Wins for Old Belvdere and CYM in Irish Senior Cup

Pembroke v CYM

In the Preliminary Round of the Irish Senior Cup, Pembroke hosted CYM for the right to travel to Ardmore in the next round. Pembroke won the toss and elected to bat first on a good looking track. 16 year old opener Graham Mc Donnell anchored the innings with a very composed 77, which belied his tender years. Alas, no-one managed to offer him any meaningful support, and they faltered to a well below par total of 190/9 in their 50 overs. Ken Brennan was the best of the CYM attack, picking up 3-36.

In reply CYM got off to a flying start, aided by quite a number of extras, as the Pembroke attack struggled to control the new white ball. This year, the Irish Senior Cup is played played with coloured clothing, coloured pads, white ball and black sightscreens in an attempt to inject some life into the competition. Alan Eastwood recovered well after a shaky start to take 2-38, while Theo Lawson bowled his overs straight through collecting 2-19. Colm Morgan hit 50 not out, and with good support from Niall Mc Darby, they won by 4 wickets with just 9 balls to spare. A good win for CYM, but much closer than it should have been.

Leinster v Old Belvedere

Joining CYM in the first round proper are Old Belvedere, who pulled off a narrow 12 run win at Leinster. Yogesh was once again in the runs this week, as he scored a magnificent 107 in the Old Belvedere total of 234 for 9. Six other batsmen reached double figures, but O Malley with 19 was the highest of those, as they all failed to capitalise on their starts. Four of the Leinster attack took two wickets, namely skipper Will Lennon, Hollenbach, Geraghty, and Goodman.

In reply, Mark Jones went for 18, with the score on 36, but a stand of 85 for the second wicket between Miley and Scholtz looked to have put Leinster firmly on course for the next round, as they reached 121 for 1. The introduction of Yogesh into the attack sparked a dramatic collapse as he picked up 4 wickets for 24 runs in a fine spell. Gilmore with an unbeaten 49 looked as if he was going to rescue the situation, but he ran out of partners, as Leinster were bowled out 12 runs short of their required total.