Leinster Scoreboard
Merrion 238-6 (46 overs) (R.Allwright 59; J.Anderson 49) beat Rush 39 (14.4 overs) (M.Petrie 5-6) by 175 runs (D/L)
Malahide 169 (42 overs) lost to The Hills 166-3 by 7 wickets (D/L)
Just two fixtures managed to beat the weather as high winds and rain battered Leinster for most of the weekend. Good work by Merrion meant the delay to their game with Rush was restricted to an hour and the loss of 4 overs of play.
The decision by Rush to field would have seem to have been a good one as the Merrion lost their first wicket with the score on 23 in the 7th over. However that’s as good as it got for Rush, Kade Beasley and John Anderson then put on 43 runs for the 2nd wicket before Beasley (25) came down the pitch one time too many and got a thick outside edge to gully off the bowling of Eoghan Conway (1-35). Anderson and Matt Petrie then added another 39 and took the score to 104 when Anderson was caught behind off the bowling of Keegan Clarke. Clarke took the second of his two wickets in his next over when he removed Petrie, who was very well caught at gully by Naseer Shoukat. Surprisingly Clarke was then taken off and Merrion, and Rory Allwright in particular, took the upper hand in the match.
Allwright hit the ball to all parts of the Anglesea Road ground including one big hit which went out the gate and on to the road itself. He put on a 5th wicket partnership of 75 runs with Damien Poder (27) and then added an additional 39 runs with Simon Morrissey (29*) for the 6th wicket. When he was eventually out for 59 off 44 balls Merrion were on 220 in the 44th over. Their final total of 238 in 46 over left Rush with a formidable target to get.
Shahid Iqbal was the pick of the Rush bowlers with figures of 2-29 in 10 overs and Keegan Clarke 2-12 in 4 overs.
Another heavy rain shower meant that the target was reset based upon Duckworth Lewis to 215. The Rush innings is best forgotten as within the space of an hour and 15 minutes (14.4) overs they were all out for 39 runs. Only one player got into double figures and wides top scored with 14.
The Rush innings also saw a nasty injury to Shahid Iqbal as the player suffered a suspected broken nose when the ball managed to get through the gap between his grill and helmet peak. For Merrion, Matt Petrie bowled a good line and length returning the impressive figures of 5-6 off his 6 overs, Damien Poder also got in on the act taking 2-0 off his 1.4 overs.
The Malahide versus Hills fixture was also reduced - 42 overs per team, but even that was too many for a disappointing Malahide. They scored 169 all out in 41 overs, with professional James Henry top scoring with 49. John Pryor (25) and Damien Ryan (18) hung around to help them to respectability, but given the strength of The Hills batting, it was never likely to be enough. Max Sorensen (3-18), and Luke Clinton (3-33) took the bowling honours.
Jeremy Bray, who opted out of the Ireland XI to play against Lashings, scored 32 in an opening stand of 45 with Patrick Byrne, and after that, the result was never in doubt. Former Ireland opener Barry Archer (72) mixed aggression with perfect placement and timing, and with Patrick Byrne (32) proving the perfect foil, The Hills passed their adjusted D/L target with 7 wickets to spare.