studaultrey.com

The Hills 2 v Pembroke, Division 2 match played on Sunday 1st August

There were plenty of showers around Dublin on Sunday, some of them quite heavy, but only two halted play in the Division 2 match at Milverton between The Hills 2 and Pembroke, and only the second caused a reduction in overs.

Joseph Clinton won the toss and took first hit.  Mark Dwyer was accompanied in the opening slot by Manu Kumar, and the pair quickly got after some of the loose stuff served up by Allan Eastwood and Barry McCarthy.

That's not to say that the 'Broke's pacemen didn't bowl some good deliveries – they did – but the batsmen managed to stay out of trouble and survived to prosper from the overpitched deliveries and the odd half-tracker, plus a couple of free hits following Eastwood no balls.

The score had rattled past sixty in ten overs when leg spinner Andy Leonard replaced Eastwood from the pavilion end.  He immediately induced a false shot from Kumar, but the chance went awol.  Never mind, as they say in Dublin Bus, there's another car behind.

Mark Dwyer, 15, steered a short ball straight to Paul Lawson at cover, and it was 63-1.  While Rob Byrne settled in, Kumar moved to with one of his fifty.  But in Leonard's third over a good delivery found the edge and Bill Whaley at slip held on to the catch.

Byrne was dropped on 3, and Eastwood now tried his luck from the Blackhills end.  He soon produced a corker to have Byrne caught behind for 12, and The Hills 2 had slid to 86-3.  Tomas Murphy and Patrick Byrne, in his first game back after a long lay-off from a head injury, steadied the ship.

It was slow going, though.  The score was only 116 at half-way drinks, Leonard finished his spell with 2/30, and fellow leggie Steven Moreton took over.  The score had reached 139 in the 35th over when Murphy's vigil was ended by another Whaley catch – the normally combative youngster had made only 14 out of the 62 runs added while he was at the crease.

Joseph Clinton struck one boundary before getting in a tangle to a Moreton delivery and being palpably lbw.  A shower then interrupted proceedings, but only fifteen minutes were lost, so there was no reduction on overs.

There had been no addition to the score, 148, when Patrick Byrne was unlucky to be given lbw (it looked to me very high), also  to Moreton.  But how did he get down that end?  Either I've got the scores wrong (most likely) or the batsmen swapped over in the rain break (much less likely)!

Paul Lawson had been bowling his offies very tidily from the Blackhills end, and had Mal Byrne lbw for 4.  One run later Darren Byrne kicked a Moreton delivery off middle, and it was 156-8.  There were still eight overs to be bowled, and while Jason Magee scrambled the odd single, Nadim Akhtar had other ambitions.

Lawson started his final over with figures of 9-3-15-1, but after Nadim had dumped him twice in Joey Archer's field, his runs conceded column read 30.  Moreton bowled out with 4/33 and then caught Nadim for 17 off the returning Eastwood.

First team manager and Forum correspondent Will Dwyer hung around with Magee to make the 50 over total 187-9.  Eastwood finished with 2/38, and Barry McCarthy, who went for 37 in his first four overs, bowled a good second spell to end with 0/52.

A very heavy shower during the tea interval delayed the restart until six, and 14 overs were lost from the second innings, giving a D/L par score of 161 or, if you prefer, 162 to win.  It wasn't to be Barry's day: he was hit on the thigh to depart lbw to Clinton, and it was 9-1 after three overs.

Both Theo Lawson and Steven Moreton like to play their shots, but their scoring possibilities were limited by some very decent seam bowling from the quartet of Clinton, Mal Byrne, Nadim and Darren Byrne.  Moreton survived a chance on 17, and after 25 overs the score was 85-1.

That left 77 to be got in 11, but the D/L par was only 92, so it wasn't that huge an ask, especially as Clinton had bowled out Nadim (8-0-21-0) and Darren Byrne (7-0-23-0), and could not avoid using a sixth bowler.  Murphy filled in capably as fifth bowler, and Pembroke must have eyed Kumar's offies as their path to salvation.

The score had only got to 107 in the 30th over, and both Lawson and Moreton were getting frustrated at their inability to get away.  As the ball skewed back up the leg side toward mid on, Lawson, on 45 called for a single.  But Kumar moved quickly to his right, picked up, spun and threw down the stumps.

Ryan Hopkins, the 'Broke's most destructive bat, came in with an asking rate of nines.  Moreton was missed on 44, and got to his fifty in the 34th over.  When Hopkins finally landed a six, it was the first boundary for a dozen overs.  Moreton managed a Dilshan off Kumar for a second, but the rope was never reached again.

A tight 35th over from Clinton left 13 needed off the last, to be bowled by Kumar.  One, two, one, two off a drop, two meant five to win off the last ball – six for a win or four for at tie.  Moreton aimed it high over long off, but it just spiralled up – and down into Murphy's hands.

Moreton had made 63, Hopkins 20*, and The Hills 2 had kept their discipline to battle out a very fine win, Clinton leading from the front with 1/18 off 7.  In such a tight match, it's tempting to look for little differences: Pembroke conceded 21 wides, The Hills 2 eight fewer; twice the margin of victory!