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Cork County v Leinster: Division 2 at The Mardyke, 30th July

It was a beautiful afternoon in the second city, and The Mardyke looked a treat.  The clubhouse has been refurbished, and the bar done out very nicely.  The hospitality was, as ever, bounteous.  It's horrible to think that such a nice, well-appointed bunch as Cork County might get relegated to Division 3 in favour of the unwanted and casuistic Dublin University.

County need a few wins to make them safe, and were up against it facing the seasoned warriors from Rathmines.  When Cork chose to bat first, their cause wasn't advanced when Corey Edwards got one to lift and leave Ross Durity, taking the edge through to Zac Curtis.  Shannon Madden is a digger-iner, but Robert Duggan is a never-die-wondering.

Duggan had a go, was missed by Zeeshan at mid on, carved the next ball from Lennon just over cover for another boundary, and then had a swing at Edwards that looped high over the slips to apparent safety.  But, was it a bird? Was it a plane? No, it was Jonesey in hot pursuit clinging onto an excellent catch over his shoulder!

That was 18-2, whereupon George Barry joined Madden and settled down.  The score had reached 55 when Lennon, switched to the river end, got one to lift and leave Barry, who edged it to the ever-reliable Anton Scholtz at second slip.  He was replaced by Darren Fogarty, who likes to give it a lash.

Foggy rode his luck and also played a couple of nice shots to get County to 92-3 in the 30th over, a good platform from which to reach 210-220, which might just be enough, although it looked like a 240 track.  Perhaps that's a tad optimistic – the outfied was slow – 220 par?  I digress, Foggy kicked Peter Byrne off middle and left for 16.

Then Madden (39) was given out lbw well down the pitch to Scholtz – an old-fashioned decision by an old-fashioned umpire, Gordon Black.  I'm not going to say it wasn't out – and I will say that Blackie is a very good umpire – but I don't think I would have given it.  You win some, you lose some, and Madden lost.

99-5 was the beginning of the end.  Peter Byrne caught and bowled Joshi, Anton Scholtz had Banon and Banks caught, then Edwards was too good for Matt Reed and Fartran (that's what it says in the book), Cork all out for 146 off 48.4 overs.  Edwards took 4/24, Scholtz 3/23 and Byrne 2/17 off his ten.

Mark Jones drove his way to 18 out of 39 in the seventh over when, after tearing a calf muscle, he slogged Banks to Fogarty at mid off.  Sunny Faizan nicked off straight away, leaving Scholtz to join skipper Craig Mallon.  Tig Mallon had given the slips some exercise early on, but was now settled down and batting well.

Then Scholtzy called him through for a sharp single, not Tig's chosen specialized subject, and Robert Duggan's direct hit sent the oppo skipper on his way for 26.  JP O'Dwyer and Edwards quickly came and went to Joshi's slow left-arm to leave Leinster on 109-5 in the 29th over.  We knew that Terenure had racked up 300 against Belvo and were unlikely to lose, so Leinster had to win to stay in the top two.

Scholtzy had got his on drive working, and kept playing it beautifully.  Joe Carroll kept things simple and hit the bad ball.  The pair saw Leinster home in the 36th over, Scholtz on 67 and Carroll on 18.  Joshi took 2/29.

I was doing 95 mph up Watergrass Hill when my phone rang.  I pulled in just before the toll plaza to take the call.  It was Terenure's scorer, Dave Brennan, telling me that the 'Nure had bowled Belvo out for 120-odd.  I assume that Malahide did for North County 2s so, as Frankie Lee discovered from Judas Priest, nothing is revealed (Bob Dylan, John Wesley Harding).  I listened to Bob Dylan all the way back to Dublin.  Hey, Mr Tambourine Man!