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Phoenix won the toss and inserted the visitors on a green track. Briain O'Rourke and Andrew Balbirnie had put together an opening stand of 37 when O' Rourke was bowled by one which kept low. Many of the rest of the Pembroke batsmen then tried unsuccessfully to blast their way out of trouble. Rick Francis was the most successful with 30, but the final total owed much to Theo Lawson who batted sensibly for 23. Conor Kelly picked up 4 for 22 from his 10 overs as the middle order flailed: then Richie McDonald (3 for 5) and Stevie Neill (1 for 11) mopped up the tail, with Rob Mitchell picking up a handy 4 catches as batsmen tried to go aerial.
128 from 40 overs didn't look enough, but Phoenix had a tricky 35 minutes batting before tea during which they lost both openers lbw to Francis. Tea was taken on a wobbly 19 for 2 off 10 overs. On the resumption, once newly arrived pro Kirk Edwards had departed, the main resistance came from Garth Ancher.
He greeted the introduction of Peter Byrne with a straight 6 to take the score to 69 for 3 at which point the wheels fell off the Phoenix innings. Next ball, Ancher (37) holed out to a Graham McDonnell catch in front of the pavilion: then McDonnell turned executioner as Corrie Dickeson fell to an ankle height Peter Bynre catch followed 2 balls later by Stevie Neill to keeper Theo Lawson.
When Byrne took a stunning caught and bowled parrying the ball upwards to catch the rebound to dismiss Conor Kelly (13) the end was in sight and in the space of 8 overs 69 for 3 became 77 for 9 and eventually 90 all out. McDonnell (5 for 26), Francis (2 for 28) and Byrne (2 for 17) shared the wickets.
In the preliminary round of the Bob Kerr Irish Senior Cup CYM won the toss and decided to bat first. Both teams were missing a few players, and CYM in particular were plumbing the depths of their squads with young Ben Hoey making a rare appearance.
It was another squad player that was to make the initial impact though. Sachin Mistry (formerly of the CYM 2nd XI) opened the batting and took great advantage of the fielding restrictions. He batted for 25 overs, and scored 93 off 56 balls. He hit 10 fours, and 5 sixes, mainly straight down the ground. His dismissal, just after the drinks break, did slow CYM down a bit, but 33 from John Hoey and 46 off 48 from Asam Ullah, not to mention 23* from 14 by Ken Brennan left Old Belvedere with a target of 266 to chase.
Seven bowlers were used and leading wicket taker was Richie O'Donnell with 3/50 off 9. Yogesh also chipped in with 2/25 off 10 and Sadaf Raza with 2/33 of 10.
After a lovely tea, and Duckworth Lewis print outs all round, Old Belvedere took to the field and met the irresistible force of Ken Brennan. Using the vagaries of his beloved mat to great extent he bowled a succession of seamers and lifting deliveries that had an "across the line" batting attack slightly bemused.
Three wickets in his first spell ensured that Belvedere would not get the flying start that they needed, and left them well behind the rate. However having seen off the openers, Old Belvedere and particularly Sameer Dutt, got more comfortable. Sameer was joined by Monty Singh who scored a solid 55 before going for one big hit too many.
Sadaf Raza then joined Sameer, who was by now approaching a well deserved 50. Sadaf blazed the CYM trundlers to all parts of the ground, and reached 60 off 32 balls. CYM were looking slightly shaky but when they suddenly remembered how to catch again, quickly dismissed Sadaf and Sameer (51), knocking the stuffing out of the men from Cabra.
Wisely Ken Brennan was reintroduced into the attack, and duly mopped up the tail, he finished with 6/20 off 10 and CYM finished with a well deserved victory and a stay in Senior cricket for another while.