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LHW Senior Cup: Pembroke v Merrion

Saturday was very breezy, but as I was visiting the subtropical side of Park Avenue I donned the shorts and made my way to Sydney Parade to watch the Senior Cup match between Pembroke and Merrion.  The 'Broke had won the toss and were having a hit.

Steven Moreton and Theo Lawson found Matt Petrie a handful, but weren't good enough to get an edge.  Lawson did nick Dom Joyce through to Ackland behind the stumps – 10-1 in the sixth over – bringing in Jono Hickey, who was good enough to spank Petrie to the square third man boundary.  But in the tenth over Joyce got one to leave the left-hander and rattle his off stump.

In came Andy Balbirnie and immediately looked good.  Petrie had already given way to Alex Chetkovich from the Sandymount end, and for some reason Jeff Short, having bowled two overs of pies from the Sydney Parade end, was allowed three more overs.  The batsmen gratefully accepted the proffered commestibles.

The score passed 100 in the 25th over, with John Anderson now bowling his leggies from the Sydney Parade end and Tyrone Kane pushing it through at a brisk medium pace from the Sandymount end.  Lunch was taken at 127-2 off 31 overs with Moreton already past his fifty.  Anderson had to use the same pair of bowlers after lunch because Damian Poder still hadn't been on the field long enough after his late arrival.

The breakthrough came from Kane when Moreton, 64, miscued him to Petrie just after Balbirnie had reached his fifty.  Rohit Bahl came in with aggressive intent, and had a life on 15.  With Balbirnie in excellent touch the score reached 200 in the 50th over, and 300 looked on.  Then Joyce asked for, and got, an lbw decision, much to everybody's surprise, particularly Andy Balbirnie, who had to go for 80.

Bahl and Ryan Hopkins like to hit the ball in the air, and the former should have been caught for 28 but it wasn't a miss, more a refusal (“three faults for that,” one observer remarked).  He was caught for 34, a smart return catch by Joyce, just after he had bowled Hopkins, to complete a hard-earned Michelle Five-for.

With Brian O'Rourke scampering singles and Barry McCarthy playing some beefy drives the score had passed 250 in the 58th over when Joyce upgraded his Michelle to a Birmingham Six-for when Beasley caught O'Rourke.  Petrie bowled Eastwood for a duck, but McCarthy kept the score moving before being bowled by Joyce in the final over for 27.

Ten and jack added ten more runs to leave the score at 281-9.  Joyce may have conceded 66 runs in his twelve overs, but he had a Magnificent Seven-for.  Petrie's 12 went for 1/46, and the skipper's dozen cost 44.  Kane's nine overs yielded 1/27, an excellent effort from a very promising young cricketer.

Merrion started off at a clip, with Ackland in great touch.  He should have gone for 30, but Hickey spilled the chance off Eastwood, and fifty came up after eight overs.  Bill Whaley had started from the Sandymount end, and after three overs he gave way to Balbirnie.  Fifteen went off that over, so Barry McCarthy bowled the ninth over.

Immediately he had Joyce caught behind for 11, and two balls later Beasley lbw.  John Anderson steadied the ship, but was very surpised to be given out lbw to Eastwood with the score on 71.  I was in no position to judge – all I can report is that the appeal would certainly be in the running for an Oscar.

Kane played straight and Ackland became cautious, reaching his fifty (out of 90) in the twentieth over.  McCarthy continued his fine spell, and bowled Ackland for 53.  The score had not moved off 91 when Bahl smartly stumped Allwright off Moreton.  Kane and Cillian O'Donoghue added 25 runs before O'Donoghue (16) was stumped off Paul Lawson and Kane was well caught by Balbirnie off Moreton for 14.

120-7 should have been 125-8, but the unfortunate Hickey dropped a straightforward slip catch off Moreton when Petrie was on 1.  He and Poder mixed defence with aggression, Petrie favouring the pull, Poder the lofted drive, but it still looked like a futile gesture as the overs ran out.  Lawson had finished his 12 (1/28) and Moreton's 11 had yielded 2/44 when he had to leave to catch a plane.

Then, with a dozen overs to go, the batsmen got right on top.  Still 79 were needed in the last ten overs, but the bowling and fielding got ragged, and in the next five overs 46 runs were conceded as both batsmen reached their fifties.  Twenty-two runs off the next two overs meant all the batsmen had to do was keep their nerve.  One of those two overs contained only five legitimate balls, causing skipper Anderson to run out and shriek at the umpires.

At long last Bill Whaley returned and bowled three dot balls to Petrie.  The big Aussie promptly ran himself out for 64 with eleven runs still needed.  Poder was in complete command, hitting the ball where he wanted.  Jeff Short added a three (making him net minus thirty for the match) before holing out in the penultimate over.  Poder, on strike, took a single to give him strike for the final over, with four needed.

He swung Whaley's first delivery into the fence in front of the pavilion to complete the victory and take him to 86*.  The pair had added 151 for the eighth wicket in 23 overs.  There have probably been bigger eighth wicket stands in Leinster Senior cricket, but at better than a run a ball?  I doubt it.  It was a marvellous effort by both men.

Barry McCarthy's 3/32 was a super piece of bowling.  Andy Balbirnie's 0/49 off 5 wasn't, and included a very bad-tempered exchange with the umpire over the calling of a wide, completely uncharacteristic of him.  I too went to university in Wales, where I frequently forced my opinions on officials.  But I was a foul-mouthed, narky little git before I went there.