SKELLIG SIX18 LEINSTER SENIOR CUP - ROUND 1 ROUND-UP

A day that featured one of two types of game in the Skellig Six18 Leinster Senior Cup Round One this weekend, as there were a plethora of games finished just as things were heating up elsewhere around the grounds!

Firstly in The Hills, Dublin University made no mind of having lost home advantage in this fixture, and bowling first swiftly put their opposition to the sword for just 83. The Hills top three all made between 14 and 19, however the introduction of Matthew Humphreys saw him claiming the first four wickets to fall, before Gavin Hoey took the next three, leaving The Hills reeling at 69/7. Two wickets for David Vincent and one for Yash Balasubramaniam claimed the final wicket. Stephen Black set off like a train in the chase, making 24 from 18 balls, before three quick wickets from Matthew Weldon brought The Hills into the game, however Gavin Hoey's 25 took the side to the brink of an eventual 5 wicket victory.

The next result in was from Malahide, where they made light work of chasing down North Kildare's total of 98. Jeremy Martins and Mohit Sane claimed three wickets apiece, with two for Andy Sheridan, as NK's innings never got going against this strong Malahide attack. Abid Taniwal top scored with 18 in a poor showing for the away side when compared with last weekend's heroics against North County. Cormac McLoughlin-Gavin (21*) played comfortably second fiddle to Younas Ahmadzai's 80* from just 39 balls which saw the chase completed inside 15 overs.

Third up was a cracking game in Phoenix Park, where Adam Chester's 52 from just 32 balls featured 48 runs in boundaries and proved absolutely crucial to the side's eventual 12 run victory. In spite of Chester's score, the home side managed just 96, with Max Sorensen taking 5/44 and Melvin Christopher Devaraj 2/8 on his first team debut. The reply however was equally startling, as John Anderson top scored with just 19 as former Merrion men Tyrone Kane took 4/35 and Amish Sidhu 3/18 in an incredible come-from-behind win for the home side!

The next result off the press was Pembroke's fixture against Rush, the away side batting first and putting together just 140 all out from 34 overs, Finn McGee was the top scorer with 29, as only Nasir Totakhil also passed 20. There were three wickets for Nick Stapleton as well as two for each of Joe Prendergast, Paul Lawson and Olly Riley in a strong effort for the home side. Tea was taken with Pembroke 52/2, however three quick wickets after the interval left Pembroke in something of a sticky situation, however Stapleton and Prendergast combined again to add an unbeaten stand of 68 to guide the Broke home to a 5 wicket win with just under 17 overs to spare.

Next in, North County batted first in Inch and made their way to just 158 all out in 31.4 overs, Suliman Safi at number 3 the only batter to pass 13 as his 90 held the innings together in the face of an excellent bowling performance from Leinster. Two wickets for each of Joey Carroll, Luke Callanan, Mark Tonge and Jai Moondra doing the damage for the away team. In reply, Leinster had an equally bizarre chase, however Bilal Azhar's 37 supported Monil Patel early in the piece, adding 84 for the second wicket. Patel was then a one-man-band as his 96* saw the side to a 3 wicket victory with just under half their innings to spare.

Terenure and Civil Service played out the featured game this afternoon, and the home side batted first, a typically belligerent start from Séamus Lynch saw him make 47 from just 29 balls as they compiled 67 in the first 10 overs. However Service fought back, with the second 10 overs seeing just 26 runs scored for the loss of three wickets. A half-century stand between Darsh Shetty and Raghav Grover put Terenure back on top, before a brace of run-outs saw both players dismissed either side of the drinks break. Grover was the second score in the innings with 44, and his wicket saw the last two recognised batters in Sid Nair and Dónal Lynch adding 38, and when Lynch fell it was something of a limp to the line from the home side, however their tail did ensure they made their way to 236 all out in the last over. Naveed Khan was the pick of the bowlers with 3/61. Mark Thomas' three early wickets accompanied by Dylan Cleary's early dismissal of Simranjeet Singh put Terenure well ahead in the game, however Deepak Jayachandran and Asadullah Ahmadzai added 50, before a similar partnership between Ahmadzai and Mishra needed to be broken by a double strike from Raghav Grover and Kripesh Shetty. A tense finish was in store however a brace of wickets for Darsh Shetty and one more for Kripesh Shetty saw Civil Service all out for 212 securing a 24 run victory for Terenure.

The final result of the evening saw Railway Union securing a win against Clontarf by 4 wickets, batting first Clontarf made 238 all out in 49 over. John McNally was the star for the away side making 73, whilst there were 30s for Andrew Delany and Andrew Poynter. Three wickets for Sean O'Brien were supported by two for each of Zaman Safi, Hamza Maan and Liam McCarthy. In reply, the Railway chase was set up by 35 from both Ashil Prakash and Hedayatullah Khogiani, before a fine 69 from Liam McCarthy and an unbeaten 41 from Zaman Safi saw the side to a 4 wicket win with 10 balls to spare.