Sidhu Sends Phoenix to the Final as Mehta Haunts Former Club
Phoenix made it through to the Leinster Senior League Cup final after a 37-run victory over favourites Merrion in Anglesea Road on Saturday.
Amish Sidhu was the undoubted man of the match as his 91-run partnership with former Merrion player Poonish Mehta (52) rescued a Phoenix innings in danger of imploding, before a devastating spell of spin bowling brought him 5-21 off nine overs.
All this had looked so remote when, after winning the toss and opting to bowl first, Merrion reduced their visitors to 83/6. Tyrone Kane’s opening spell (2-12 in 5 overs) was consistently threatening and when Max Sorensen also took two wickets, including that of Simi Singh (27), Phoenix were all at sea.
The sixth wicket saw Nicolaas Pretorius (25) adjudged LBW which brought Sidhu (38) and Mehta together and they ensured the visitors gave their bowlers a target to bowl to.
The last four Phoenix wickets fell for 13 runs as Kane returned to mop up the tail, finishing with four wickets. At half-time Merrion would have been happy with the target to chase but disappointed they’d allowed Phoenix perhaps 30-40 more runs than they may have.
When it came to that chase, Simi Singh (3-34) was heavily involved in Merrion being under serious pressure as their top-order collapsed to 39/5.
Singh took a sharp catch at first slip to dismiss Tice, off Sidhu, before bowling John Anderson and trapping Michael Lewis LBW. Sidhu then benefitted from the quick-thinking and sharper hands of wicket-keeper Louis McDonough.
Spotting Max Sorensen had slid his foot out of his crease, the youngster whipped the bails off to leave Merrion struggling. There were in deep trouble when Ben White took an excellent diving catch, moving to his right from long-on to remove Tyrone Kane.
The Phoenix fielding was sharp and accurate throughout and maintained the pressure on the Merrion order. McDonough again did well to stay down to a Sidhu delivery and grasp the fine edge off Hitchcock that left the home side 7-down.
Phoenix were firmly in control by this point and the only question really was if they would bowl Merrion out or not. Sidhu picked up his fifth wicket, bowling Shankar but in a reduced over match, that was the final over of his permitted nine.
Instead, Tom Stanton (35) and Hugh Kennedy (12) dug in and batted through the remaining overs.
Nothing could overshadow Amish Sidhu’s all-round contribution to the victory on the day but even in this team effort from Phoenix, the class of Simi Singh also shone through. A run-a-ball 27 and three wickets that included the in-form Anderson and Lewis showed what he is capable of.
On this performance, this Phoenix unit will fancy their chances in the final.
In that final, they will face The Hills who qualified for a final on home soil thanks to a 3-wicket win over Pembroke.
Proving that cricket is very difficult to predict, The Hills bowled Pembroke out for 114 at The Vineyard. Only Pembroke skipper Fiachra Tucker (40) passed 20 as Naseer Shoukat rolled back the years to take 3-14 off his ten overs, while Daya Singh took 3-32.
However, The Hills made heavy weather of chasing the modest target. They too only had one player pass 20 in Cormac McLoughlin-Gavin (28). The Hills took 43.1 overs to score the 115 runs required to make the final, as Fiachra Tucker backed up his performance with the bat by taking 2-17 in his ten overs.
So, The Hills will host Phoenix in a home final in the Leinster Senior League Cup next Saturday June 8th in The Vineyard. At this remove picking a winner is tricky and given I picked wrong in both ties this weekend, I’ll hold off on any predictions for as long as possible ahead of the final.
IBI Corporate Finance Leinster Senior League Cup Semi-Final
Merrion v Phoenix, Saturday June 1st, Anglesea Road
Phoenix 187 a/o 41.1/43 overs (P Mehta 52, A Sidhu 38; Tyrone Kane 4-22, M Sorensen 3-42)
Merrion 150/9 43 overs (T Stanton 35*, J Hitchcock 24; A Sidhu 5-21, S Singh 3-34)