The
John Anderson on the Merrion team v Waringstown in ISC
Quarter Finals of the ISC and NC take place today. There are eight Leinster teams in action and the LCU is guaranteed representation in the SFs of both competitions.
Irish Senior Cup
Waringstown v Merrion
Pembroke v North Down
The Hills v Balbriggan
National Cup
Malahide v Midelton
Derriaghy v Knockharley
Rush v Terenure
The match of the day is undoubtedly that between Waringstown and Merrion. The ISC finalists for the past two seasons [one win each], it is probably fair to say that both teams would have been hoping for a re-match later in the competition. But it is happening today. Waringstown have home advantage but it is a really difficult game to call. The Merrion batting line-up may be the stronger but Waringstown hold the edge in the bowling, especially with the withdrawal of Merrion opening bowler Max Neville due to Irish U19 commitments. Ed Joyce and Patrick Tice return to the team for todays match.
In the second game Pembroke host North Down. The Ulster team are currently top of the Premier league in the NCU [along with Waringstown and CIYMS, who take on Instonians in the third QF]. A tough task for the home team. A couple of interesting selections on the Pembroke side.
In the final match The Hills take on Balbriggan. On paper at least The Hills go in as strong favourites but Balbriggan’s strong batting is capable of springing a surprise.
In the National Cup Malahide with home advantage should be too strong for Midelton. Knockharley has to make the trip to Derriaghy and will be hoping to put behind them the defeat they suffered yesterday at the hands of Merrion IIIs. A good bowling [and fielding] side, Knockharley will need to be at their very best with the bat if they are to have any chance of advancing. In the final game we have an interesting contest between Rush and Terenure. Probably nothing much to choose between the sides although Terenure recent form has probably been a little better. Rush will be missing Lynal Jansen [family bereavement] and Neil Rock [U19 duty] with Niall Mullen coming in for his first 50 over game of the season. David Langford-Smith is out for Terenure.
Merrion: Dom Joyce [C], J Blakeney, Ed Joyce, T Kane, Sean Stanton, Tom Stanton, N Sharma, J Brown, J Anderson, P Nice.
Pembroke: Lawson P [C], Balbirnie A, Balbirnie J, Cutler N, Hoey B, Hopkins R, Lawson T, Mullen C, Murphy D, Tucker F, Tucker L.
The Hills: Max Sorensen [C], Cormac McLoughlin-Gavin, Mike Baumgart, Sean Terry, Hamid Shah, Albert Nan der Merwe, Ryan Cartwright, Naseer Shoukat, Thomas Rooney Murphy, Yaqoob Ali, Luke Clinton
Terenure: Conor Mullen (C), Diarmuid Lynch, Dónal Lynch, Givon Christian, James Smith, Jeremy Bray, Michael Cotter, Mohammad Arshad, Subby Ramnathpur, Waqar Hussain, Yasir Cheema
Rush: Saadat Gull (C), Allan Eastwood, Aaron McGuire, Alex Neary, Stephen Doheny(W), Shahrukh Shamim, Sean Monks, Dean Brogan, Daniel Coffey, Conor Armstrong, Shahid Iqbal, Niall Mullen
Balbriggan: Ehtesham Ahmed, Conor Fletcher, Adrian Harper, Aj Moor, Trent McGrath , Adam Keefe, Justin Kavanagh, Mudassar Aziz, Kashif Ali, Abdul Samad, Cian Nulty.