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The Arachas Irish Senior Cup and Arachas National Cup competitions are underway with 25 matches played around Ireland – a round which featured a number of memorable individual and team performances. Here are some highlights.
• Merrion’s Stephen Doheny struck 146 off 128 balls as his side had little trouble dispatching Munster’s Cork Harlequins, winning by 280 runs. Four other Merrion batters went on to post half-centuries in a comfortable victory.
• Irish international wicket-keeper Lorcan Tucker continued his recent good form with the bat, as 2019 champions Pembroke sent Brigade crashing out of the competition following a two-wicket victory at Sydney Parade. Tucker’s unbeaten 72 was crucial to the win as wickets fell around him. His ninth-wicket stand of 58* alongside Joe Prendergast guided them to victory with 4.5 overs to spare.

• YMCA were big winners over Coleraine at Claremont Road. Harry Tector (87) and Ash Burton (65) combined for a fifth-wicket stand of 113 as they posted 233-7. Gareth Burns took 4-24 in a losing effort for Coleraine, as they lost by 139 runs.

• Six-time Irish Senior Cup champions Waringstown comfortably beat Newbuildings by nine wickets at Foyleview. The side from the North West were bowled out for 98 after just 27.2 overs, and a 90-run partnership between Adam Dennison and Ross Waite saw the visitors home.

• For the second year in a row Leinster Premier League champions Balbriggan beat Woodvale in the opening round, this time by six wickets. Having restricted the home side to 192-7, Christopher de Freitas went on to score an unbeaten 73 as Balbriggan chased down their target in 31 overs.

• Leinster came out winners of a cracking contest with CSNI at Stormont. The visitors Joey Carroll top-scored with 62 as they were bowled out for 248, with Matthew Foster taking 4-47 from his 10-over spell. In reply, half-centuries from Marc Ellison and Stuart Thompson, along with a late 32-run unbeaten cameo from Foster saw them fall agonisingly six runs short as Leinster held on.

There were other notable individual performances across the two competitions:

• Railway Union’s Brandon Kruger took 5-16 in an amazing spell of bowling at Park Avenue as they ran out 130-run winners over Bready.

• A whopping 170 unbeaten opening stand between Aniruddha Chore and Alistair Shields as North Down beat Eglington by 10 wickets. Chore also took four catches behind the stumps in an excellent individual performance.

• Andrew White took 4-22 as Instonians were comfortable 123-run winners over Malahide at the Village.

• A 133-run partnership between Cormac McLoughlin-Gavin (48) and Bhavesh Lakhotia (88) as The Hills beat Fox Lodge by seven wickets (DLS).

• Overseas professional, New Zealander Llew Johnson struck 106 off 52 balls for Rush.

• A century from Mark Pollack, in just 99 balls, saw Burndennett beat Laois by 13 runs (DLS).

• Stephen Dunn took 4-26 for Bonds Glen in a losing effort against North Kildare, who won by three wickets.

• An unbeaten 93, off 49 balls, by Blayde Capell helped Killyclooney to a seven-wicket (DLS) win over Templepatrick.

Other matches of note:

• Letterkenny played their first-ever National Cup game on Saturday at Cregagh Memorial Recreation Ground, Belfast. Having been put into bat, Ramees Machingal and Vamsi Krishna Dasair partnered up to score 46 runs between them as the visitors posted 128 all out after 32.3 overs. However, Aaron Johnston (49) and Paul Douglas (34*) put on 65 for the fifth wicket as Cregagh reached their target inside 28 overs.

• Muckamore were the visitors as Wexford Wanderers hosted their first National Cup game at Park Lane in Wexford town. The home side batted first and posted 144-6, with Khaled Shirzada scoring a half-century from 83 balls. Muckamore’s Pavan Karthik taking three wickets in six balls in the 32nd over. In response, opener Kyllin Vardhan scored 37 before a flurry of wickets fell in the middle-overs. However, a 49-run partnership between Karthik and Jamie Jackson sealed a three-wicket victory for the visitors with nine balls to spare.

The scorecards from most of the games can be found here. Just filter the ‘Results’ tab by competition.


Gerard Mulreaney
No
Connaught