Kim Garth playing for Pembroke v Leinster
There is a full round of matches in the RCD1 / RCD2 leagues today. It is expected to be cloudy but mainly dry so hopefully no need for DLS. Matches start at earlier times - scheduled 12.00 but check out local grounds.
In RCD1 all teams are still engaged in either pursuing the title or trying to avoid relegation, but the main focus will be on the outcome of the Pembroke v Clontarf game. Clontarf still have a healthy lead in the points table despite a slight wobble over the past couple of weeks. But were they to lose today - and other matches not go their way - then what is currently a mild concern about their form could become a real worry. They will also have to play a Pembroke side that are fighting to get out of the 7th Place - relegation play-off spot. Pembroke could really use a win and will be scrambling for every point.
Their main rivals are Phoenix. After spending most of the season in the top half of the table, Phoenix now find themselves only one point above Pembroke and need a win to steady the nerves v North County.
If Clontarf were to slip up then the winner of the game between The Hills and Leinster will likely provide the main contender. Leinster, with a game in hand, have the best chance of challenging for the title but if The Hills win they will be hoping that they can stay close enough to Clontarf so that they can turn the head-to-head between the two teams in the final round into a cup final.
In RCD2 the main interest at this stage [given the statement form Cricket Leinster during the week on relegation from D2] is in whether Malahide [who are at home to Rush] can amass enough points over their remaining three matches to overtake Dublin University and secure the promotion play-off spot. They need 33 points [but one of these games is against Merrion]. A win today is therefore really important.
The teams as selected and submitted are set out below. Pembroke have Andrew Balbirnie available following his runs for Ireland during the week - but are without Josh Little and David Murphy. That provides another opportunity for Kim Garth to take the new ball as she did so successfully a couple a weeks ago. Clontarf have Andrew Poynter back in the side and look to be at pretty much at full strength. Leinster are missing Saqib Bahadur but otherwise have their two centurions from last weekend [Delany and Mallon]. In D2 Malahide have a strong team out against Rush with Peter Chase leading the attack. Conor Armstrong plays again for Rush and will strengthen the batting but they are missing some important players, including their captain Lynal Jansen who has had to return home to South Africa. Merrion continue to blood a number of their younger players and today give a senior debut to off-break bowler Richard Bisgood.
Pembroke: Lawson P [C], Balbirnie A, Balbirnie J, Cutler N, Garth JJ, Garth K, Gupta S, Hopkins R, Lawson T, Tucker F, Tucker L [W].
Rush: Stephen Doheny (C/W), Tipu Gull, Allan Eastwood , Aaron McGuire, Alex Neary, Conor Armstrong , Dean Brogan , Jack McGee, Daniel Coffey, Sean Monks & Nathan McGuire
North County: E.Richardson, J.Grassi [W], N.McGovern, T.Sheil, J.Andrews, N.Rooney, A.Sheridan, T.Richardson, C.Sheil, C.Mulvaney, A.Gugale.
Balbriggan: Duane Harper [C], Connor Fletcher, Adrian Harper, Farooq Nasr, Adam Keefe, Trent McGrath, Ehtesham Ahmed, Kashif Ali, Mudassar Aziz, Justin Kavanagh, Abdul Samad.
Merrion: T Stanton [C], B Lakholia, S Stanton, J Blakeney [W], V Dhiman, N Sharma, R Bisgood, JJ Walsh, R Shivmangal, T Kane, J Brown.
Cork: C. Hassett [C/W], R. Duggan, G. King, S. Grobler , M. Bauer, S. Joshi, S. Wattoo, A. Hameed , P. Barlow, M. Reed, D Carey.
North Kildare: Neil Vorster [C], Tom Satchwell, Manjeet Singh, Tehseen Hashmi, Robert Neavyn, Monty Singh, Paul Ryan, Imran Ul-Haq, Wasif Ali, Gulab Singh, Matthew Bond
Malahide: Alan Reynolds [C], James Newland, David O'Halloran, Sean Davey, Keith Reynolds, Callum Riches, Peter Chase, Danny O'Shea, Arjun Muntha, Neil Boyne, Fintan McAllister [W]
Leinster: G.Delany, G Dockrell, H. MacDonnell, A. Arslan, D. Coad, I. O’Herlihy, J. Carroll, C. Janik, C. Mallon, B. Azhar, J. Brown
Clontarf: Joe Morrissey [C], Sameer Dutt, Declan Gallagher, Ropu Islam, Waqar Azmat, Bill Coghlan, Robert Forrest, John Mooney, Brad Barnes [W],, David Delany, Andrew Poynter.