19 June 2022   

Third Man

The Cork County Cricket Club’s players and officers were very welcome visitors to The Vineyard on Sunday for the second -round Irish Senior Cup clash against The Hills. The Hills won the toss, batted first, and lost a wicket with only 8 runs on the board, but Cormac McLoughlin-Gavin (68) and Athar Farooqi (27) overcame this set-back and combined for a commendable partnership of 74 runs which ended when Farooqi was victim of an unusual dismissal – hit his own wicket. McLoughlin-Gavin and Mark Donegan brought the score up to 150 runs, and it was evident that Cork County would be chasing a very big score. Mark Donegan batted brilliantly for his maiden senior century, and at the close of The Hills’ innings, he was 127*.  Until very recently, centuries for Hills’ players were a rare commodity, but already this season, five centuries have been scored, and it is heartening to see that the players no longer have a mindset that a “good” 30 or 40 runs is a satisfactory return for their innings.  Levon Shields (24) and Bhavesh Lakhotia (24) also contributed to The Hills’ innings total of 293 runs for 6 wickets.

At a very pleasant ceremony during the interval between innings, Mortimer Kelleher, President of Cork County CC, thanked The Hills Cricket Club for the warmth of its welcome, congratulated The Hills’ Catering Committee on the excellence of the “teas”, especially the scones which were made by a lady from Douglas, and he presented The Hills with a framed photograph of the great Sir Garfield Sobers. Bobby Swarbrigg, President-Elect of The Hills CC, thanked Mortimer Kelleher for his kind words, and he reciprocated by presenting a Hills 50^th Anniversary Tie and a book. David Griffin, President of Cricket Ireland, was present at the game, and he also received a tie to mark his visit to The Vineyard.

Cork County made a steady start to its innings, and first wicket did not fall until the score was 31 runs, but another wicket fell after only 1 more run had been added with the result that Cork County was on the back foot with two of its more able batsmen (Ross Durity and Cormac Hassett) dismissed. Unlike the previous day when The Hills’ fielding fell below its usual high standards, on this occasion, the fielding was superb. Cormac McLoughlin took a smart catch at slip, Athar Farooqi had a caught and bowled, and Dylan Blignaut took two tremendous catches. Athar Farooqi was the bowling star on the day, with 5 wickets for 16 runs, while Tomás Rooney-Murphy, Matthew Weldon, Asad Farooqi and Bhavesh Lakhotia took one wicket each. Cork County’s final score was 88 runs, and that gave The Hills a victory margin of 205 runs.

It was heartening for The Hills to have a positive result after the defeat on Saturday, and it can now hope for a favourable draw in the next round of the Irish Senior Cup. It’s back to league action on Saturday next when The Hills will visit YMCA at Claremont Road. Until then, its onwards and upwards.

Come and enjoy a wonderful day out for friends, family or work colleagues by sponsoring one of the remaining premier league home matches of the season.

Sponsorship package includes special ‘Vineyard’ afternoon tea including wine for 10 guests.

Dates available are July 9^th Vs YMCA, August 13^th Vs Merrion, September 3^rd Vs Malahide, September 10^th Vs Clontarf.

For further details contact:

Remember….. ‘first up best dressed’ …so if you want your pick of the matches you need to be fast !!!

chairperson.thehillscc@gmail.com

18th June 2022      

Third Man

The visit of Pembroke, the newly crowned League Cup champions, to The Vineyard was eagerly awaited as The Hills sought to continue its unbeaten league run. Pembroke won the toss; chose to bat first and lost 3 wickets for 26 runs, with Matthew Weldon and Dylan Blignaut being the successful bowlers. A stand of 126 runs between Theo Lawson and Poonish Mehta threatened to bat The Hills out of the game completely, but Blignaut returned to the attack, and clean-bowled Lawson. The next two wickets fell for 41 runs, and at 193 runs for 7 wickets, The Hills sensed the possibility of keeping Pembroke’s score below 250 runs, but Paul Lawson (34) and Mehta (144*) brought the Pembroke score up to the very daunting total of 282 runs for the loss of 6 wickets.

