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Review of Divisions 1 & 2 for the weekend 16th - 17th July; preview of the weekend 23rd - 24th July

Last weekend the only Senior cricket action was on Sunday, when four sets of round robin matches in the Near FM Alan Murray Cup were scheduled.  Rain interfered with events at three venues, but results were achieved in all matches.  No play at all was possible in the Phoenix Park, either because of the weather the night before or because of the Luftwaffe!  (See comment on report from 18 July.)  Whether or not the ghost of Hermann Goering flitted across the Phoenix Park last Saturday night, Leinster had already won Section B by beating Rush, Terenure and Phoenix in midweek matches.

Section A matches were played at Castle Avenue where, first up, Clontarf beat Merron in an 8 over match.  'Tarf notched up 88-3, with Joe Morrissey scoring 50.  They then restricted Merrion to 68-7, Kade Beasley making 23.  A nearly full match was possible against The Hills, Clontarf reaching 170-7 in 20 overs, with Andrew Poynter making 30, Joe Morrissey 42 and Rod Hokin 36.  The Hills got only 18 overs in reply, making 123-6 (Mike Baumgart 22, Tomas Murphy 31*, Max Sorensen 38, Naseer 20, Joe Morrissey 3/17), which was 29 runs short on D/L.

While the home team repaired to the showers and then the bar, The Hills batted first in another 8 over match, and got 69-7 (Baumgart 22, Sorensen 17, Tyrone Kane 3/7).  In reply, Merrion scored 71-3 in 6.3 overs, Rory Allwright making 25 and John Anderson 30.  The 'Tarf boys could buy themselves another drink, because that result made the outstanding fixture (The Hills v Old Belvedere) irrelevant, and Clontarf joined Leinster in the finals at Inch, Balrothery, on August 14th.  Incidentally, why isn't Tyrone Kane in the Ireland U19 squad?

Section C matches were played at Inch, where North County ran up 200-1 in 20 overs in the first match against The Hills 2, Greg Hay scoring 107* and Adam Coughlan 53*.  The Wilberries were 28-0 then 43 all out in 10.5 overs.  Peter O'Donnell made 19, change bowlers Terry Richardson (6/4) and Eddie Richardson (3/10) proving that a change is better than the rest (sorry for the mangled metaphor!).

North County then had an 18 over match with Pembroke, batted first and reached 124-8 (Conor Armstrong 38, Hay 20, Daniel Nolan 30).  The 'Broke made 130-6 with five balls to spare, with 27 from Ryan Hopkins, 22 from Jono Hickey, 46 from Danny Barclay and 17 from Robin Russell.  Pembroke then made 169-5 in 20 overs against The Hills seconds (Theo Lawson 27, Rohit Bahl 35, Barclay 30, Barry McCarthy 25*, Russell, 22*).  The Wilberries had got to 72-3 in 12 overs (O'Donnell 45) when rain interevened, leaving them 25 behind on D/L.

The Hills 2 are scheduled to play North County 2 as I write this on Thursday evening, and as the rain has only just stopped in Ballinteer after twelve hours, and the radar shows some heavy showers still over Fingal, I wouldn't imagine there will be any play.  County seconds travel to Sydney Parade on Tuesday, where a 'Broke win will see them and not North County at Inch on the 14th.  It will be interesting to see what sort of side County 2s put out!

There were only three teams in Section D, Railway Union, Malahide and YMCA, so one day was all that was needed.  EdSports sold out of therminals when the matches were scheduled for Park Avenue.  First up in their coloured parkas were Malahide, all out for 94 in 19 overs, Ian Guerin making 24, Arctic fox Greg Lambert taking 4/7, Patrick Collins 3/11 and Paddy Conliffe 2/15.  Railway made 95-1 in 11 overs, Tim Townend scoring 52 and Tom Fisher 35*.

After soup and toasted sandwiches, Railway rattled up 195-4 in 20 overs (Fisher 66, Townend 23, Trent Johnston 55*), which was 38 too many for YMCA, all out for 157 in 19.1 overs (Alan Lewis 28, Shammy Ahmed 49, Rob Garth 28, Conliffe 3/16).  The dead rubber was mercifully restricted by rain.  The Village had got to 20-3 in 6 overs when their innings was closed.  Needing 28 (D/L) to win, YMCA made 30-0 in 2.2 overs, Rainy (Snowy? Sleety? Haily?) Strydom scoring 70% of them.
Railway Union go to their favourite ground to compete in the finals.

This weekend sees one of the season's showpieces, the LHW Senior Cup Final, on Saturday in Malahide, between North County and Merrion.  Both sides are long in batting, even in the absence of County's Ciaran Garry.  County have the better bowling but Merrion have the province's (the island's?) best bowler, Matt Petrie.  County's plethora of left-handers should be enough to blunt the Petrie threat and see them lift the trophy.  Follow @baldstu on Twitter to find out how wrong I am.

On Sunday there are two matches in Division 2, with implications for both ends of the table.  North County 2 entertain Old Belvedere in a must-win match for both sides.  Belvo's strength is their slow bowling and their other ten batsmen who like to go for it.  Their main strength is Simmi Singh, the second best bat in Division 2.  Belvo to win.  The best bat in Division 2 will be at Milverton to see his team, Terenure, to a win that, with 4+ bonus points, will nudge them above Leinster at the top of the table.

I shall be at neither match because I shall be at Claremont Road to see the first Storm Cricket Trophy Final, formerly the Senior 2 Cup Final, between Clontarf 2 and Merrion 2.  Having seen neither side, I can't make any comments, except that 'Tarf, from Division 3, should be better than Division 4 Merrion 2.  That's two Merrion defeats I've forecast.  Never mind, I note that Merrion 3 are in the Middle Cup final, where I wish them the best.

On a personal note, I competed in four Middle Cup finals, with one winner's medal to show for my (inadequate) efforts.  I also umpired that final twice, which gave me as much pleasure as playing in it.  I note that Clive Colleran is standing in Sunday's Storm Cricket Trophy Final, after an outstanding game in last year's LHW Senior Final.  The Senior 2, as was, is the one final I never umpired.  I was saving it for my early dotage.  Unfortunately bad circulation, MRSA, Factor V Leiden and/or activated protein C deficiency conspired to push me into early retirement before I could have a dotage.  I still miss it: umpiring is the best seat in the house; I'm now confined to the stalls.