It may have escaped notice but yesterday’s fourth round of Division 1 of the OC pitted the leading four teams in the league table against the bottom four. Anyone who took out an accumulator on the four top teams winning would have done well. The result. We are beginning to see a divide between the top half of the table where four teams have three wins each and the bottom, where three teams have either one or no victories. The thought, raised to public notice at the start of the season, that we might be seeing a shift in playing power away form the southside, has yet to be proved false.
It does not seem to matter which side bats first, bowlers are having a hard time at present. In three of the four games played over 500 runs were scored and in the last, between Phoenix and YMCA, the aggregate was just under. In this last match there were centurions on each side, Reinhardt Strydum [122] for Phoenix and Simmi Singh [106] for YMCA. Phoenix batted first and made 258/6, which also saw 85 from skipper Sam Anderson. Defending the total, Phoenix used seven bowlers and all contributed to winning the game. Not for the first time this season the YMCA top order batting did well [215/5 at one point] only for the middle order to fail.
In the Railway / Clontarf game there were also centuries on both sides. Kenny Carroll batted through the 50 overs for an undefeated 133 and got good assistance down the order from M Tariq [58]. 252/5 was certainly competitive but with Charles Wakim and Bill Coghlan putting on 98 for the first wicket Clontarf were always in control. That said it took until the 49th over to seal victory and for this Clontarf could be thankful for a better than a run a ball 74* from Alex Cusack. A couple of late wickets took a little of the edge off the Clontarf victory but they still won by five.
The best match of the day was the derby between The Hills and North County. Over 550 runs scored in a game that went to the penultimate over. North County batted first and despite losing J Willoughby early on had useful contributions from six players including 50s from Niall McGovern and Nathan Rooney. The pick of the seven bowlers was Albert van der Merve with 4/51. Chasing 279 for victory, the eventual victory was set up by a second wicket partnership between Maun Kumar and Hamid Shah of 90 but required a 68 ball not out century from Max Sorensen to bring it home. There were wickets again for Eddie Richardson [3/48].
As there is no scorecard submitted in the Pembroke v Merrion match there is no report beyond the result - a win by 50 runs for Pembroke.
The fortunes in D2 took a dramatic turn with one wicket wins for Trinity and Malahide, the first of which could have a significant bearing on Division honours at the end of the season. There were also victories for Balbriggan [v Terenure] and [it is presumed as the Live Scores terminated before the end of the match] for Rush [v North Kildare].
Balbriggan made 284/9 against Terenure with important contributions down the order. John Mooney top scored with 64. With a total of 3 runs from the bat from the first five, Terenure were never in the hunt and reached 129 ao thanks to 66 from Mohammad Ali. Duane Harper and Khalid Bilal did the damage with three wickets each.
Fifties from Cormac Hassett and Chris Banon [63*] allowed Cork to reach 206 in the first innings of their match. Callum Riches [4/38] and James Newland [3/29] sharing the bowling honours. Malahide then lost a couple of early wickets in reply but made the halfway mark only three down. Thereafter wickets fell regularly and in the end the match went to the wire with Newland topping off an excellent day with 20* to secure a one wicket win for Malahide.
Having bowled North Kildare out for 135 [L Jensen 4/15], Rush should have had no problem chasing. As it turned out they were five wickets down for less than 50. At this point Paul Ryan [who had taken 5/25 in his ten overs] had to come off and there were no further wickets as Allan Eastwood did the damage with a not out half century [as far as we can tell as the score ended with Rush on 130/5].
At College Park Trinity hosted Leinster in a crucial match between the favourites for the title and a resurgent student team. There was a certain amount of attrition as Leinster batted first - but three wickets from Conor Hoey broke the back of the innings. Matt Petrie again chipped in with 3/24 and Rex Walsh took another two. Leinster were all out for a modest 159. Things seems to be going very smoothly for DU with a 100 run second wicket partnership between Will von Behr [36] and Lorcan Tucker [53] but then the wheels fell off and despite the efforts of George Dockrell [38] it looked like the students might manage to lose. But Garin Howell and Rex Walsh managed to get the needed five runs [perhaps the most valuable of the season] and Trinity won by one wicket.
If I might end on a general note. As everyone knows things happen and sometimes despite best efforts a club is unable to put up Live Scores or submit a scorecard at the end of the day. But it is happening more often this year. Perhaps clubs don’t realise how checking in on updates on the Match Centre has become part of the normal Saturday routine for many people [both those attending matches and not]. Yesterday I met a resident of Singapore who follows the match centre every weekend. It is also important for providing up to date league tables and for the reports on cricket on Eastcoast Radio. So to those who get the live scores and/or scorecards in every week - many thanks. And for the others please try to do better. For the record 1641 separate users visited the site yesterday - mostly to check on scores.