Jack Carty was the star of the show in today’s featured game, as the Merrion all-rounder made a half-century at the top of the order, before his four wickets sealed what had at one stage looked an unlikely win for the home side.
Merrion batted first and in spite of Carty’s form a Theo Dempsey burst at the top of the innings meant they had fallen to 37/4 before he was joined by Franco Marais, the pair added a good partnership of 66 for the 5th wicket before the eventual dismissal of the opener Carty for 53, he was one of two wickets for Ben White, who returned the fine figures of 2/28 from his 10 overs.
Marais added 41 with Sean Stanton in the second biggest partnership of the innings, eventually finishing 54* as he guided his side to 178/8 from their 50 overs. Theo Dempsey’s 3/25 the pick of the bowlers for the away side.
Phoenix’s reply was strong, and at 61/1 and 89/2 they looked to be in the driving seat in their chase, however two wickets for Merrion skipper Tom Stanton, followed by a vital spell from Jack Carty which saw the ‘Nix’s top scorer George Dockrell dismissed for 46, Tyrone Kane for 33 and Theo Dempsey for 25, saw the away side fall to 94/5, and again from 148/6 to 158 all out, securing a 20 run victory for Merrion and propelling them towards the top of the table.
Elsewhere in the Premier League, Balbriggan’s good run in low-scoring affairs kept going, as Greg Ford’s 40 saw them manage 159 all out against The Hills, before 3/22 from Ryan Hadley and two wickets apiece for Andrew Darroch and Dylan Lues helped them to a 23 run victory. At Claremont Road, three wickets from Curtis Campher was the pick for YMCA in restricting Clontarf to just 163 all out, before Jack Tector’s 71 saw them most of the way to victory, Fionn Hand took 4/40 to put the frighteners up YMCA, however they managed to see through a 2 wicket win with just under 12 overs to spare. Whilst in Sydney Parade, half centuries for Theo Lawson (73) and Poonish Mehta (55) saw Pembroke make 255 all out in spite of James Newland’s 6/40, with Ali Frost’s 87 in reply the top score as Malahide fell 37 runs short.
In the Championship, Terenure restricted Cork Harlequins to just 131 all out thanks to 4/20 from Raghav Grover, with Dylan Cleary also taking 2/19. Dónal Lynch top scored with 31 in the chase as Terenure won by 4 wickets after just 22.2 overs. Malcolm Nofal’s 93* alongside Eddie Richardson’s 5/22 & 31* saw North County to a 7 wicket win over Rush, whilst there was a nail biting finish in Leinster, where Cork County restricted their hosts to 135 all out thanks to Kevin O’Sullivan’s 4/7, before Byron McDonough made 39 to see County to their victory target with one wicket to spare from a precarious position of 76/6. Finally in Park Avenue, North Kildare lost their first game of the season as Railway Union posted a score of 195 all out thanks to half centuries form Philippe le Roux and Liam McCarthy, Devansh Bansali taking 6/36 for North Kildare, before three wickets for Fakhar Zaman, with two apiece for McCarthy and Alan Mathew saw NK restricted to 127 all out and a 58 run win for the home side.
IBI CORPORATE FINANCE PREMIER LEAGUE
At Anglesea Road
Merrion 178/8, 50 overs (F Marais 54*, J Carty 53; T Dempsey 3/25, B White 2/28)
beat
Phoenix 158/10, 42.1 overs (G Dockrell 46; J Carty 4/19)
by 20 runs
At Sydney Parade
Pembroke 255/10, 50 overs (T Lawson 73, P Mehta 55; J Newland 6/40)
beat
Malahide 218/10, 48.4 overs (A Frost 87, F McAllister 42; G Hoey 3/52)
by 37 runs
In Balbriggan
Balbriggan 159/10, 44.4 overs (G Ford 40; J Tall 3/25, T Rooney-Murphy 3/33)
beat
The Hills 136/10, 46.3 overs (C McLoughlin-Gavin 37; R Hadley 3/22)
by 23 runs
At Claremont Road
YMCA 166/8, 38.2 overs (J Tector 71; F Hand 4/40)
beat
Clontarf 163/10, 47.4 overs (A Vincent 49, R Forrest 46; C Campher 3/19)
by 2 wickets
IBI CORPORATE FINANCE CHAMPIONSHIP
At Terenure
Terenure 132/6, 22.2 overs (D Lynch 31; S Jones 3/53)
beat
Cork Harlequins 131/10, 33.1 overs (U Khan 47; R Grover 4/20)
by 4 wickets
At Observatory Lane
Cork County 138/9, 43 overs (B McDonough 39; B Mitchell 4/27)
beat
Leinster 135/10, 41.5 overs (B Azhar 54; K O’Sullivan 4/7)
by 1 wicket
At Park Avenue
Railway Union 195/10, 46.4 overs (P le Roux 57, L McCarthy 54; D Bansali 6/36)
beat
North Kildare 127/10, 43.4 overs (F Zaman 3/23, L McCarthy 2/23, A Mathew 2/33)
by 58 runs
At Inch
North County 200/3, 31.1 overs (M Nofal 93*, J Grassi 37, E Richardson 31*)
beat
Rush 199/10, 48.4 overs (E Richardson 5/22)
by 7 wickets