This was not one of the better Hills’ bowling displays and conceding 89 runs for the 7^th wicket partnership changed the complexion of the game completely. Allied to a less than competent bowling performance, the fielding was well below the standard which would be expected of a Premier League team. Mehta batted brilliantly, but he was dropped when his score was in the mid-60s; Theo Lawson was also dropped, and the ground fielding left a lot to be desired. However, cricket is a game of two innings, and the more optimistic Hills’ supporters suggested that with a perfect batting wicket, and a lightning-fast outfield, the Pembroke score was only slightly above par.

Cormac McLoughlin-Gavin has been in a rich vein of form, but he was unlucky to pick out a fielder when he had only scored 9 runs. Andy Kavanagh (18) was clean bowled by Mehta; Dylan Blignaut suffered a similar fate, and the prospect of The Hills even making a game of it seemed to be remote. A partnership of 63 runs between Mark Donegan (51) and Athar Farooqi (28) gave The Hills a modicum of hope, but the required run-rate was climbing, and risky shots became the order of the day. Donegan batted beautifully for his 51 runs but was caught on the boundary by Robin Kelly. Levon Shields scored 46 runs; Tomás Rooney-Murphy scored 26 and the eighth wicket fell in the 41^st over with The Hills on 209 runs. William Archer came into this crisis situation, and to add to his difficulties, he was batting with a runner because he had been injured while fielding. It is one of the anomalies of cricket that injured batsmen bat better when they only have to concentrate on hitting the ball, with running between the wickets being delegated to another person. William played very well for his 39 runs and his wicket was taken when the score was 237. Ashad Farooqi (9) and Matthew Weldon (10) brought The Hills’ score up to 260, and this left Pembroke the winners by 22 runs.  

This was one of the games when supporters and players of The Hills talk about what might have been. A margin of only 22 runs shows that The Hills were always in the game with a chance of winning, but a much more clinical attitude to bowling and fielding is required if the team is to beat the top teams as distinct from giving them a good game. It is certain that the less than satisfactory aspects of the performance will be addressed by the coach and the captain, and an immediate opportunity existed to rectify these matters with the visit of  Cork County to the Vineyard for the Irish Senior Cup game. Until then, it is onwards and upwards.

Team on the day: Clodagh O’Connor, Aimee Scollard, Tara O’Brien, Molly Butterly, Vanessa Scollard, Ceola Brophy, Ella Fagan, Rebecca Campion, Genevieve Treacy, Caoimhe Emmett, Lucy Butterly.

We met our match today when we travelled out to Rathmines to play a strong Leinster side. Clodagh O’Connor the Captain on the day won the toss and decided to field first. Tara O’Brien opened the bowling with tremendous accuracy getting her first two wickets on the first two balls, her first wicket was caught by Ceola Brophy at square leg and her second wicket was caught on the boundary by Aimee Scollard. It was clear at this stage that the junior girls listened to their coach Jeremy Bray the night before as they practiced high catching and fielding drills. The fielding was extremely tight all round with plenty of 4’s being saved on the boundary. Leinster made 124 runs in total.

Best bowling figures on the day;

Tara O’Brien 3-12-4

Molly Butterly 1-32-4

Vanessa Scollard 1-16-3

Ceola Brophy 0-10-2

The Hills retaliated with great speed, working hard from the start taking every available run. Highest runs on the day were Aimee Scollard as she retired at 34, she had hit with great power in her shots and herself and Vanessa Scollard (17 not out) brought the score up by 51. Ella Fagan who opened on the day made a lovely 11 runs whilst Tara O’Brien made 17 before being caught. Molly Butterly made 5 but unfortunately was bowled by Leah. The Hills finished on 110 runs, only 14 runs shy, it was a fabulous performance by each and everyone on the team. Wicket keeping on the day was excellent by Clodagh O’Connor and switched to Aimee Scollard at the half way stage, both wicket keepers did a great job behind the stumps, well done girls!

