A Winning Double Act.
Merrion won the Bob Kerr Cup for only the second time in their long history on Saturday last and we congratulate them on this great achievement. However The Hills were not in the mood to be generous to the national champions when the Milverton men made the trip to Anglesea Road on Sunday for the penultimate league match of the season.
Merrion won the toss and decided to bat, this appeared to have been an error of judgement. Watchers thought that the D4 boys had celebrated a little too enthusiastically on the previous evening as wickets tumbled merrily.
Joyce, Von Behr, Tice, Kane and Langford Smith had been and gone by the 19th over and the home side and their supporters were looking a tad bedraggled with the score at 74 for 5. Max Sorensen, Luke Clinton and Albert van der Merwe were the early executioners.
The Cup final hero, John Anderson, wasn’t playing so there shouldn’t have been too much resistance left to keep the Fingal boys too long on the south side of the river (or is it two rivers?). But, there’s always a but, a couple of lads decided that they should put up a bit of a fight; a defiant partnership of 74 between Lewis (44) and Morrissey (47) put an anchor on the good ship Merrion and stopped her from being blown away.
Lewis was eventually tempted by one of Killian Everard’s outswingers and edged to the waiting gloves of Mark Donegan, two of The Hills’ young bloods combining to break the dynamic duo. The score stood at 153 for 6 and the complexion of the encounter had changed radically in 18 overs.
Two more Merrion batters were to come and go before Killian’s throw led to Morrissey’s exit, stage left, but now the score was 184 for 9.
Just 9 more runs were added before Hamid Shah had Max Neville, caught and bowled. It was a good day for The Hills’ teenagers with Andy Kavanagh also claiming a wicket and Dylan Edwards holding a catch off Albert’s bowling.
All of this meant that The Hills had a little more work to do than their supporters had anticipated earlier in the day. Things weren’t helped when Mark Donegan was trapped LBW by Neville in the fourth over with the score at 21.
That dismissal brought Hamid Shah to the middle where he joined Cormac McLoughlin-Gavin. This pair batted superbly, barely offering a chance as they constructed a partnership of 141 and bringing the score to 162. Alas, karma caught up with Mido (70), he suffered the same fate as he dished out to Neville. The same young man taking the only opportunity offered to catch the Dane off his own bowling.
Albie van der Merwe (14*) came in and saw that there were no further alarms as The Hills swept to an eight wicket victory. Special mention must go to Hamid Shah for his highest score of the season but the laurel wreath for the day must be placed on the brow of Cormac McLoughlin-Gavin, who carried his bat for an unbeaten 75 in 44 overs.
I’m sure that one of our statisticians will be able to tell me when a number one batsman from The Hills last performed the feat but I can’t recall when or where it might have been.
I noticed two swallows on a wire this morning as I made my daily constitutional perambulation, autumn draws on.
Next Saturday sees the final Division 1 match of the season when YMCA visit The Vineyard. It would be good if we could muster a sizeable congregation for the occasion when we’ll also be holding the draw for “De Bike”. There is a few tickets still available so get your bids in quickly or you may be too late.
NA CNOIC ABU!
C’MON THE HILLS!
KOMAAN DIE KOPPIES!
KOM ON DET BAKKEN!
