PHOENIX TAKE U13 GLORY! (JULY 30TH)

A beautiful evening saw Phoenix Cricket Club as the host ground where the Gresham House U13 Open Cup Final was contested. Hosts, Phoenix, faced Railway in what was a close run affair.

Railway won the toss and elected to bowl first. They set about their task in quick time as Ronny Shankar was removed in the first over to the bowling of Aditya Sreenivas. Daniel O’Brien and Ayaan Raza soon followed leaving the Phoenix side 42/3. This brought together Muhammad Ibrahim and Arsalan Farooq for what proved to be the mainstay partnership of the Phoenix batting effort. Ibrahim made 42 before being run out by a fine direct hit by Hugo Daly in the last over, having, alongside Arsalan, with 27*, put on 90 in quick time put their team right on track for a good total, before Eoin O’Brien finished it off with a late cameo of lusty blows, allowing his side to finish on 144/4.

When the Railway chase got underway they were under siege from the outset, as a barrage of tight bowling from the Phoenix attack kept them under constant pressure. Eoin O’Brien and Ronny Shankar allowed only 11 runs from the first 4 overs, and the change bowlers did not let their foot off the gas, giving absolutely nothing loose to Railway in restricting them to 41/1 at the halfway stage. Railway fought back through Devam Koradia who eventually top scored with 28. In the later overs, however, this slow start was to prove to be the key to the result, as the Railway tail simply couldn’t catch up with the required run rate, as Phoenix eventually ran out 45 run winners.

Cricket Leinster would again like to thanks Gresham House for their support of youth cricket in Leinster.