Scorecard

North Kildare Cricket Club Men's 1st XI v Merrion 2 on Sun 05 Jul 2015 at 13.00
North Kildare Cricket Club Lost By 7 Wickets (D/L) (1/25pts)

Match report The firsts welcomed Merrion to the Maws for their first home league game since Clontarf in May. Since that time, Merrion had bossed the league losing just one game, but sat just above NK in the table; a full points victory would've meant that the firsts could've leapfrogged their opponents.

The opposition won the toss and chose to bowl first; annoyingly as the firsts also intended to field first, but were by no means disappointed to bat on a good looking NK wicket. Although NK were confident in batting first and setting a score, their innings started poorly and both Bob and Manny were dismissed having made just 2 runs between the two of them. PR and Walshe looked to steady the ship and did so up until the 13th over. Surprisingly; having lost two very early wickets, NK had reached 54-2 after 12 thanks to some belligerence from PR who took the attack right back to the opposition. Unfortunately for NK; this is where the joy stopped. PR (battling with a reoccurring back injury) was forced off-field and this is where the collapse followed. Straight after PR had retired; Walshe was caught brilliantly at point by Blakeney - the Walshe Dawg extremely unfortunate as he would've expected four the minute the ball left his bat - but Blanekey; diving full-stretch to his right had other ideas. Imran fell, as did Vossie which resulted in PR limping back out to the middle to try stabilize the NK innings with some serious work to do with the score on 67/6. This task was made even more difficult when Tom was caught behind for 6. Paul was unfazed by what was happening at the other end though and blasted the opposition bowling attack to all corners of the ground. Just as NK had hoped PR could save their bacon, he was dismissed four balls before drinks, but not before making a sensational 46 ball 75 in which he dominated the Merrion bowling attack when their was total chaos at the other end. Paulie's dismissal was ultimately the end of the NK innings and the firsts were bowled out for 114 with ten of the NK batsman failing to reach double-figures.

There is no denying that Merrion bowled particularly well in the first innings, but for 10/11 batsman to fall short of double figures; it was quite clear to see that there was a serious lack of application from the NK batting lineup who just did not turn up in a big contest. Pick of the Merrion bowlers was S. Khanna who took 6 wickets for just 24 runs... a feat that was slightly unbelievable as the same bowler had went for 45 runs from just 6 overs without taking a wicket in the away fixture on the opening day of the season.

So - after a humiliating batting display from 10 of the North Kildare batsman on a good grass wicket, the firsts had everything to do if they were to keep themselves in contention for the league title.

Wazzie and PR opened up, but could not find the early breakthrough. Merrion raced onto 51-0 after 7 when the rain decided to poor down for the bulk of two hours. Unfortunately for the firsts, there wasn't enough rain in Ireland that could've saved NK from the inevitable, but when play restarted; NK at least managed to get a point as they took three quick wickets for just 8 runs after the delay to rescue some semblance of pride. Merrion strolled to victory by 7 wickets and have strengthened their position at the top of the table further, meaning that it'll be very difficult for any team to catch them with the season already half way through its course.

The firsts joked of match-fixing while they waited for the rain to stop, but there is very little to laugh about having produced such a poor batting display. Luckily for NK, they will not face Merrion again this season and have got a long stretch of home games from now to the end of the season. The firsts will look to quickly rectify their complete humiliation by bouncing straight back against Leinster next weekend.

NV

North Kildare Cricket Club Men's 1st XI Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 12w 1lb 
for 10 wickets
14
114
(27.4 overs)		    
Robert Neavyn b R. Ensor 0 3 0 1
Manjeet Singh b M. Neville 2 10 20.0
Paul Ryan b N. Sharma 75 46 10 4 163.04
Ian Walshe ct T. Blakeney, bowled S. Khanna 2 18 11.11
Tom Satchwell ct behind M. Lewis, bowled S. Khanna 6 22 1 27.27
Imran ul-Haq ct M. Strong, bowled S. Khanna 4 9 1 44.44
Neil Vorster lbw bowled S. Khanna 0 5 0
Sean Dalton ct behind M. Lewis, bowled S. Khanna 3 31 9.68
Wasif Ali ct behind M. Lewis, bowled N. Sharma 0 2 0
Andrew Chase Not Out  4 9 1 44.44
Dáire O'Neill b S. Khanna 2 9 22.22 2

Merrion 2 Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
R. Ensor3.0024124.008.00
M. Neville5.0115115.003.00
N. Sharma9.0122211.002.44
S. Khanna8.422464.002.77
A.J. Varma2.002800.0014.00

Merrion 2 Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
6w 1lb 
for 3 wickets
7
79 (12.0 overs)		     
R. Smith ct D. O'Neill, bowled N. Vorster 29 24 3 2 120.83
J. Short ct behind R. Neavyn, bowled M. Singh 23 25 4 1 92.00
J. Blakeney ct D. O'Neill, bowled M. Singh 5 7 71.43
M. Lewis (+) Not Out  14 9 1 1 155.56
N. Nagar Not Out  1 2 50.0
R. Ensor (C)  
M. Neville  
M. Strong  
S. Khanna  
N. Sharma  
A.J. Varma  

North Kildare Cricket Club Men's 1st XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Wasif Ali3.011300.004.33
Paul Ryan3.002200.007.33
Manjeet Singh3.0031215.5010.33
Neil Vorster3.0012112.004.00

  • Umpire :
  • Scorer :
    Naomi Scott-Hayward