PHOENIX PREVAIL IN PASLEY TROPHY – MAY 14TH ROUND-UP

Phoenix overcame Dublin University in the tightest game of the day this evening, as they defended what had initially looked like a below par total of 173 to win by 18 runs, and retain the Graham Pasley Trophy which they won last season.

It was a slow and steady day for the away side, as they won the toss and batted, they lost Dev Ranolia early in the piece, before George Dockrell and Stephen Black brought the score along to 62 in the 22^nd over. Dockrell fell for 30 at that stage, snaffled at slip off the bowling of Matthew Humphreys.

Black was dismissed just after drinks, before William Bennet (22) put together the second biggest stand of the innings with Tyrone Kane (35). Unfortunately from a reasonable position with 10 overs remaining, the wickets of Kane and Adam Chester in quick succession stunted their progress, and the lower order managed to scramble their way to 173/9 from their 50 overs.

In response, Dublin University were equally circumspect, David Vincent did all the hard work at the top of the order before being dismissed for 17 by Ben White, whilst similar can be said of Gavin Hoey before he fell to the same bowler for 18. The mainstay of the innings was Michael Hogan, who made 31, however he was involved in the turning point in the innings.

Firstly, Hogan hammered a drive down the ground, the ball hit partner David Cosgrave and in the confusion, both players ended up at the same end, Cosgrave sacrificed himself to keep Hogan at the crease. In the next over, Hogan then ran down the track and nicked Conor Sheil through to Louis McDonough and like that, the Students were 96/7 and reeling.

Mikey O’Reilly and Theo Dempsey made valiant efforts late in the piece with scores of 20 and 23 respectively, however when O’Reilly holed out to Dockrell at long on off Oliver Hald, Dublin University were all out for 155 and Phoenix were 18 run winners.

Elsewhere around the grounds, a Harry Tector century helped drag his side to a good total of 224/9 in The Mardyke, before 3/32 from Rory Anders and 3/24 from Padraic Flanagan helped them to an 81 run win.

Cormac McLoughlin-Gavin also made a century as The Hills ran up 247/7 in Park Avenue, Andrew Kavanagh supported him with a good 58. The opening spell from Dylan Blignaut was good, taking for 3/16, but Jonathan Tall’s figures were incredible, he took 4/3 in ripping through Railway Union’s lower order, bowling them out for 68 and securing a 179 run win for the away side.

The third century of the day was scored by Greg Ford, as he made 132, supported by Chris de Freitas’ 88 in Balbriggan’s successful chase of Rush’s total of 268 in Kenure. Neil Rock announced his return in Rush’s effort by making 85 before Ford and de Freitas’ efforts. Ryan Hadley’s 4/20 was the pick of the efforts for the away side as they managed to keep a lid on Rush’s efforts to accelerate late in the innings.

In the biggest game of the day in Group A, Clontarf batted first in Merrion and made their way to a decent total of 255, they were however all out with 7 balls to spare, it was a good recovery though, as David Delany continued his excellent form with 56, supporting a fine knock of 71 from Ruan Cronje to set up the total. Delany then followed up with 3/25, supporting Paul Ryan’s 4/26 as they forced a dramatic Merrion collapse from 147/3 to 178 all out following the wicket of Stephen Doheny.

In Sydney Parade, runs from Theo Lawson (94*), Diarmaid Tucker (53), Barry McCarthy (42) and Lorcan Tucker (39) ran up a score of 286/5 in their 50 overs. Two wickets apiece for each of Poonish Mehta, Joe Prendergast, Piyush Sharma and Donncha Tucker saw Malahide bowled out for 239, as Aaron Doyle’s 62 was the main resistance for the away side.

In Rathmines, Leinster ran up 233 all out thanks to scores between 37 and 48 from each of their top four of Ben Mitchell, Bilal Azhar, Joey Carroll and Chris Janik. In response North Kildare’s efforts could muster just 95, with Mitchell taking 4/28 and Carroll 3/22 in a pair of excellent all-round performances.

Finally in Terenure, North County managed a score of 222/9 from their 50 overs, thanks mainly to John Mooney’s unbeaten 57, Malcolm Nofal made 30 and Ashish Jain 29 in assisting the side to that score. In reply, Nofal showed his class with the ball taking 4/11, supported again by Jain who had 2/13, whilst Usman Azhar also produced the same figures in a strong all-round performance by the Inch side.

SPORTSHUB SENIOR LEAGUE CUP
GROUP A

At Observatory Lane
Leinster 233/10, 48.5 overs (J Carroll 48, B Azhar 42; A Sattar 3/40)
beat
North Kildare 95/10, 24.1 overs (M Haider 35*; B Mitchell 4/28, J Carroll 3/22)
by 138 runs

At The Mardyke
YMCA 224/9, 50 overs (H Tector 125; B McDonough 3/55)
beat
Cork County 143/10, 41 overs (R Pollard 40, C Hassett 34; P Flanagan 3/24, R Anders 3/32)
by 81 runs

At Anglesea Road
Clontarf 255/10, 48.5 overs (R Cronje 71, D Delany 56; M Sinan 2/23, A Sidhu 2/57)
beat
Merrion 178/10, 42.2 overs (S Doheny 50; P Ryan 4/26, D Delany 3/25)
by 77 runs

At Kenure
Balbriggan 271/8, 47.3 overs (G Ford 132, C de Freitas 88; J Barnes 3/37, J McGee 3/56)
beat
Rush 268/10, 49.1 overs (N Rock 85, J Barnes 39; R Hadley 4/20, C Davies-Webb 2/48)
by 2 wickets

GROUP B

At Sydney Parade
Pembroke 286/5, 50 overs (T Lawson 94*, D Tucker 53; D O’Halloran 2/60)
beat
Malahide 239/10, 44 overs (A Doyle 62; P Sharma 2/13, J Prendergasr 2/33)
by 47 runs

At Terenure
North County 222/9, 50 overs (J Mooney 57*, M Nofal 30; R Grover 4/47)
beat
Terenure 71/10, 27.1 overs (M Nofal 4/11, A Jain 2/13, U Azhar 2/13)
by 151 runs

At Park Avenue
The Hills 247/7, 50 overs (C McLoughlin-Gavin 113, A Kavanagh 58; A Mathew 3/35, L McCarthy 3/40)
beat
Railway Union 68/10, 24.3 overs (J Tall 4/3, D Blignaut 3/16, A Farooqi 2/7)
by 179 runs

At College Park
Phoenix 173/9, 50 overs (S Black 37, T Kane 35; D Vincent 4/30, M O’Reilly 2/13)
beat
Dublin University 155/10, 49 overs (M Hogan 31; C Sheil 2/11, T Kane 2/29, B White 2/31)
by 18 runs