QUALIFICATION FOR BALBRIGGAN, LEINSTER, PEMBROKE & MALAHIDE - LHK INSURANCE ALAN MURRAY CUP MATCH DAY 3 (JUNE 22ND)
This afternoon saw Balbriggan, Leinster, Pembroke and Malahide qualify for the LHK Insurance Alan Murray Cup Finals Day, with the Group A and Group C qualifiers confirmed after the first game of the day.
GROUP A
Starting the day, the group with the most permutations was Group A, Balbriggan were in the box seat to qualify, however after Dublin University made 177/4 thanks to Jamie Forbes' 77 and a Gavin Hoey half-century, they would be faced with an uphill task, half-time would also bring the news that North County had made just 133 against The Hills, thanks to 40s from Suliman Safi and Sreehari Madyalkar. In the second innings in Jack Harper Park, Cameron Rowe blitzed 63, whilst Ghanim Dara made 43, as only a brief wobble when Jack Atkinson took three wickets gave them any small bit of a scare, with Dylan Lues' 19* from 10 balls seeing the team home with three balls to spare. In The Vineyard, The Hills then fell to 123 all out, as Eddie Richardson's 3/13 was the pick of the bowlers, meaning North County won by 10 runs, putting Balbriggan through to the second round.
The second round of games saw Balbriggan chasing a very good total of 179 set by Dublin University. This time around Gavin Hoey top scored for the students with 63, whilst David Vincent made 47 and Jamie Forbes 33. Sebastian de Oliveira the pick of the bowlers for the home side taking 3/22 from his 4 overs. Balbriggan were indebted to half-centuries from that man de Oliveira, as well as an unbeaten knock of 52 from just 22 balls from Jordan Hollard in guiding the team to a 4 wicket win with 3 balls to spare.
Meanwhile in Skerries, The Hills batted first and the Brandon Kruger show commenced, he made 51 from 37 balls, as he and Yaseen Sherzad's 48 set up a decent total of 159/8 from their 20 overs. There were two wickets apiece for Alan Mathew, Eddie Richardson and Abdul Ghaffar. Kruger returned to be centre of attention in the chase, as his 4/7 was the pick of the bowling for The Hills, there were two wickets apiece for Cian Nulty and Nicolaj Damgaard as North County were all out for 111, with Ashish Jain's unbeaten 32 the only batter to offer any real resistance.
GROUP B
In Group B, one of the most thrilling games of the day took place in Civil Service, where the home side batted first, 33 from Mubasher Siddique getting them to 111 all out in the face of good spells by Kiran Patil, Bakhtyar Nabi and Husnain Maroof. At 82/5, North Kildare seemed to be in a great position, however 7 wickets for Vivekanandan Srinivasan saw the home side take the last five wickets for just 25 runs, and seal a four run win.
The second game saw Civil Service once again batting first, and Asadullah Ahmadzai was the only batter to pass 16, top scoring with 31 as the hosts scored 106 all out. Husnain Maroof the pick of the bowlers with 3/17, whilst Nabi was once again in the wickets, taking 3/29. North Kildare hunted down the runs with just over two overs to spare, Abid Taniwal making 27 not out to go with Maroof's earlier 25. Srinivasan added 2/33 to his earlier haul, but Aamir Bafanda was the main resistance taking 3/10 from four overs as North Kildare won by 4 wickets.
Meanwhile in Malahide, Clontarf batted first in game one, and were indebted to 46 from David Delany to guide them to 135/7, Andy Sheridan and Timcy Khanduja the pick of the bowlers as both took 2/27. The chase was straightforward, with Younas Ahmadzai's 69 and Cormac McLoughlin-Gavin's 56* leading them to an 8-wicket win with 6 overs to spare, and putting them well ahead of Clontarf on NRR.
Game two saw Malahide batting first, and running up 160/7 in their 20 overs. Younas Ahmadzai making 36 at the top of the order, whilst Ali Frost top scored with 41 from number three, and Jeremy Martins added 37 from just 18 balls at 4. David Delany the pick of the bowlers for the away side taking 2/10. Clontarf could manage only 127/9 in their chase, as 20s from Eoghan Delany and Mitchell Thompson were the main contributors, as two wickets apiece for Mike Frost, Andy Sheridan and Mohit Sane restricted the away side, Malahide's 33 run victory confirming their semi-final slot.
