Review of Divisions 1 & 2, Saturday 3rd September
As the overnight rain cleared through the last morning of the season for Divisions 1 and 2, it became apparent that a full day's play was going to be available to resolve the outstanding issues. In Division 1, any of four sides could win the title. If Railway Union beat The Hills, they would be league champions for the first time since 1962. Were The Hills to win, and North County and Merrion both to lose, they could pip Railway if they got enough bonus points. Were The Hills to win and North County to lose, Merrion would be champions by beating Pembroke. A win for The Hills and victory for North County at Clontarf would keep the title at Inch. And whoever lost at Claremont Road between YMCA and Phoenix would be relegated along with Pembroke – a tie would favour Phoenix.
Let's start with the relegation decider. YMCA won the toss and batted. When Alan Lewis was fourth out with only 57 runs on the board, YM were in trouble. Albert van der Merwe and Sameer Dutt slowly added 79 runs against tight bowling from Conor Kelly (10-2-18-1) and Jeremy Bray, who took off the pads to return 10-3-29-0. When van der Merwe was lbw to Sadaf Raza for 35, Dutt added 28 more runs with Angus Dunlop. They were both out to the returning David Langford-Smith, each caught and bowled, Dutt for 37 and Gussie for 22. Robert Garth's 19* saw his side to 195-9 in the 50 overs. Lanky, in his final ever match for Phoenix, took 5/19 in his ten overs. We'll miss him.
Rory Flanagan and Ted Williamson put on 53 for the first wicket to shift the balance to Phoenix. Flanagan fell to Jehangir for 18, Williamson was run out for 29, then van der Merwe nipped in with three wickets to leave Phoenix on 80-5. Bray and Langford-Smith took the score into three figures when Bray was bowled by van der Merwe for 18. With Albert bowled out (10-3-26-4), Lanky and his skipper, Corie Dickeson, got Phoenix to fifty away from victory when both were out to Rainy Strydom, Lanky for 37. When O'Leary was run out without scoring, Phoenix still needed 45 with the last pair at the wicket. They got 24 of them before Garth bowled Masud Ahmed to keep YMCA in Division 1 and give Lanky the worst possible farewell.
Along the DART line at Sydney Parade, Merrion had to win and then hope for the best. John Anderson won the toss and batted. His openers, Ben Ackland (47) and Dom Joyce (20) put on 68 for the first wicket, but Barry McCarthy, inexplicably relegated to sixth change (according to the scorecard), worked his way through the Merrion middle order, Anderson scoring 38, and it was left to Chris Allwright and Patrick Tice to get their side to 195-9. McCarthy took 4/13 and Stephen Moreton 4/26. Darren Nicol was lbw first ball to Matt Petrie, but Theo Lawson and Ryan Hopkins both made twenty before Pembroke collapsed to 94 all out in 26 overs. David Watkins took 4/29 with his off breaks, then Matt Petrie added three bunnies to finish with 4/30.
Merrion's attention turned to North County's progress. The early news had been good – County 32-3 after an opening burst from former Merrion man Joe Morrissey. Then Adam Coughlan (41) and John Mooney (63) fought back, and Terry Richardson hit a late 25 to get County to 224 all out in 46 overs. Alex Cusack (3/39) and Rod Hokin (3/47) also claimed Colombia Three-fors with Morrissey (3/34). Cusie obviously had a bus to catch, scoring 64 of the first 93 runs, but Adam Coughlan (3/35) and Richie Lawrence (3/36) chipped their way through the 'Tarf batsmen as they were bowled out for 135 in 24.4 overs. All attention now turned to Park Avenue.
There, Railway had invited The Hills to set a score. Manu Kumar went early, but Mike Baumgart (33) and Daryll Calder (49) took the score to 87-1. Poor batting was responsible for a slide to 101-6, but the late batting was well marshalled by Tomas Murphy (25) to reach a fifty over total of 185-9, Greg Lambert taking 2/18 and Kenny Carroll 2/23. Opening the batting, Carroll made only a dozen, but Tom Fisher drove the bus towards the league-winning terminus in sixty run stands with Conor Mullen (32) and Graeme McDonnell (35). A four wicket burst from Max Sorensen (4/36) rocked Railway, and then Fisher was caught behind off Naseer for 77 with his team still fourteen runs short. Paddy Conliffe and Dhruv Kapoor got their team home to a long-overdue league title. The sun came out just in time for the victory photographs!
You may be wondering why it has taken me until the 12th September to write this review of events that occurred on the 3rd. The answer is that I've only just got sight of the scorecard from the match at Rathmines between Leinster and Terenure, the winner of which would be Division 2 champions. And I got it through the good offices of the Terenure scorer, Dave Brennan. What was the Leinster scorer, Sean Jennings, doing? Nobody knows. Leinster asked Terenure to set a score, and of the top seven, only Kenny McDonald missed out. Tom Lynch (36), C Moore (22), Nathan Carroll (28), Jason Kleyweg (52), Michael Lax (40) and Tariq Iqbal (19) had the 'Nure at 193-5 before the final clatter of wickets saw them all out for 227 in 50 overs. Six Leinster bowlers shared the wickets, with Gareth Delany claiming his first Senior victim.
That's not a huge score in Rathmines, but when Leinster were 33-5, it looked enormous. Ken Brennan (3/14 off 10) accounted for Zac Curtis, Anton Scholtz and Corey Edwards, while Kleyweg disposed of Mark Jones and Sonny Faizan. JP O'Dwyer scored a quick 24, but he and Peter Byrne fell in the space of three balls to Benn Hoey to leave Leinster on 75-7. Hugh McDonnell then brought his good second team form to bear, adding 69 with skipper Craig Mallon. When Mallon was out for 57, Leinster still needed 84 to win, and Will Lennon and Gareth Delany stuck around to get 56 of them, Delany being out to Conor Hoey for 18 in the 50th over, leaving McDonnell 43*. It was good to see Beanie Hoey and Laxie beng disinterred for the day. If Terenure are going to survive in Division 1 after 2012, they'll need to raise a few more dead men!
While Dublin 6W was winning out over poor old plain Dublin 6 for the Division 2 title, up at Kenure Rush played Malahide for the meaningless best of the rest trophy. Callum Riches won the toss, batted, saw Jimmy Govan go early, then an 85 run partnership beteen Nick Turner (42) and Paul Tweddle. The third wicket stand was even better – 111 – with Tweddle completing his century. After he was out for 116, Adam Shehabeddin missed out on his ton by seven runs as the Villagers made 324-8 in their 50 overs. Tipu Gull weathered the storm well, taking 2/44. The Russians were never really in it, losing their first three wickets for 50 despite a run-a-ball 27 from Niall Mullen. When Shahid was out after another run-a-ball innings, this time of 32, it was left to Gull, with 86, to make it look respectable as Rush were bowled out for 212 in 44 overs, Jimmy Govan taking 4/34.