock combined to bowl Malahide out for just 67 in their visit to Anglesea Road. Kennedy’s 4/11 from 3.4 overs just about outdoing Hitchcock’s 4/14. Rohit Pahuja’s 31 saw Merrion most of the way home but not for the first time this season they wobbled more than once in their innings, two wickets for Neil Boyne briefly scaring the home side before they eventually reached their target 5 wickets down in the 15th over.