In a dramatic Sunday with enough plot twists and turns to satisfy even the most ardent fan of Raymond Chandler, we end up with two Leinster clubs in the RSA Irish Senior Cup Final, the title race for the Leinster Senior League extends to the final round of matches and the title race for D2 is now on a knife edge.
Those following the coverage through the Cricket Leinster website, and even more so the substantial crowds that made it to the main venues to watch the matches, got a great afternoon of drama and sporting tension. There was no talk of the re-start of the premier league across the water, the European athletics championships and only an occasional, though well deserved, acknowledgment of how well the Irish Women had done in the World Rugby Championship. It was all about the cricket.
The ISC semi-finals went down to the last over with both games in the balance until the very end. Gut wrenching for the losers, so many opportunities during the day where the game could have been won, and exhilarating for the winners. In Sydney Parade Pembroke batted first and put in a typical team performance with all eight batsmen who lost their wickets getting to double figures. Jono Cook led the way with 64 and a total of 255/8 off the 50 overs looked like a good score. For even keeping them, to this total Clontarf can point to the contribution of Conor D’Arcy who took the first three wickets and had the best figures of 3/33 in his 10 overs. Clontarf were never far behind the asking rate but when they lost their fourth wicket at 152 in the 31st over, Pembroke had marginally the upper hand. Unfortunately for them Bill Coghlan, who had briefly retired hurt earlier, was still at the wicket. Even though wickets continued to fall Coghlan went through to a century and beyond [134]. Nonetheless when it came down to 48 runs needed in four overs Pembroke seemed to finally have grabbed a hold on the match. Coghlan departed in the 48th over but in such circumstances who better to have at the wicket than Joe Morrissey whose 26* in 18 balls finally brought Clontarf home.
Unfortunately coverage of other ISC Semi-Final between North Down and The Hills did not manage to make it across the border. The bald statistics were that The Hills made 223/8 and successfully defended this to win by three runs. Reports suggest that this included a nail biting last over where North Down needed eight to win with wickets in hand.
The Hills 223-8 (50.0 overs, M Sorensen 70, M Baumgart 27, M Kumar 27*, M Moreland 3-53, T Khan 2 -31)
North Down 220-7 (50.0 overs, J Terrett 65, N Larkin 60, M Kumar 2-26, M Baumgart 2-39)
The Hills won by three runs
Two excellent matches were also fought out at the top of the RSA OCD1 and OCD2 between Merrion and YMCA and Cork County and Malahide. In Anglesea Road, a large crowd were entertained throughout with a high quality game with plenty to admire if without the final close ending. Merrion lost the toss and were inserted and lost Ben Ackland first ball. A fifty run partnership between Tyrone Kane and Brett Thompson seems to have repaired the early damage until a disastrous over [for the home side] saw Kane run out and Thompson bowled with the score on 60. At this point Dom Joyce and John Anderson set about rescuing the inning. The former in his usual pugnacious style made a near run a ball 57 before falling with the score at 174. Anderson [111*] went on to the end with a memorable century full of graceful drives and orthodox and reverse sweeps. With the middle order helping to keep the runs flowing Merrion ended up with an above par 273/6. The best of the YMCA bowlers Bobby Gamble with 10 overs 2/40. Some excellent ground fielding probably saved YMCA 25 runs in the field.
On a batsmen friendly Merrion wicket 273 was certainly gettable but YMCA got off to the worst possible start when Tom Fisher was yorked by Kane in the second over. Alan Lewis and Simmi Singh brought the score to 54 but in the 14th over Lewis fell to a very good diving catch by Ackland at mid off. Four overs later and Joyce made a key intervention bowling Singh and Albert vanderMerwe in successive deliveries. Briefly Peter Moor and Angus Dunlop raised the hopes of the YMCA spectators but when Peter Moor [58] fell to Tom Stanton in the 42nd over, to be followed a couple of overs later by Dunlop [40], the writing was on the wall. The late order made a few runs and collected up some bonus points but in the end a well-fought Merrion win.
Following the reports during the afternoon from the Mardyke it was clear that the home supporters were fortunate to be able to watch a high scoring game [530 runs in the day] culminating in a tight finish where their team came out winners by six runs. In the first innings Stephen Grobler and Morne Bauer provided the bulk of the runs as they have done for most of the season. Grobler made 106 and Bauer 88 but in the end the innings fell short as with the 200 coming up in the 38th over Cork only managed 65 runs in the last 12 overs. Ten over each from Reinhart Strydom [2/34] and Callum Riches [3/41] who were the pick of the bowlers.
With Malahide’s strong batting line-up a score of 265 would not have been beyond them and so it appeared for much of the innings. Finton McAllister was out early but Strydom went on to another century, ably supported by George Deans [85*]. Cork never let Malahide get ahead of the run rate but at 190/2 with 10 overs to go and batsmen set it looked like the visitors would be able to chase down the total. But Groebler, with his best bowling figures of the season, stepped up and took five wickets for 34 in his ten overs.
What this means is that the title race for Division 1 goes down to the last round of matches. Whatever happens in the replay between The Hills and Merrion the title will be decided [weather permitting] on the 30th August. The only difference is that it is now Merrion that have a clear path to the title if they can win their last two games.
The situation in Division 2 is a bit harder to work out, as a missing scorecard and DL reports from the Balbriggan/Cork County scorecard on August 9th are causing major problems.
There was another important result in D1 where Railway defeated Terenure by 7 wickets. This puts them 24 points ahead of North County [who have a game in hand], with the two teams meeting on the 30th August. In the meantime The Hills take on North County next Sunday [the day after the ISC Final] in a vital clash. If North County win they may still need to defeat Railway to stay up. The Hills have three matches to play but if they lose against North County [assuming refix against Merrion not decided] they will be drop into the second last spot and may have to beat either Merrion or YMCA in their last game to stay up. With ISC glory and potential relegation [and/or a big say in the outcome of the league title] all ahead of them – it is a going to be an interesting ten days in The Hills.
Finally, there were three other games played in D2. Leinster had an easy win over Pembroke II by seven wickets and Merrion II had a morale boosting victory in Rush, the highlight of which was a century by Rory Allwright, recently returned from the UK. In the final match between Phoenix and Balbriggan no official scorecard has been submitted and there was some confusion in the reports from the ground. (NB The result now confirmed as a Balbriggan win by 1 wicket, although no scorecard is available)
Roll on the next two weeks which hopefully won’t be decided by the weather.