Scorecard

Clontarf 2 v North Kildare Cricket Club Men's 1st XI on Sun 31 Aug 2014 at 12.00pm
North Kildare Cricket Club Lost By 88 Runs (1/25pts)

Match report The firsts traveled to Castle Avenue for the second time this season, looking to get their sixth league win on the board by beating Clontarf who had been successful against NK in both of the previous fixtures.

Neavyn won the toss for the first time in weeks and elected to bowl first on a grass wicket that looked to be bowler friendly. Altaf (who still gave the firsts nightmares from their opening div.3 fixture) and Collier, opened up for Clontarf and the firsts did an excellent job of tying the pair down - Collier in particular. It wasn't until the 8th over that NK had the breakthrough, but NK were more than happy to see the back of Altaf who had already put NK to the sword once this season, although NK appeared to forget how to catch in that game. Bobbo Forest was the new man in and he should've been on his way second ball, when he nicked off to Neavyn, but unfortunately for Rob and NK, it was one of those that hit the gloves and just didn't stick. Forest and Collier put on a stand worth of 50, but they were in no rush in doing so, with the NK bowling attack on top of proceedings. The breakthrough came when Collier was removed by Manny thanks to an excellent catch by Rob behind the stumps. This followed the largest partnership of the game between Forest and Gopal. The pair knew their track and outfield conditions well and although Gopal looked rather scratchy early doors, the pair barely offered a chance in putting together a stand worth of 125. Before Vossie bowled Gopal in the 46th over, Clontarf were on cruise control and were looking to post a total in excess of 300+. When Vossie removed Gopal, Clontarf completely capitulated. Thanks to excellent spells from Marko and Imran (who hadn't bowled since the firsts' pre-season fixture in late April) Clontarf went from 220-2 in the 46th over, to folding like a deck of cards and being bowled out in the final over adding only a futher 35 runs, Marko and Imran bagging themselves 3 a-piece. Although NK had clawed back valiantly (thanks to Imran and Mark) towards the back end of the innings, they knew that chasing 255 was going to be a difficult task.

There were mixed emotions after the first innings, as NK, for the most part, had fielded and bowled very well (Andy's catch at long-on being the highlight) apart from a couple of blunders in the field and they may have been looking at a very different target if Bobbo had been held early doors. Nevertheless - going on last weeks' batting performance, the firsts were in no way concerned that 255 would cause them too much trouble, granted they bat to their full potential.

It wasn't until NK actually started their innings that they realised how tricky it was to bat on the Clontarf wicket. Wazzie - who went from demolishing Leinster's bowling attack the week before, was having difficulty with opening offy, Nazir who was by far Clontarf's best bowler. Unfortunately, Wazzie couldn't perform the heroics that he had displayed last weekend and went for just 2 and Nazir picked up his first. Vossie and Rob (now at the crease) looked to set a platform for the likes of Imran and Tom to come in and play freely, but although the pair batted until the 16th over, they were much too slow in doing so (Vossie in particular). This resulted in the run-out of Vossie which saw Imran out in the middle. Immy couldn't seem to get going and was bowled, playing a rather poor shot that was a sign of the frustration out in the middle. Tommer (the man that Clontarf knew all about from his ton in the firsts' opening fixture) arrived at the crease and he too couldn't really get going although himself and Rob did up the scoring quite well to their credit. Rob picked the wrong delivery from Collier to come down the track to and was stumped comfortably and was on his way for 39. Dollars and Mark departed without making double figures and when Tommer launched Collier over the trees into the gardens from an enormous straight six, it required a change of ball which took about five minutes to replace. To the despair of NK - the very next ball resulted in the dismissal of Tom thanks to a very sharp catch at first slip which really made NK's task an uphill battle. With 130 runs to get in just 15 overs at the point of Tom's departure, things got worse when Manny went for single figures also. Gilly replaced Manny and put on a show during his 21(13) with some excellent shots all around the ground. Unfortunately for NK, Gilly was bowled by a ball that just didn't get up off the deck and with Gilly's dismissal, the firsts knew that there was no way back into the game. Walshe and Chaser didn't fold easily, but their efforts could only get one bonus point - NK falling 88 runs short of their target.

Credit must go to Clontarf who bowled well in the second innings, although NK's batting frailties were on show once again with their scoring rate being far too low from the top order. NK had plenty of good moments throughout the game, but in the end, the firsts needed to turn moments into spells if they were to have beaten Clontarf who are a good side.

Thanks to Jenny for scoring and to the support that went out to Castle Avenue to back the boys up. Hopefully the support will have a victorious first team to witness on Wednesday when they play YMCA at home in a t20 refix.

NV

Clontarf 2 Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
7w 5b 6lb 
for 10 wickets
18
255 (49.4 overs)		     
J. Altaf lbw  bowled, M. Gilchrist 30 48 28 3 107.14
M. Collier (c) ct  behind, R. Neavyn, bowled M. Singh 26 90 76 1 34.21
R. Forrest+ ct  S. Dalton, bowled M. Topping 94 133 97 8 1 96.91
V. Gopal b  N. Vorster 68 81 67 6 101.49
A. Nazir b  I. Ul-Haq 6 10 6 100
D. Delany b  I. Ul-Haq 11 18 11 1 100
A. Delany b  M. Topping 1 2 3 33.33
B. Boland lbw  I. Ul-Haq 0 4 1 0
A. McDonald ct  A. Chase, bowled M. Topping 2 7 3 66.67
R. Kirk Not Out  0 4
V. Mohanan run out  I. Ul-Haq/R. Neavyn 0 3

North Kildare Cricket Club Men's 1st XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Michael Gilchrist10.0043143.004.30
Wasif Ali10.005700.005.70
Manjeet Singh10.0127127.002.70
Andrew Chase2.001500.007.50
Neil Vorster10.0052152.005.20
Mark Topping5.0037312.337.40
Imran ul-Haq3.001334.334.33

North Kildare Cricket Club Men's 1st XI Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
14w 5b 5lb 
for 10 wickets
24
167
(43.4 overs)		    
Robert Neavyn st  R. Forest, bowled M. Collier 39 100 69 4 56.52 1 1
Wasif Ali ct  B. Boland, bowled A. Nazir 2 7 6 33.33
Neil Vorster run out  J. Altaf/R. Forest 14 42 39 35.90
Imran ul-Haq b  A. McDonald 8 17 19 42.11 1
Tom Satchwell ct  G. Gopal, bowled M. Collier 28 23 46 1 1 60.87
Sean Dalton ct  B. Boland, bowled R. Kirk 8 23 14 57.14 1
Mark Topping b  M. Collier 2 12 4 50.0
Ian Walshe ct  D. Delany, bowled A. McDonald 15 43 26 1 57.69
Manjeet Singh b  R. Kirk 3 7 4 75.00
Michael Gilchrist b  D. Delany 21 14 13 4 161.54
Andrew Chase Not Out  3 23 7 42.86 1

Clontarf 2 Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
D. Delany7.0124124.003.43
A. Nazir10.0129129.002.90
A. McDonald7.401427.001.83
V. Mohaman5.002000.004.00
M. Collier7.0043314.336.14
R. Kirk7.0027213.503.86