GROUP C
In Rathmines, Phoenix batted first and made 121/8 from 20 overs, recovering from a poor start thanks to 26 and 27 from Amish Sidhu and Johit Munjal respectively. Jai Moondra the pick of the bowlers taking 3/22. The reply saw Bilal Azhar top scoring with 64 from 52 balls, whilst Monil Patel supported well with 40 from 31 balls, as Leinster won by 7 wickets with two and a half overs to spare, meaning they had confirmed their qualification with a game to spare.
The second game in Rathmines was not completed as scheduled.
In Terenure, game one saw Adamstown bat first. Prabhanshu Kamal top scored for the visitors with 48, with Nithin Padmaprabhu chipping in 22. Dylan Cleary's 2/14 led the way as the pick of the bowlers, with debutant Nawaz Khan also taking 2/20. The chase was anchored by a good partnership between Devansh Singh and Dónal Lynch, making 45 and 30 respectively. Padmaprabhu and Kamal the pick of the bowlers once again taking 2/12 and 2/22 respectively, as Terenure won by 5 wickets and three balls to spare.
The second game in Terenure saw a historic first Alan Murray Cup win for Adamstown, as they beat Terenure by 5 wickets with two overs to spare. The home side could manage only 130/8 batting first, thanks to 57 from Sid Nair along with 27 for Sadiq Safi, as four wickets for Padmaprabhu and another 2/20 from Kamal helped Adamstown to wrestle back the momentum. The chase was not quite a forgone conclusion, Terenure's stand in skipper Dylan Cleary bowling a good spell as he and Benjamin Dillon took early wickets, however Kamal once again was in the runs with 34, with unbeaten scores of 35 from Dinesh Antony Kidagan David and 30 from just 16 balls from Suhas Yellur guiding them to a landmark win in their final fixture in the competition this season.
GROUP D
Finally in Group D, the 'dead rubber' games in Rush saw two excellent games of cricket, first time around, Railway Union batted first. Philippe le Roux top scored with 42, whilst there were 30s from each of Fakhar Zaman and Srihan Karpe. Alex Neary the pick of the bowlers for Rush taking 3/24, whilst both Jarred Barnes and Josh Doyle took 2/27. Nathan McGuire was the highlight of the chase, he made 62 from 33 balls with seven boundaries and four maximums, whilst Josh Doyle made 37 in an 8 wicket win.
The second game between the sides then saw Railway posting 187/5 from their 20 overs, Ashil Prakash top scoring with 68, whilst Zaman was once again in the runs making 58. Asher Abbasi the pick of the bowlers for the home side, taking 2/10 from three overs. Two wickets for each of Zaman Safi and Mark Canniffe put Rush on the back foot, before runs for both Finn McGee and Jarred Barnes put them back on the front foot again, both making 50s as Rush fell 18 runs short in their 20 overs.
In Sydney Parade, another great game kicked off the day, Merrion seeing everyone in their top seven scoring between 15 and 29, as Adam Rosslee top scored, as they racked up 164/8 from their 20 overs, Byron McDonough was the pick of the bowlers for Pembroke taking 3/46, whilst JJ Garth took 2/23. The chase was anchored by Nick Stapleton's 46, whilst there were 20s from each of Garth, Fiachra Tucker and Jack Tector. Sam Harbinson was the hero for Merrion, as his two late wickets saw Pembroke falling to 160 all out in the final over, the visitors running out 4 run winners.
The second game was therefore winner-take-all, with Merrion ahead in the table, but Pembroke with a better Net Run Rate meaning a win would see them overtake their opponents. Once again Merrion batted first, and once again they had a decent score making up 171/5 in their 20 overs, as this time everyone from 1-7 scored between 14 and 32, this time Swapnil Modgill the top scorer, with his 32 taking just 19 balls and featuring 7 boundaries. Pembroke's chase got off to a good start, Tim Tector making 35 whilst both Stapleton and Diarmaid Tucker made 20s, but it was JJ Garth with 53 and Jack Tector's unbeaten 19 that were the heros of the day, securing a 5 wicket win with one ball to spare and securing Pembroke's semi-final berth.
All of that means the Semi-Finals are as follows
Pembroke vs Balbriggan (Sydney Parade)
Malahide vs Leinster (Anglesea Road)
Both take place at 11am on July 6th, with the Final to follow at 4pm in Sydney Parade.
