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Divisions 1 & 2: Review of Bob Kerr Irish Senior Cup first round matches played on 14th May; preview of league matches over the weekend 21st-22nd May

Last weekend there was no Division 1 or 2 fixture because most clubs were involved in the first round of the Irish Senior Cup.  Heavy showers interrupted every match in Leinster, but all were finished.  North of the border five matches were washed out completely, three involving Leinster clubs.  Strabane must now travel to Railway Union and Limavady to The Hills, both on the 29th May.  Lisburn will replay at Pembroke on the 5th June.

The match about whice I know least is the one at Rathmines – as I write this on Thursday morning I can't find a scorecard or a report.  I do know that Muckamore batted first and made 228-6, Jason van der Merwe scoring 103 and Kempteker 61.  Leinster chased this down, reaching 235-6 off 42.1 thanks to 81 by the much maligned (by me, usually) Mark Jones and 48 from Anton Scholtz.  I have seen discussion of the margin of victory.  I was under the impression that now all D/L victories are recorded by runs even if the side batting second reaches its target without being bowled out.

Phoenix were drawn to play Limerick Raiders, and through the good offices of Ted Williamson the match took place at Cork Harlequins C.C.  Ted made 28 out of the first 66, but Phoenix slipped to 80-5 and 112-6 before David Langford-Smith scored 59 and Osama Khan 54 to take them to 234 all out.  Shani Baloch took five wickets.  The Raiders were never in it, all out for 155.  Asif scored 29, Azim 24, while Rory Flanagan took 3/26 and Ryan Gallagher 3/9.

The third tie for which I cannot find a scorecard is Cork County's visit to Eglinton, which was played come hell or high water because neither side wanted a replay.  Eglinton made 246-6, opener Chris Pierce making 39, Zimbabwean pro Ryan Butterworth 45, Johnny Gardner 40 and Neal Stewart 26*.  Butterworth took 3/33 as County were bowled out for 93.

I'm now in the realm of factual information as I move first to the two defeats for Leinster clubs.  I was at Claremont Road to see Waringstown reach 251-6 off 41 overs after being 50-3.  Obus Pienaar scored a magnificent 135*, and Lee Nelson 47.  YMCA were set 275 to win in their 41 overs, and never recovered from Josh Hall's opening burst of 3/38.  Reinhardt Strydom scored 51, Samir Dutt 24, Etesham Ahmed 36 and Lee Cole 28 to give some hope, but they fell 60 short of their revised par score of 260 in 36 overs.

The other defeat was at Kenure, where Donemana showed once more their remarkable powers of recovery.  Amir Iqbal dismissed three of the top four, Saadat Gull added number five, and Rush had their opponents 34-4.  When Sajid was fifth out for 25 out of 95, most sides would aim for damage limitation.  But most sides don't have the McBrine twins.  Junior led the way with 74 out of a 132-run partnership with Richard Lee Dougherty.  Doc (Junior) took over, reaching 91, and with a 13 ball 35 from James McBrine the 44-over total was 294-7.  Amir finished with 4/31.

Rush have chased bigger totals than that, but Dwayne McGerrigle zipped out the top five in a five-over spell of 5/17.  Alan Butterly (72) and Tipu Gull (30) counter-attacked from 29-5 to 101-6 and 128-7.  A last wicket partnership of 23 took the score to 164 all out in 33.4 overs.

The entire match at Inch lasted 40.2 overs.  Ballymena batted first and were bowled out for 76 by North County, for whom second change Eddie Richardson took 4/10, third change Conor Shiel 2/10 and opener John Mooney 2/15.  County needed only 9.2 overs to reach 77-3, John Mooney unbeaten on 40, Glass taking all three wickets.

At Castle Avenue, Clontarf avenged their first round defeat last year in Coleraine.  The vistors batted first, and were always in trouble despite 38 from Prakash and 44 from David Cooke.  Campbell (25) and Douglas (26*) lifted them to 174-7 off 41 overs.  Joe Morrissey took the bowling honours with 4/22 off his ten.  Adrian D'Arcy made 50, Bill Coghlan 36 and Rod Hokin 48* as Clontarf got past a revised target of 158 in 36 overs with 15 balls to spare.

Merrion travelled to the homely little ground of Carrickfergus.  In an innings reduced to 39 overs, Mikey Taiaroa made 92, supported by 24 from Gilmour, Gelderbloem 31 and Eagleson 34* out of 213-5.  Matt Petrie took 2/19.  Dom Joyce went early, but the century partnership between Ben Ackland (44) and John Anderson (63*) set up the victory.  The 21 over total of 135-2 exceeded the D/L par by 15 runs.

It's back to league action this weekend, with four Division 1 matches on Saturday.  The park will be closed after Railway Union have had time to beat Phoenix.  (Some Yank is flying in to trace his Irish roots, and the good and the great and the beautiful people, having practiced their grovelling on Brenda, can now brown tongue the bold Barrack.)

Pembroke will still be looking for a league win after North County visit Sydney Parade, YMCA will get no change out of Clontarf at Castle Avenue, and I shall watch Merrion beat The Hills at Anglsea Road.

On Saturday in Division 2, Rush will be too strong for Terenure, even though Andre Botha will be making his debut for the Dublin 6W outfit.  Neither can I see Cork County getting any joy at the Village, where Malahide will continue their surge back to Division 1.  Of course, all this depends on the weather: the forecast is lousy for Saturday.

The two Sunday matches, for which the weather forecast is much better, are in Fingal.  Leinster visit Inch where I shall watch them beat North County 2.  Up the road in Milverton, The Hills 2 will break their duck and beat Old Belvedere.  You can follow baldstu on Twitter for updates.