The fifth round of the OCD1 league sees a complete north - south split. None of the four D4 clubs have to venture further than Ballsbridge / Sandymount and on the north side Clontarf and Phoenix entertain The Hills and North County.
With three of the D4 sides propping up the table this is an important round in determining who will be in the frame for the two drop spots when we come to the halfway mark in the season. Although North County may still be dragged into contention, at this point it is looking like two out of three from D4. Still plenty of opportunities on the back seven [so to speak] to stage a recovery.
Railway [who travel to Anglesea Road] have yet to win a match this season and may feel this is their best chance against a Merrion team that has struggling in the league. Both teams have been heavily reliant on individual players - Kenny Carroll and Mohammad Tariq have carried the Railway batting and for Merrion John Anderson and Dom Joyce have got the bulk of their runs. On the bowling front Merrion looks the stronger but it is the batting that tends to dominate at Anglesea Road. An important match for both teams.
In Claremont Road YMCA take on close neighbours Pembroke. Pembroke are currently leading the league table and their young team is looking like a much more mature outfit this year with a varied bowling attack and a batting line up that will be greatly strengthened by the return of Lorcan Tucker to the colours after his stint with Trinity. At the top of the order Daniel Solway has been an excellent overseas signing for Pembroke and has already scored over 500 runs. Pembroke, along with Clontarf, have done most so far this season to suggest that they will be in contention for league honours. That said they will not find it easy against YMCA on they home turf. YMCA have a number of players who with bat or ball who can turn a match and their bowling attack will exploit any uncertainty against spin from an opposition. They will certainly be hoping that they can get into the Pembroke middle order before too much damage is done.
Clontarf host The Hills at Castle Avenue. Clontarf have been the most consistent side of all the teams in D1 and are doing well in all domestic competitions [they lost out in the first round of the ISC]. Their strong batting line-up has three players - Eoghan Delany, Bill Coughlan and Charlie Wakim - in the averages [200 plus runs] but there have been important and in some cases match winning performances also from Alex Cusack, Andrew Poynter and Robert Forrest. The Hills have made a good start to the season and if they are at full strength will test the home side. Albert van der Merve is the only player to figure in the averages and their success depends has been based on good team performances. With three wins each - the match could be important in the final shake-up for the title.
Phoenix have been the surprise packet of the season and their mixture of belligerence at the top of the batting order and a solid bowling attack has proved successful in league and cup. They came badly unstuck against Merrion in an earlier match but other than this they have competed well and got the results their positive play has deserved. Reinhardt Strydum and Sam Anderson are in excellent form with the bat but they haven’t had to do it all themselves. The wickets have been shared among the bowlers. Pressure will be on North County who need to win this game to put distance between them and the sides below. Their two league wins this season have been against the two bottom sides [their ISC wins were against D2 sides] and they will want to show that they can defeats teams above them in the table. Eddie Richardson has been in great form and is the only players in both batting and bowling averages. Interesting game in prospect which may well turn on battle between the NC opening attack and the Phoenix top-order.
Batting [Qualification 200 Runs] - OCD1 / LSC
Big movers since the last publication - Daniel Solway [who goes top], Kenny Carroll and Eoghan Delany. Appearing for the first time - George Dockrell, Charlie Wakim, Bill Coghlan, Sam Anderson, Simi Singh and MohammalTariq.
| Name | Club | Mat | Inns | NO | Runs | HS | Ave | SR | 100 | 50 |
| D Solway | Pembroke | 6 | 6 | 2 | 536 | 153* | 134.00 | 99.44 | 2 | 3 |
| K Carroll | Railway U | 5 | 5 | 1 | 476 | 133* | 119.00 | 82.50 | 2 | 3 |
| E Delany | Clontarf | 6 | 6 | 4 | 203 | 53* | 101.50 | 73.55 | - | 2 |
| J Anderson | Merrion | 5 | 5 | 1 | 375 | 185 | 93.75 | 106.53 | 1 | 2 |
| Eddie Richardson | N County | 5 | 5 | 2 | 281 | 118* | 93.67 | 91.83 | 1 | 1 |
| C Wakim | Clontarf | 6 | 6 | 1 | 399 | 210 | 79.80 | 93.66 | 1 | 1 |
| R Strydom | Phoenix | 6 | 6 | - | 414 | 122 | 69.00 | 99.28 | 1 | 4 |
| A Van der Merwe | The Hills | 5 | 5 | 2 | 204 | 109* | 68.00 | 85.71 | 1 | - |
| Dom Joyce | Merrion | 5 | 5 | 1 | 240 | 105* | 60.00 | 83.04 | 1 | 1 |
| B Coghlan | Clontarf | 6 | 6 | - | 350 | 104 | 58.33 | 74.00 | 1 | 2 |
| S Anderson | Phoenix | 6 | 6 | - | 350 | 171 | 58.33 | 97.77 | 1 | 1 |
| Simranjit Singh | YMCA | 5 | 5 | 1 | 231 | 106 | 57.75 | 98.72 | 1 | 1 |
| M Tariq | Railway U | 5 | 5 | - | 228 | 58 | 45.60 | 95.80 | - | 2 |
Bowling Averages [Qualification 10 wickets] - OCD1 / LSC
Yaqoob Ali and Jack Balbirnie swop places at the top of the averages and are joined for the first time by Tom Stanton, Eddie Richardson and Alex Cusack.
| Name | Club | Mat | Overs | Runs | Wkts | BBI | Ave | Econ | SR | 5WI |
| Y Ali | YMCA | 5 | 51 | 165 | 12 | 5-34 | 13.75 | 3.24 | 25.5 | 1 |
| J Balbirnie | Pembroke | 6 | 49.3 | 203 | 13 | 4-42 | 15.62 | 4.1 | 22.85 | - |
| T Stanton | Merrion | 5 | 39.2 | 184 | 10 | 4-4 | 18.4 | 4.68 | 23.6 | - |
| Eddie Richardson | N County | 5 | 46.3 | 191 | 10 | 4-16 | 19.1 | 4.11 | 27.9 | - |
| A Cusack | Clontarf | 6 | 55 | 231 | 10 | 3-32 | 23.1 | 4.2 | 33 | - |