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Malahide v Terenure: Division 2 at Castle Park, 13th August

On Saturday I gave the very interesting race for the Division 1 title a miss and went to the Village to see two of the three contenders for the Division 2 title.  At the start of play there were arithmetically four contenders, but in my own mind I had discounted Rush from the story.

Malahide were as near to full strength as their threadbare squad could be; Terenure were missing only Ken Brennan  Both clubs have lots of promising youngsters and a few golden oldies, but each club is very light on experienced Senior cricketers close to the top of their game.  Callum Riches won the toss and asked Terenure to set a score.

Peter Chase from the castle end and Peter Saville from the road end opened up against Kenny McDonald and Colm Morgan.  Chase bowled a few good nuts to the right-handed Morgan, but didn't threaten the left-handed McDonald.  In the fourth over, Roxy Morgan got into a terrible tangle with a short of a length ball from Saville and spooned a catch to John Pryor at square leg.

This brought in the left-handed Andre Botha, who proceeded to take Chase to the cleaners with three successive fours and a single, a picture of any of them being suitable for a coaching manual.  With Kenny Mac contributing a few good shots and a couple of not-so-good ones, the mandatory power play ended on 58-1.

When in the doggie doo-dah, send for the Govan'or.  Jimmy Govan floated up a little alleged off-break to Kenny Mac (24), who tried to turn it round the corner and missed.  The appeal was very, very good, and after some thought, up went the finger.  I think umpire Derek Dockrell was a little generous to one that was a bit high and a bit leggy.  But on a low, slow wicket, don't go back and across and get the umpire interested.

Boatsy continued in his sublime way, but Nathan Carroll, another left-hander, had added only two singles when he, too, went back and across to Govan and he, too, got the finger from the umpire.  He claimed he'd hit it, and that it was sliding down leg anyway.  I didn't think he had and, obviously, nor did the umpire.  But it appears he did get an inside edge, making it irrelevant whether it was hitting or missing leg.  That was 70-3 in the fifteenth over.

Boatsy now dropped from his own very high standards and started playing a little loosely.  In Govan's next over he tried to put the wee Scotsman over mid off, but didn't get enough of the ball.  Nick Turner, on the 30 yard circle, stretched, knocked up the catch, turned round and took it.  79-4 in the 17th over, and Boatsy gone for 43.

Benn Hoey, promoted above his father, missed a straight one from Stevie Smith, and it was 86-5.  Father John came in, and used all his experience to get a long way forward and make the umpires very reluctant to respond to the ever noisier appeals.  His partnership with Jason Kleyweg prospered as both batsmen played the odd good shot to the odd bad ball.

Jimmy Govan had taken a break after seven testing overs, but Glenn Kirwan posed no problem in his place.  Kleyweg and John Hoey had added 48 when Govan returned, and Kleyweg tried to sweep him off middle/middle and leg.  The ball wasn't full enough to sweep, Jason missed, and Govan enquired.

I was looking at events through the long lens of a camera, so I couldn't see Jimmy's arm as he bowled and thus couldn't try to interpret the delivery.  If it was the off-break, it could well have turned to miss leg stump.  But if it was the slider or the arm-ball, it wasn't going to miss anything.  I didn't see any turn.  A very experienced friend sitting next to me read it as the straight-on delivery.  Whichever, the umpire thought it was out, and the South African had to go for 26.

Steve Guernart fell immediately to a very good catch low to his right by keeper Paul Tweddle off Peter Saville.  John Hoey, who'd had a reprieve on 30 courtesy of Glenda Kirwan, holed out for 41 off Chase to make the score 158-8.  Mikey Hoey got off the mark with a five, but didn't get any further.

Terenure were all out for 177 in 45.3 overs when Mike Hogan was bowled by Saville, leaving Tom Lynch unbeaten on 17.  Jimmy Govan took 4/16 off his ten, Saville 3/32 and Chase 2/49.  The bowling had been no better than competent, the batting (early Boatsy apart) no better than adequate, and the fielding no better than OK.

The innings closed at 15:18, which meant that unless the captains agreed, Malahide should have had to bat for 22 minutes before tea.  Tea was taken, so I assume both captains were happy to do so.  In which case, the Terenure skipper, Nathan Carroll, must surely have missed a trick.  Or perhaps not.

John Pryor and Nick Turner came out in a very positive frame of mind, and the score had raced to 38 in the sixth over when Pryor, 22, got right underneath an attempted pull and lofted the ball in the general direction of mid wicket.  Colm Morgan made the call and took the catch.

Turner continued to play his shots, but Paul Tweddle never looked comfortable, and was lbw without scoring to Botha in the 9th over.  The mandatory power play ended on 45-2, and the bowling power play yielded 28 more runs, Botha and Kleyweg giving way to John Hoey and Benn Hoey.  Turner was closing in on his fifty when, three runs short, he mistimed a force off John Hoey and Morgan took a good catch.

The hundred was passed in the twentieth over, with Govan and Andy Pyne working the ball around as they took Malahide towards victory.  There was no need for alarm bells when Govan was caught by Mike Hoey off John Hoey for 26: only 67 more were needed in 27 overs with six wickets in hand, a doddle.

Then Callum Riches was lbw to John Hoey for a duck, and at drinks sixty were required off 25 overs, still in doddle territory on a pitch that was doing absolutely nothing.  The tall Alan Reynolds came in at seven and played some nice shots.  He and Pyne had added 20 when Pyner, 22, unaccountably missed a straight one from John Hoey and it was 138-6.

Mike Hoey was by now sending down some off breaks from the castle end, and tempted Reynolds, 22, that number again, to give a catch to Kleyweg.  Never mind, 31 needed with loads of overs and two old(-ish) soldiers, Pete Saville and Glenn Kirwan, both capable bats, to bring the Village People home.

But a Corporal Jones moment (“Don't panic!”) changed all that.  Glenda called for a non-existent single and was comfortably run out without scoring.  Peter Chase joined Saville to take Malahide within sixteen runs of victory, but wasn't good enough to keep Botha out.

Steven Smith saw Boatsy and Kleyweg off, Saville carved Mike Hoey just over cover for four to leave his team seven short of victory.  But then he played all round a straight one and Terenure had grabbed an unlikely victory by six runs.  John Hoey finished with 4/38, Andre Botha with 2/29 and Mikey Hoey 2/23.

Terenure stuck to their task, kept the pressure on, and made the Villagers work.  But the home team will look at three noughts and three 22s on the scorecard.  It just needed one of those three ducks to settle in or one of those 22s to go on, and they would have been comfortable victors.  But, as the late, great Fred Trueman never tired of observing, cricket's a funny game, happen.

I'm sure Fred would have agreed that the reason for the funniness of cricket is that it's played by people, and there's nowt so queer as folk, happen.