A big thanks to the Leinster umpire/coach Jenny who umpired the second half alone as I retired due to sickness. A big thanks to the Leinster scorer who took over the job on her own for the second half.

Thanks to all the Leinster girls for a great game of cricket and we look forward to meeting you again in The Hills in the future. Thanks to the junior girls coach Jeremy Bray and Robyn Searle for all their fabulous coaching throughout the week.

The Hills Cricket Club Summer Camp 2022 is taking place on the 4th, 5th and 6th of July.

Soft ball camp from 10am to 12 noon (age 5-9)

Hard ball camp from 2pm to 4pm (age 10-12)

Click on the link below to register and pay.

https://member.clubforce.com/memberships_cart_m.asp?LL_ID=2980&intMF_ID=10408&fbclid=IwAR2Hc7bzS2Aqvoe1LtktswrJy6k3RXNeqG3fZW6lidCWFM3slljLQ6l_Oww#topp

The numbers drawn in The Lotto last evening were;

4, 7, 18 & 26

There was no winner of The Jackpot.

Lucky Dip winners were Conor Donoghue & Martin Russell, €25.00 each.

The Jackpot next week will be €4,100.00.

Many thanks to Michael Dwyer Electrical for the continued sponsorship.

History was made yesterday when, for the first time ever, The Hills fielded 11 youth players in an adult senior game. Opponents on the day were Balbriggan Fifth X1 and the T20 cup match was played at Ringcommons CC. A minutes silence was observed to honour Frances Harper of Balbriggan CC who passed away yesterday.

Captain for the day Joseph Russell won the toss and elected to bat first. The Hills innings got off to the worst possible start with two wickets falling in the first 3 balls. Joseph and Hayden Clinton steadied the ship and batted sensibly to build a partnership of 87 runs in 14 overs before Hayden departed for 20 having punished any loose bowling.
Joseph scored his first senior half century, carrying his bat to end on a chanceless 60 not out. A cameo of 12 by Peter Stead helped to set Balbriggan a tough target of 132 to win.

The Balbriggan openers started well before a mix up resulted in a well-executed run out. The Hills bowlers then got on top and leg spinner Tristan Vincenzo bowled exceptionally well to take 4-9 off 3 overs. The other wickets were shared between Alan Courell jr (1-17), Chris Francis (2-2), Max Brophy (1-6) and Max Stead (1-15).
Balbriggan were bowled out for 58 resulting in a 73 run win for The Hills.

This was a strong and mature performance from a team with an average age of 14. It will be exciting to watch these players filter into the 4th, 3rds, 2nds and 1sts over the next few seasons.
Next up is another T20 cup match, this time away to Swords on Sunday 19th at 5pm.

Photo by Michael Donoghue
Team: Joseph Russell (c), Max Brophy, Hayden Clinton, Alan Courell jr, Conor Donoghue, Chris Francis, Nathan Maguire, Peter Stead, Max Stead, Tristan Vincenzo, Brandon Vincenzo

Third Man

With Saturday being a closed day for Premier League cricket, the second series of games in the IBI Corporate Finance League were played on Sunday. Fresh from last week’s comprehensive win over Malahide, The Hills welcomed Phoenix to The Vineyard; the home team won the toss and chose to bat first. An opening stand of 85 runs between Cormac McLoughlin-Gavin and Andrew Kavanagh (24) more than vindicated that decision. The second wicket partnership between Cormac and Dylan Blignaut (66) added 130 runs to the score, and a total somewhere in excess of 300 runs did not appear to be an unrealistic expectation. However, from the fall of the second wicket onwards, Phoenix began to take wickets on a regular basis, and The Hills ended on 291 for 7 wickets. Cormac McLoughlin-Gavin was the undoubted star for The Hills, and his  score of 134 runs was just reward for a supremely dedicated cricketer.

