Sprint Coatings Division 4 Review

The first edition of the Sprint Coatings Division 4 League saw five teams compete, Merrion 2 and Terenure 1 entering new teams for 2020. Pembroke 3 joined the league late as their player retention was better than expected – they had thought a number of players would be unavailable due to the pandemic but found this wasn’t the case.

Railway Union were the team to beat and they showed the experience they had gained over the past number of seasons with a convincing five wins from 7 with one tied match and one no result. They won convincingly in most of their matches, but the fixtures against Greystones proved the most testing for the Park Avenue side. Their first match up saw Railway come out on top by 30 runs, Ciara O’Brien (43*) and Carol MacKenzie (41) doing the damage. Lynne Rae impressed for Greystones taking three for 14 from her five.

In reply, Priscilla Pegman (27) and Angela Garland (30) did well but they never really threatened chasing 128. It was the two teams’ second meeting that came down to the wire. Greystones batted first this time around and Alexandra Orpin (31) anchored the innings while Angela Garland scored a breezy 45 at better than a run-a-ball. Tight bowling saw Railway pegged back with Carol MacKenzie (39*) and Ciara O’Brien (32*) again the top performers but unable to score as freely as their first game. Alexandra Orpin (5-0-13-2) was again instrumental in the bowling innings as Railway could only manage to equal Greystones’ first innings total.

Pembroke 3 leapfrogged Greystones in the table into second by virtue of beating them by seven wickets. Greystones made 111, Lynne Rae (35) and Alexandra Orpin (27) doing the glut of the work. Pembroke shared the bowling around with a number of bowlers taking wickets. Nicky Bell (47*) was the hero of the chase and Pembroke reached the target with two overs to spare with Mariosa Whaley (19) and Isabel Alexander (17) making valuable contributions.

The Foxes then beat Terenure having earlier beaten Merrion by four wickets. Merrion did claim a win, beating Terenure who finished the season without winning a match. It was brilliant to see the club turning out a women’s team for the first time in a long while, however, and as they grow their girls and women’s section, the results will no doubt follow.

Railway and Greystones dominated the top of the stats tables. Top run scorer was Railway’s Carol MacKenzie with 142 from 4 innings, she averaged 71. Pembroke’s Nicky Bell was next with 120 runs at 60, also from 4 innings. Ciara O’Brien from Railway was third with 118 runs from four innings. She wasn’t dismissed in the 2020 season and so does not have an average. The Greystones duo of Priscilla Pegman (117 runs at 29) and Alexandra Orpin (116 at 39) came in at fourth and fifth with Terenure’s Caoimhe O’Brien sixth with 109 runs at 36.

The top three wicket-takers come from Railway. Eimear Linehan was way in front with 12 wickets at an average of 5.75. She also has the best bowling figures in an innings with 5-7 against Terenure. The rest of the top five each took six wickets; Nina Blaauw and Ali Nolan from Railway, and Alexandra Orpin and Lynne Rae from Greystones.