RAIN THE WINNER IN PARK AVENUE - IBI CORPORATE FINANCE PREMIER LEAGUE ROUND-UP

Today's featured action between Railway Union and The Hills in Park Avenue saw a potentially enthralling run-chase kyboshed before a ball was bowled, as a rain shower between the innings put paid to any chances of a result.

The Hills won the toss and elected to bowl first, however after a good start saw Sean McNicholl taking two early wickets, Ashil Prakash and Ryan Smith knuckled down for the home side, adding in excess of 100 for the third wicket on a pitch that was by no means easy to bat on.

Smith was the first of the pair to pass 50, before being beaten in the air by Febin Manoj to be bowled for 56, with Prakash continuing as wickets fell regularly in Manoj's second spell, seeing him finish with tidy figures of 3/27.

The Railway opener was eventually dismissed for a battling 79 from 133 deliveries, guiding his team to 201 all out in the final over of the innings. Sean McNicholl the pick of the bowlers for the away side, taking 4/40, whilst Cian Nulty picked up numbers 8, 9 and 11 to return figures of 3/30 after a luckless opening spell.

That was the last of the cricket in Park Avenue for the afternoon however, as the rain which rolled in caused the square to be too wet to continue play.

Across the road, in Sydney Parade, the same rain shower put paid to Pembroke vs Leinster after 37 overs of the first innings. Andy Balbirnie making 36 for the home side was the only contribution of note, whilst it was Joey Carroll, who took 3/17, and Jai Moondra's 2/22 that did the damage for Leinster in reducing the holders to 130/6 before the rain came.

The first game which saw a result was in Clontarf, where Malahide piled up 213/9 in their 46 overs, Robbie Foulkes and Matthew Langan top scoring at the top of the order with 34 and 33 respectively, before David Delany's 4/29 put the home side back on top, however 20s for Frost, Sane, Sheridan and Newland pushed the Malahide total to a competitive score. Eoghan Delany was the man who made the revised Target of 165 look anything but, as his unbeaten 72 saw partnerships in excess of 50 with both Mitchell Thompson (29) and Pat Xie (34) as the hosts won out by 7 wickets.

Next up was another heroic effort from Nathan McGuire in Rush, as he finished 104 all out chasing a revised score of 183. Abid Taniwal's 37 was the only other score of resistance, as Rush's batting unit was once again indebted to their number 4, making his fourth century in the last 5 weekends to guide the team to a second victory of the week.

North County upset the league leaders Phoenix in Inch, as having batted first the hosts piled up 255/5 in a rain-interrupted 44 over innings, Suliman Safi the top scorer with 72, whilst Eddie Richardson (50*) and Niall McGovern (40) were the other key contributors to the side. Phoenix's chase was led by Eknoor Singh, who made 72, however no other batter could pass 20 as the away side fell 59 runs short on DLS. Alan Joseph Mathew the pick of the bowlers for the County men taking 3/24, whilst Abdul Ghaffar and Hunter Kindley both claimed two apiece.

Finally, in Anglesea Road, Balbriggan batted first and made 250 all out inside 49 overs, thanks to 73 from Cameron Rowe, whilst an unbeaten 45 from Sebastian D'Oliveira shared a solid stand with Jordan Hollard (26) too boost the score to it's final total. Swapnil Modgill was the pick of the bowlers for Merrion, taking 3/41, with two for each of Danny Forkin and Max Sorensen. The chase saw Merrion needing 159 from 22 overs, and 53 from Connor Blaxall-Hill kept the hosts in a decent position, however two apiece for Dylan Lues and Matt Hollard kept 'Brig in touch. Merrion entered the last 3 overs needing 15 to win, two huge 6s from Max Sorensen put the hosts ahead of the game, before Hollard bowled the penultimate over going for just 4 and taking the game to the last, however a Sorensen boundary finished the game off the first ball, leading his team to a 5 wicket victory with 31*.