Phoenix’s reply had a disastrous start with the first wicket falling to Dylan Blignaut when there was only 1 run on the board, and Dylan took the second wicket when only 18 runs had been scored. The third wicket was taken by Matthew Weldon when Phoenix had scored 45 runs, and six wickets had fallen before the 25 overs mark. At that stage, it appeared that The Hills would wrap up the game very quickly and that it was only going to be a formality to collect another 25 points. At that stage, the lower-order Phoenix batsmen decided that attack was the best form of defence, and the fight back caused some anxiety among the home supporters.  Oliver Hald’s wicket was the seventh one to fall, and this was due to a brilliant catch by Dylan Blignaut off the bowling of Athar Farooqi. An eighty-one-run partnership between Theo Dempsey (19) and Conor Shiel (58) brough the Phoenix score up to 214, and a number of rain delays added to the general tension. After the final stoppage for rain, The Hills’ bowing attack of Weldon, Tomás Rooney-Murphy and Levon Shields showed commendable composure, and the last two Phoenix wickets were taken for 6 runs to leave The Hills with a victory margin of 67 runs.

Levon Shields was the most successful bowler for The Hills; he took 3 wickets for 39 runs and capped off his performance with a superb catch at mid-wicket. Athar Farooqi continues to impress, and his 2 wickets for 29 runs included a caught and bowled. The ever-reliable Dylan Blignaut took 2 wickets for 55 runs, and the other wickets were taken by Matthew Weldon (1 for 51) and Tomás Rooney-Murphy (1 for 18). Mark Donegan is in a superb vein of form behind the stumps; he did not concede a single bye, and he had one catch and one stumping.

With two successive wins, The Hills have had a wonderful start to its league campaign, and the team has a two games next weekend. On Saturday, Pembroke, the winners of the Sports Hub League Cup will be the visitors to The Vineyard, and Cork County will provide the opposition in the second-round tie in the Irish Senior Cup on Sunday. Until then, it is onwards and upwards.

North Kildare Minor B 76-6 (Nett 46) Lost to Hills Minor B Red 128-4 (Nett 108). On a day where fishing boats would refuse to leave harbour, The Hills were not perturbed by the remnants of Storm Alex’s strong westerlies. Losing the toss but getting your wish to bat first is a skill that Hills Captain Chandrahas would do well to keep in the years ahead. The strong westerly wind meant the North Kildare bowlers teased the Hills openers with balls that moved like a Ronaldo freekick. Settling in to the task, the Hills pairs scored as follows Tom Jackson & James Davies 25-1, Daniel Adderley & Chandrahas Chellagurki 18-1, Jarlath & Elliott Clinton 20-1, Cillian Fogarty & Sam Clinton 32-0 and Leo Russell & Ryan Clinton 33-1. With extras bringing the Hills total to 128 for 4 wickets, a challenging total for the home side was set. Shreyas Chellagurki and Aram Akbar both batted beautifully in an extra pairing requested by the home team.

Bowling & fielding has been a focus for the Hills during pre-season and once again the benefits of these extra hours were visible to all present. All our bowlers can be proud of their work but special mention to Ryan (2 for 4), Leo (2 for 3) and Aram (1-3). Not satisfied with conceding the limelight to his brother Sam pulled off a ‘Worldie’ of a catch at Mid On where mere mortals would have ducked for cover. The Hills fielding was sharp all day and Sam (that man again) combined with Leo to produce a fine run out to further dent the home team’s ambitions. All in all, a very professional performance from the Hills Minor B-Red team in conditions that tested both players, umpires and spectators. Great credit to both teams for playing with great spirt and the joint team photo reflects this nicely.

Thanks to all the parents who made the journey and got the players all the way to Kildare for 10am start.Mark, Simon Stephen and Ravi. Thanks to Simon Adderley for the report.