Mo Tariq in action for Railway against Leinster
At the start of the day it was unclear how the change in format of the competition to 40 overs per side would work out. Would it be more like an extended T20 bash or a 50 overs match, just played at a faster pace. Judging by the first round it was much more like the latter. In two games around 500 runs were scored, in two more about 400 and in the last two, as it happened the tightest contests, about 300. There were two centuries and a flurry of 50s.
So what of the results?
The day was nicely set up as a series of contests between D1 and D2 clubs. It started early in Rathmines where, in a reduced overs game, Railway Union squeezed home by four runs using DLS. Batting first Railway struggled to get runs on the board, as they have done for much of their league campaign, and at the halfway mark 152 all out in 32 overs did not look good enough. Ranil Dhammika [41] was the only player to make a significant contribution. Three wickets each from Saqib Bahadur [3/15] and Peter Byrne [3/29] did most of the damage.
Leinster got off to a very poor start thanks to three early wickets by Rachit Gaur [3/20] but a stand of 70 between Bahadur and JP O’Dwyer seemed to have swung the game back in Leinster’s favour. But Mo Tariq had other ideas and in a late spell [and with overs reduced and a shifting target] his 3/15 proved decisive.
A DLS win, but Railway won’t mind.
The second game [in the order they appear on the website] was between The Hills and Rush. The visitors batted first and thanks to a partnership between Lynal Jansen [98*] and Saadat Gull [44] they were 198/4 at the end of the 40 overs. But although a reasonable score the innings had never really accelerated. The Hills maintained a tight grip on the scoring rate throughout, with six of the seven bowlers used going for less than 5 runs per over. There were no such inhibitions in the second innings where only one bowler managed a scoring rate than 5 as Cormac McLoughlin [75*] and Mike Baumgart [77*] finished the game in the 33rd over by nine wickets.
Next up was Balbriggan v Pembroke. Going into the game Balbriggan weren’t given much of a chance but perhaps for the first time this season they really batted well. A century by Connor Fletcher [109] opening the inning was followed by a belligerent 61 in 34 balls [including six 6s] from Trent McGrath. The final score 249/3 in the allowed 38 overs would test Pembroke. As it turned out those last two missing overs may have provided decisive. Nicholas Cutler [73] set the foundation for the Pembroke reply but it was Theo Lawson, coming in at four, who provided the impetus the innings needed - his 82 in 67 balls, with an important assist from Fiachra Tucker [28 off 18], got Pembroke home with just nine balls to spare having lost five wickets in the process.
The first round of the cup also provided its moment of controversy. Details are sketchy and will inevitably end up in the committee rooms of the LCU, but let us simply say that the match between North Kildare and Terenure ended on the last available ball and there were questions raised over the right DLS score. That is all I know.
The North County v Merrion encounter had been billed as the pick of the round, providing the D2 side their first opportunity of the season to take on D1 opposition. It certainly proved worthy of the build-up. Over 500 runs scored with some excellent batting on both sides and a long, if ultimately unsuccessful, run chase.
Merrion batted first and at 72/4 looked in a bit of trouble. But North County had not removed John Anderson and, as he has done so often in the past, once settled he went on to a century at a scoring rate of 125. But in many ways the real story of the innings was the maiden half century by Vikas Dhiman whose 93 in 74 balls [a marginally faster scoring rate than Anderson’s] ensured that the innings ended well on a massive 273/7.
This was always going to be a tough chase for North County and it was made more so as early wickets fell and the innings slumped to 54/4. But Jamie Grassie [84] and Niall McGovern [45] had other ideas and put together a century partnership at around a run a ball to set up a possible dramatic finish. But North County had gambled early by putting Eddie Richardson up the order, where he fell to Tom Stanton. And it was Stanton’s second spell that proved decisive as he took three more wickets and ended up with 5/37 [his second senior 5W haul and a career best]. With overs and batsmen running out [not literally] - North County were 233/9 at the end, 40 runs short.
The final game was between Phoenix and Malahide and this too was eagerly awaited as it pitched the current D1 leaders against a team unbeaten in all competitions this year. It proved to be a very even contest, messed up a bit by the weather.
Malahide batted first and lost both openers early. Therafter there were contributions down the order with Sean Davey [50] the top scorer. Phoenix were pretty generous on the extras count [33] but perhaps the key factor was the inability of Malahide to kick on over the final overs and get their score above 200. At 161 for five with six overs to go they should have got more. That they didn’t was down to Thomas Anders, whose 7.5 overs went for a miserly 2.04 per over. Chief wicket taker was Aril Karvelas with 4/38.
On 55/3 Phoenix were in a little trouble but the innings was steadied by a 78 run partnership between Nicolaas Pretorius [56] and Adam Chester [47] that did enough to ensure victory by four wickets in a game with a reduced target.
So overall how has the round gone? Pretty much a success I would say. Plenty of runs scored at a good rate. But enough there for the bowlers to put in performances that shaped the outcomes of matches [rather than just being cannon fodder as in much of T20 cricket]. Allowing that it is a pretty crude measure, the average number of runs scored in the 23 league matches this season is 226 [1st Innings] and 177 [2nd]. This compares to 204 and 180 in yesterdays cup matches. With the limited number of games played and the impact of weather the comparison has questionable validity but it does at least suggest that in a typical match [if such a thing exists] just under 1 run per over more is scored in the shorter format cup matches. That at least shows a different dynamic in the cup to the longer format league games.
The draw for the quarter finals will be next Tuesday at 11.30 - and it will be live on Near FM. Three D2 and five D1 teams go into the draw.