There was no shortage of fireworks on the first day of the new league season. It may be only the end of April but already records are tumbling. During the day initial focus was on the North County v YMCA match where after a promising start by the YMCA bowlers [NC - 102/5], Eddie Richardson proceeded to take the game away from them with the highest score of his senior career. The statistics go something like - 194* in 108 balls with 20 [4s] and 10 [6s]. This is the highest score in D1 since the new structure introduced in 2011. It also blasted through a personal career milestone of 3000 runs. To add to this Richardson and Conor Sheil put on 165 for the 6th wicket, another modern record.
In the match itself North County made 337/6 in their 50 overs. With a young side [for the most part] and players missing due to international commitments one might have expected YMCA to fold early. In fact they showed a lot of grit in keeping the match alive until the final few overs with Oliver Gunning [20 year old Irish qualified from Melbourne] making 85 on debut, ably supported by Tom Fisher [48] and James Parkinson [43]. The final total of 287 all out in 46th over was 50 short but one more partnership could have seen a very close finish.
For the bowlers Eddie Richardson took three wickets but the main contribution was a five wicket haul by Manmeet Singh [5/53].
The champions Clontarf, going into their encounter with Phoenix a few players short of their full team, will have been pleased to come out on top after a stiff challenge in the Park. Batting first Clontarf scored 250 and were all out in 49 overs. John Mooney [73] proved [once again] his worth and top scored in his first match for Clontarf. There was also good support from Bill Coghlan [47] at the top of the order and from Extras [49] throughout. The pick of the Phoenix bowlers were Ben White [4/40] and the Phoenix’s new South African [with Greek origins] Ari Karvelas [3/48].
Phoenix got off to a poor start with Mooney [4/28] and skipper Joe Morrissey [3/36] taking out the first six of the Phoenix top order for less than 100. But with Karvelas [104*] finding support from the tail an upset win for Phoenix was very much on. At one point Phoenix needed 33 to win off 8 overs with three wickets in hand. But Sameer Dutt and Naveed Khan managed to take the final wickets to give Clontarf a 22 run win.
The most exciting match of the round produced a stunning victory for The Hills as they chased down a Pembroke score of 258/8. A 150 run partnership between Theo Lawson [75] and Ryan Hopkins [92] laid the foundations for the Pembroke score, with Yaqoob Ali [3/51] the pick of the bowlers. The Hills got off to a good start with Cormac McLoughlin-Gavin [27] and Mark Donegan [39] sharing in a 69 run opening partnership. But the Pembroke spinners then took control and reduced The Hills to 135/7. But Hamid Shah, batting at four, was still in and batted through for his first senior hundred at a run a ball. He was ably supported in an unbroken 8th wicket partnership of 124 by Tomas Rooney [42*].
In the final game Leinster quickly disposed of Cork County as the two newly promoted sides came head-to-head in Rathmines. Cork were bundled out for [77] with four wickets for Australian overseas player Jayden Brown [4/23]. There is not much to be said about the Cork batting with only More Bauer making it to 20. Leinster ran out easy winners by seven wickets. Leinster quickly knocked off the required runs for the loss of three wickets - Gareth Delany reaching a career milestone of 1000 senior runs on the way.
So an exciting and quite revealing 1st Round of matches in D1. There were three centuries scored, some serious batting partnerships and one five wicket haul. There was over 600 runs scored in one match and over 500 in another. It is of course too early to draw hard lessons for the league campaign but it is clear already that Clontarf are going to have a fight on their hands to retain the title from their North Dublin rivals The Hills and North County. Pembroke and YMCA showed a lot of mettle in their defeats. It is difficult to say much about Leinster based on a single win but Cork will need to show a big improvement in their performance if they are to stay competitive in the league.
The league Table after Round 1
| Round 1 | |||||
| 22nd April | |||||
| Played | Won | Lost | Bonus | Points | |
| Leinster 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 24 |
| North County 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 22 |
| The Hills 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 22 |
| Clontarf 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 21 |
| Phoenix 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 4 |
| Pembroke 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| YMCA 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| Cork County 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 |