Andrew Russell

July 2nd 2022

A familiar pattern is emerging over the course of the season where our young development team pits themselves against vastly more experienced teams full of late bloomers! This time round our 11 youths were up against 6 adults and 5 youths.

It is testament to the team’s spirit, that despite the gulf in experience they have taken these games to the wire every single week, never once dropping their heads.

The Hills captain. Joseph Russell, won the toss and elected to bat. Joseph (20) and Alan Courell jr (14) set a solid base of 48 against adult bowlers who would normally operate a few divisions above this standard.

A couple of quick wickets pegged the Hills back but Max Stead (26 n.o.) kept the scoreboard ticking over with some fluent batting. Max Brophy (28) and Peter Stead (8 n.o.) scored quick runs to set a total of 123 off 25 overs, the overs having been reduced to accommodate a request from Adamstown for a later start and the less than optimistic weather forecast.

The Hills got off to a flying start in the second innings with 3 smart run outs taking out the top order. Twins Brandon Vincenzo (0-12 off 5) and Tristan Vincenzo (1-15 off 5) kept the bowling tight and youngsters James Davis (aged 11) and Leo Russell (aged 9) got their first couple of overs bowling in senior cricket.

However, in the end Adamstown’s middle order batted well and squeezed over the line with a couple of wickets and a couple of overs to spare.

So, whilst a victory was once again just out of reach, the boys experienced the type of scenarios which will benefit their cricket development over the course of the next few seasons. Success for this team will be measured on how many of the boys progress up the divisions in adult cricket, and there is a good chance that 5 or 6 of them will be playing 4^th team cricket this weekend.

Thanks once again to Alan Courell for umpiring and Stephen Archer for scoring. Thanks also to Shane & Lydia Vincenzo and Jackie Courell who pulled together an excellent tea for the teams.

Cormac McLoughlin-Gavin and Mark Donegan were in action yesterday with the Leinster Bolts Vs the Ireland Under 17’s. The ODI was played at the scenic Oakhill grounds in Wicklow.

Cormac opened the batting for the Bolts and put on 48 runs with fellow opener Chris de Freitas. Cormac went on to make 55 including 7 Fours before being stumped in the 20th over. Fellow Hills man Mark Donegan, batting at number 4, was undefeated on 56 off 55 balls including 6 Fours.

Matthew Weldon featured for the Ireland Under 17’s contributing 3 undefeated with the bat and bowling figures of 0 for 36 off 4.2 overs.

Lightning Bolts were too strong on this occasion running out winners by 7 wickets.

You can follow live scores on all upcoming representative games at the following link;

https://live.nvplay.com/ireland/?fbclid=IwAR1goONa8zVeMWUPZTv9n8teDKuFKOKSe66blCBbghUVFqAq46jkhwBK5rE

The numbers drawn in the Lotto last evening were;

4, 5, 12 & 31

There was no winner of The Jackpot.

Lucky Dip winners were Michelle Everard & George Kitteringham, €25.00 each.

The Jackpot next week will be €4,250.00.

Our thanks to Alumina Lighting for your continued support.

https://www.aluminalighting.ie/

Leinster Lightning took on the Northern Knights in the final IP50 list A game of the season in Pembroke Cricket ground earlier today.

Batting first the opening pair of Cormac McLoughlin-Gavin and Simi Singh put on a great partnership of 51 before Sing was dismissed by Ruhan Pretorius on 31. Cormac anchored the top order for Leinster going on to make 67 off 93 balls including 11 Fours. Leinster went on to make 315 in the 50 overs with Barry McCarthy contributing a fine 110 off 59 balls.

The Northern Knights could only muster 261 in reply with George Dockrell taking the bowling honours of 5 for 49.

Congratulations Cormac on a fine display.

Congratulations to Jane Maguire who has been selected for the Ireland squad to play against Australian and Pakistan in a T20 series from the 16th to the 24th of July.

