PEMBROKE OVERPOWER RUSH - IBI CORPORATE FINANCE PREMIER LEAGUE - ROUND 3
Another glorious day saw us round out the May Bank Holiday weekend today, as there were wins for Pembroke, Phoenix, Merrion, Clontarf, Leinster & North County on a day where the strongest sides in the league flexed their muscles with the bat in a big way.
The featured action today came from Sydney Parade, where the home side batted first, and saw JJ Garth & Tim Tector go off like men possessed in the Power Play, bringing up 50 inside 5 overs, with the pair adding 109 for the first wicket before Garth was dismissed for an excellent 45. Tector followed shortly later having made 54, falling to a very good catch from Jarred Barnes.
Harry Tector and Blake MacDonald then came together, with the latter dominating a 90 run stand between the pair, stroking 8 boundaries and three maximums in a 55-ball 79 which put Pembroke well ahead of the game. Tector then took it upon himself to marshal the remainder of the innings, with his 62 being slightly more circumspect, coming off 76 deliveries. The real bright spot for Rush in their bowling effort was Alex Neary, who's 7 over spell gleaned excellent return of 5/33.
Rush's response started slowly, with just 21 runs coming from the Power Play, as Luke Murray bowled an excellent opening spell in tandem with Harry Tector, keeping Pembroke well on top. It was once again the hero of Saturday for Rush, Abidullah Taniwal, who was the man who kept them in a respectable showing, as he top scored with a well-compiled 47 coming from 54 balls, before a Byron McDonough delivery finally breached the defence and crashed into leg-stump. This eventually saw Rush falling to a final total of 197 all out with McDonough the pick of the bowlers, taking 3/52 in his 10 overs, supported by two for each of the skipper Paul Lawson, and Luke Murray.
Elsewhere, in Inch, North County pulled off a brilliant escape with the bat, having slipped to 72/8 inside the first 20 overs, Eddie Richardson and Brandon Morris added 101 for the 9th wicket, with Morris dismissed for 45, and when Richardson was the last man out for 86 they had made 193 and were in a reasonable position. Bakhtyar Nabi was the pick of the bowlers for Cork County, taking 4/29, whilst there were also three apiece for Darsh Shetty and Zubair Khan. The chase all centred around Mark Andrianatos, and in spite of finding themselves 61/4 and 93/6, he remained resolute, eventually making 69, however this wasn't enough for the visitors, as they fell to 157 all out, Richardson rounding off an excellent day taking 4/37 including the deciding wicket.
In The Vineyard, Stephen Doheny's 77-ball 115 was the main contributor as they piled up 345/5 in 50 overs, there were also more runs for Swapnil Modgill with 71, whilst Jamie Forbes pulled together an unbeaten 78 to ensure the side finished with a strong last 10 overs. In response, The Hills' fast start saw Brandon Kruger making 53 of the first 83 runs, however when he was dismissed, the momentum fell out of The Hills' innings, as they briefly faltered. Edson Silva was the highlight of the day for the home side, as he struck a belligerent 77 from just 45 deliveries. Hugh Kennedy was the main man with the ball for Merrion, taking 4/72 in his 10 overs, whilst there were also wickets for Andy Doheny, who took 4/25 as his side cruised to victory by 110 runs.
Phoenix vs Balbriggan was dominated by an excellent century from George Dockrell, as his unbeaten 117 saw the home side to 267/8 in their 50 overs. This was a good recovery having at one stage been 136/6, after losing 6 wickets for 66 runs following a good opening partnership between Shane Getkate and Amish Sidhu who made 33 apiece before there were two wickets for each of the Hollard brothers, Matthew and Jordan. Balbriggan's chase never got off the ground, as Tyrone Kane's brilliant opening spell saw him taking 5 of the first 6 wickets to fall, before Amish Sidhu came to the party taking 3/17, with the 'Brig all out for 87 inside 25 overs.
In Castle Avenue, Rob O'Brien's 92 was the mainstay of Railway Union's 280/9 in their 50 overs, with support coming in the shape of 30s from Ashil Prakash, Liam McCarthy & Philippe le Roux. Three wickets for Luke Thomson the pick of the bowlers for 'Tarf, taking 3/35 in just 6 overs. The chase began with a 50 run stand, Mitchell Thompson being the man to progress this week, as he passed 50 once again. When he fell, it brought Eoghan Delany and Patrick Xie together, with the pair batting well together, once again adding a 50-run stand, ensuring 'Tarf's chase stayed on track, however the return of Liam McCarthy, coupled with Srihan Karpe's spell, put huge pressure on Xie as he passed 50. Karpe's fourth wicket left 'Tarf 8 down, however an excellent unbeaten 9th wicket stand between Xie and Yash Bala (28*) saw the Parramatta man passing a century, and guiding the side to victory with 7 balls to spare, as they added 95 in total for their stand.
Finally in Malahide, Leinster batted first and once again Ben Mitchell put the side on the front foot from the outset, making 61 from just 47 deliveries. 47 from Younas Ahmadzai and 41 for Saqib Bahadur guided the side to an excellent position at 187/3, however a brilliant spell of off-spin from Liam Foulkes saw him taking 5/34 as the away side fell to 232 all out when they appeared to be on track for many more. The chase once again saw Robbie Foulkes in the runs, however wickets falling around him meant that Leinster's bowlers were able to keep the pressure on right throughout. Foulkes batted beautifully and became the second man of the weekend to be dismissed for 99, Jai Moondra taking the all-important wicket for the visitors. This put pressure on Malahide with more than a run-a-ball needed with 10 overs remaining, and ultimately they couldn't quite get home, falling 53 runs short inside 44 overs. Saqib Bahadur & Bilal Azhar both taking three wickets apiece.
