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Division 1: Phoenix v YMCA

I started the long weekend with a trip to the Park.  Because I don't read a daily newspaper and the only time I listen to RTE is when I'm driving to a cricket match, I had no idea about Blooms or some concert or other, and was startled by the bumper-to-bumper traffic when I hit Kilmainham.  Eventually I made it to Phoenix.

Before the match, players and umpires lined up on the square and observed a minute's silence as a mark of respect following the recent death of past president of Phoenix C.C., Richard Bruton.

YMCA had decided to take first hit, and sent out young Steven Walsh and young-at-heart Alan Lewis.  I had automatically assumed that the left-hander under the red lid was Reinhardt Strydom until I noticed how much weight he had lost in the two weeks since I last saw him!  Lewie spanked a four and then stretched forward to a full delivery from Osama Khan.

It hit him full bung on the left big toe, and umpire Clive Colleran responded in the affimative to the appeal.  My own view was that Lewie was so far forward that there must have been the possibility that the ball would have bounced over the top of middle stump.  But Clive was right: nothing from that end bounced over stump height all day.

That was 10-1, and Walsh and Samir Dutt took the score to 44 at the end of the mandatory power play.  In the fourth over of the bowling power play Walsh, on 15, edged Kelly, who had just replaced Khan, into the Langford-Smith buckets at slip.  Carl Hosford had started his innings very purposefully, but gradually retreated into his shell.

Drinks were taken at 89-2, but ten runs later Hos was unable to deal with Sadaf Raza's googly, and bowled for 12.  Now it was Strydom under the red lid, but not for long, as in the same over he edged a googly to slip and Lanky did the rest.  Samir passed fifty, and with Etesham Ahmed advanced the score to 131 in the 35th over.

Then Shammy slogged Raza to Khan (only if I were reporting on College of Surgeons would I have been able to write that thirty years ago – then the most exotic dismissal would have been Caprani c Ostinelli b Savino!).  Lee Cole hung around with Samir to add a couple of dozen runs before he, too, was bowled by Raza's wrong 'un.

Sean Mcauley fell to Ryan Gallagher's straight one, Robert Garth nicked Langford-Smith through to Jonty Wardell, leaving Mucker McCoy to see Samir to his ton.  He got to 97 out of 191, when he flayed a Langford-Smith delivery at chest height through the covers.  Corie Dickeson flung himself to his right and held a quite superb catch.

Three runs later McCoy lobbed Lanky to Tom Anders and YMCA were all out for 194 in 49 overs.  Sadaf Raza took 4/40 in his ten over spell, and Langford-Smith finished with 3/51.  Gallagher was steady for his 1/35 off 10.  The 25 from Willie Wides was comfortably second top-scorer.

After the now customary splendid Phoenix salad tea, Rory Flanagan and Jeremy Bray began the pursuit.  Bray had a single to his name when he went across his stumps and was given out lbw to Strydom.  He waggled his bat at umpire Marty Block, and left in high dudgeon.  “Effing smashed it!  Didn't you hear it?” he said when back in the hutch.  I must need to have my ears syringed: I heard nothing.

Ryan Gallagher is having a tough time scoring runs since moving down from Strabane.  He wandered out of his ground after leaving one from Strydom, and just grounded his bat as McCoy's throw hit the stumps.  There were long, lingering tea-pots at Clive Colleran's not out decision, but I thought Sid was spot on.

Next ball, Rainy bent his back, and the batsman carved the ball to third man half way back.  Poor Mcauley dropped it.  I suppose that was Clive's fault, too.  Mcauley made amends soon after by bowling Gallagher for 7 out of 28.  Meantime Rory Flanagan was batting nicely, and had benefitted from four overthrows early on.

He was joined by Conor Kelly, who is batting with so much confidence these days.  The pair both favour the drive, but will tuck into anything short.  Kelly had overtaken his mate and was on 44 out of a 66 run partnership when he missed an Alan Lewis straight-break.  Lewie has to bowl because Albert van der Merwe is out with a broken elbow, and is enjoying himself, as ever.

Twenty-four runs later he dismissed Langford-Smith lbw to one that looked quite high (there was a lot more bounce from the road end).  That was in the 27th over, and three overs later Flanagan reached a very good fifty out of 129-4, even if it did contain a second lot of four overthrows.

Corie Dickeson likes to put bat to ball, and isn't afraid to take the aerial route.  This is usually his undoing, but not today.  Yacub Ali brought Shammy twenty yards in from the mid off boundary, tossed up the ball on off stump, and Dickeson duly lofted it in Shammy's direction.  But it looped over his head and fell exactly where he had been standing the previous delivery before running into the long grass for four.

Flanagan fell lbw to Strydom for 63 a dozen runs short of victory, Dickeson biffed his way to 58*, and Tom Anders just defended until the target was reached off the second ball of the 42nd over.  Strydom's ten overs yielded 2/29, Dutt's ten 0/26, but the other 21.2 overs went for 137.  YMCA are sorely missing van der Merwe's batting and bowling.