Congratulations and the best of luck in the series from all your supporters and friends at The Hills

Full details can be found on the following link:

https://www.cricketireland.ie/news/article/squad-announced-for-ireland-womens-t20i-tri-series-new-selector-panel-annou?fbclid=IwAR2vcVACXi-Y9oYX3pqCVi1fwMEvZqzoLr2H-TKZYfnSKoq9kmvpOrBmwrY

Third Man

The meeting between high-flying Balbriggan and near neighbours, The Hills, was eagerly anticipated by the players of both clubs and supporters of cricket in Fingal. On a beautiful sunny day at the Jack Harper Ground, Balbriggan won the toss and elected to bat first. Interestingly, The Hills chose to open the bowling with pace at one end, and spin at the other end, and this combination proved to be very effective with The Hills taking 4 wickets for 41 runs by the seventeenth over. Another wicket was taken in the twentieth over, and Jonathan Tall had taken 3 wickets for 25 runs in his ten-overs spell. Dylan Blignaut and Tomás Rooney-Murphy were the other wicket-takers during this period, and it appeared that the visitors were in the box seat. Balbriggan’s fight back was led by Gregory Ford (40), Ryan Hadley (20), Campbell Davies-Webb (10), and Andrew Darroch (10), and the home side’s total was 159 all out in 44.4 overs.  Jonathan Tall was the stand-out bowler for The Hills,  and the figures for the other bowlers were Tomás Rooney-Murphy (3 for 33), Dylan Blignaut (2 for 32), Levon Shields (2 for 28).

A former Balbriggan and Hills player expressed the view that any score in excess of 150 runs would be difficult to chase because there appeared to be the proverbial “bit in the wicket”. The Hills had a nightmare start with the fall of a wicket in the 2^nd over when there were only 5 runs on the board. Cormac McLoughlin-Gavin and Athar Farooqi set about re-building the innings and combined for a partnership of 39 runs which ended when Farooqi was run out. Dylan Blignaut and Cormac (37) put together another partnership of 39 runs when Cormac was unlucky to be bowled in an over which had already yielded 11 runs. Dylan Blignaut (19) was out to a brilliant catch on the boundary by Chris de Freitas off the bowling of Dylan Lues, and that was possibly the pivotal moment of the game. From that point onwards, Balbriggan managed to impose a stranglehold on the game through a combination of tight, accurate bowling and good fielding. Tomás Rooney-Murphy (19) and Bhavesh Lakhotia (16) led a spirited resurgence, but the last 4 wickets fell for 2 runs, and Balbriggan had won by 23 runs to maintain its unbeaten record in the league. The bowling honours for Balbriggan were taken by Ryan Hadley (3 for 22), Andrew Darroch (2 for 12), Dylan Lues (2  for 23), Farooq Nasr (1 for 31) and Malcolm McGregor (1 for 24).

Cricket is a game of fine margins, and the key moments in the game occurred during The Hills’ innings. If Dylan Blignaut’s shot had gone one foot either side of de Freitas, it would have been a 6 and Cormac McLoughlin-Gavin looked to have played on to his wicket when he was batting well. Balbriggan has assembled a very competitive team and will be difficult to beat either home or away. On this occasion, The Hills had bowled and fielded well, but the batsmen will be disappointed not to have chased down 160 runs. That game is gone, and there will be an opportunity next week to rectify matters when YMCA visit The Vineyard. Until then, it is onwards and upwards.

Luke Fagan has been named in the Leinster Under 15’s squad for the upcoming Interprovincial ODI series.

The full squad is as follows:

The games are scheduled as follows;

Luke has also been named in the T20 Interprovincial squad who will play the following fixtures;

Well done Luke on your selection and the best of luck in the games.

The famous Skerries 100 festival will take place this weekend and then roads around the club will be closed to facilitate practice and racing.

Roads will close on Saturday July 2nd from 12 noon to 8.30 pm.

Roads will close on Sunday July 3rd from 8.00am to 6.30 pm.

There will be live music in the Club on Saturday night provided by the legendary “HIPACLAPTICS”. There is no cover charge for this event.