It is pretty clear from the points table for the Russell Court Division 2 that the league has split. Four teams have come through the early stages of the season with varying degree of success and based on current form can maintain reasonable ambitions around title honours or promotion. But a gap has opened up between these and the other four teams that may prove difficult to bridge.
The first part of the season has gone pretty much according to plan for Merrion. Unbeaten after four matches [and with full points from the crucial encounter with Dublin University], they are in poll position. The batting line-up looks particularly strong with two players, John Anderson and Jamie Brown, already past the 200 run mark and a third, John Blakeney approaching it. Bowling has been an issue in the recent past as even the home side struggled with the batter friendly Anglesea Road surface. But this year no fewer than 10 players have taken wickets with four on five wickets or more. Tom Stanton has most wickets in senior cricket [OCD1 and OCD2] at this point in the season and younger brother Sean has taken six in his first season at this level.
Who their most likely challenge will be awaits the outcome of the matches between Dublin University and Malahide [to be refixed] and Rush [10th June]. With double points at stake these matches assume massive importance for the teams involved and for the league. With three wins out of four DU lead the table and if they can continue to get all their main players on the pitch for most matches could go one better than their third placed finish of last season. They have a strong bowling attack, especially in the spin Department, with George Dockrell [7/14], Conor Hoey [7/122], Will von Behr [7/127], and Josh Dascombe [6/123]. But the batting has yet to prove itself with only one 50 recorded this season.
Malahide have only managed to complete two matches in the league so it is difficult to read too much into their unbeaten status. However, with one century and four fifties [distributed between four players] already to their credit they have shown that they have a strong batting line-up. Seven bowlers have taken wickets with David O’Shea leading the way with six and Peter Chase on five. Provided Malahide can overcome Dublin University [T20 Format] they should be set up to maintain their challenge to the end of the year.
Having lost the opening game of the season [v Merrion], Rush have bounced back and won the next two. Again they will have to beat DU if they are to have a realistic chance of sustaining a run for the title. The next two weeks sees them take on Malahide and DU - these games will have a big say on how their campaign fares this year.
Given the frequency of high scores at Kenure it is perhaps a little surprising that there have only been three 50s [and only two players past 100 runs] so far this year. But Rush have players who are capable of making big scores so this should not be a major concern. Seven bowlers have got into the wickets with Lynal Jansen and Alex Neary the most successful.
Of the four teams at the other end of the table North Kildare are in the best position with one win out of two played. But that loss was v Trinity so counted double. On paper one would expect them to struggle against the top teams but like last season they are capable of springing a few surprises. Manjeet Singh has made a great start to the season with bat [including a century] and ball and if he can maintain form then NK can expect to pick up some more victories.
With no wins the remaining three sides need to act quickly if they are to have any chance of catching the leading group. Railway, by dint of having a double pointer against Trinity, are perhaps in the best position to kick-start their season if they can win this match. In the games so far there have been individual performances with the bat - but nothing in the way of a team score. But of perhaps greater concern is their inability to take wickets [only 10 taken in three games].
Terenure’s fortunes will depend on how quickly they can implement plans to strengthen their team. A South African overseas player is due soon and is badly needed to strengthen a side where bowlers are going for about 30 runs per wicket or worse and no bat has yet passed the 100 runs mark. Despite these poor statistics they could have beaten Rush and only lost by ten runs.
Balbriggan had a good season in 2016 but lost a number of players and need time for the new additions to settle in. So far this season as a bowling unit they have performed well with Duane Harper, Shameem Ahmed and Ehtesham Ahmed all taking wickets at a good average. But with only Adrian Harper topping the 100 runs, they need a lot more from their batting lineup.
The end May Table [with five matches to be re-refixed] shows the number of players who have turned out for each team, those that have played in all matches and those U18 [Youth].