MERRION BEAT YM TO GO TOP; WINS FOR MALAHIDE, CLONTARF & PEMBROKE

Comprehensive wins were the order of the evening in yesterday’s 9^th round of the Sprint Coatings Women’s Division One, on a night where Merrion won out to reinstate themselves at the top of the league with just 5 games to go.

YMCA VS MERRION

In Claremont Road, the home side batted first and anchored by a solid knock of 44 from 50 balls by Sarah Forbes, managed to make their way to 96/6 from their 20 overs. The bowling effort was consistent all-round, four of the five bowlers going for five runs per over or less, however the star of the show was Cecelia Joyce who took 3/20 from her 4 overs, dismissing Forbes, Kate McEvoy and Vanshika Shukla to prevent any chance of YMCA accelerating their scoring late on.

The second innings saw Forbes take the early wicket of Isabel Light, before a 56 run partnership between captain Celeste Raack and Hannah de Burgh-Whyte brought a level of security to the run chase, before the skipper was dismissed for 33. When she was dismissed it was left to de Burgh-Whyte (38*) and Ally Boucher (10*) to see the away side to an 8 wicket victory inside 13.2 overs.

THE HILLS VS CLONTARF

In The Vineyard, again the home side batted first, and again Robyn Searle made an excellent start, she put on an opening stand of 42 with Amy Benson before being second out with the score on 58 for another well made 31, from there it was Miranda Andrews’ 26 that saw the side most of the way to their final total of 118/7 from 20 overs. Tarf skipper Emma Butler was the pick of the bowlers, taking 2/13 from three overs as the away side spread their workload around no fewer than 8 bowlers.

Another good opening stand of 55 between Bhavi Devchand and Christina Coulter-Reilly brought the score to 55 inside 5.3 overs, however by the end of that over, bowled by Robyn Searle, she had taken the wickets of Devchand for 18, then Aoife Brennan for a duck, to force a stutter to 55/2, however that was as good as it got for the home side, as Coulter-Reilly, supported by Anna Marshall who made an unbeaten 16, added an unbroken stand of 64 for the third wicket, the opener finishing up on 63* from just 37 balls in a comprehensive chase in just 12 overs. Searle’s 2/37 the only bowler to have any success for the home side.

LEINSTER VS MALAHIDE

Another game where the hosts batted first was played at Observatory Lane, and thanks to an excellent 66 from just 50 balls, she shared stands of 36 with Rebecca Rolfe and 42 with Isabel Saeed-Maguire before being dismissed with the score on 118 in the 17^th over of the innings. Three wickets apiece for Sarah Brophy and Maria Kerrison were the pick of the bowling efforts for the visiting side as they restricted Leinster to 133/8, having at one stage been in a position where it could have been much more.

In reply, it was Malahide’s skipper Caoimhe McCann who led the way for the visitors, she dominated an opening partnership with Gemma Devally who was dismissed for 4 when the score was 30, from then on however McCann and Anna Kerrison were in dominant mood, the skipper passing her half-century and finishing 55* from 37 balls, whilst Kerrison finished up on 49* from 40 balls, as the visitors completed the run chase with 6.2 overs remaining and losing just one wicket.

PHOENIX VS PEMBROKE

Finally in the Phoenix Park, the remarkable pattern of the day continued as the home side batted first, however Pembroke were right on top from the get-go, Lou Lou Little took the first of her three wickets to dismiss Alison Black with the second ball of the innings, and from there Phoenix never really recovered, no fewer than four run outs occurred in the innings, Little herself responsible for three of those, with a wicket for each of Kimli McDonald and Anna Beale in the middle overs, the innings was bookended by Little’s final pair of wickets as she finished with 3/4 from her three overs.

In response, Pembroke were methodical, knowing that one of the teams above them was certain to drop points would surely have had an impact on the method with which they went about their chase as Cathy Murphy dug in at the top of the order for an unbeaten 23 from 42 balls, ensuring there would be no collapse and helping her side to a 9 wicket win from the 2^nd ball of the 14^th over. Zara Craig produced an admirable second innings spell as her four overs cost just five runs, however Phoenix simply didn’t have enough runs on the board.