Asif Hussein, Paul Rodgers, Peter Johnston, Raza ur Rahman
Renno's Review 2008
League - A year of two definite halves. Until July 19th, all six games were won and fairly convincingly. After this it was a tale of woe and misery as six games were lost and the rest rained off. Relegation was only avoided with the help of a few bonus points in the last game. Problems seem to be the same as with some other sides - once availability became a bit patchy in the second half of the season, players moved up to fill the gaps, and the replacements weren't up to it.
Cup
- Convincing win over North County in the first round, and then an equally convincing defeat to Merrion in the second round.
Review
- (Note that I am missing the scorecards from the Dundrum and Merrion league matches)
It seems to be the same problem as with other teams. Where were the wickets, where were the runs, where was the team ethic - the tight knit squad of 15 that successful sides are built on? It's overly simple to just look at aggregates, but I'll do it anyway. Asif Hussein and Pete Johnston scored stacks of runs early on, but once they had moved onto the 2nds and Ireland respectively, the batting was decidedly weak. Amir Khan also passed 100 (111) and Raza-ur-Rahman hit 164 at 20.50, but apart from that not a lot. The bowling was the same. Hussein (10 wickets at 16) and that old workhorse Paul Rodgers (17 at 16) dominated the wicket taking, but apart from that it was just bits and pieces. Tip for 2009 - Get a squad and stick with it.
August 30th - A season that promised so much for so long, is now merely a twitching near cadaver. Admitedly missing many of it's stars, the much anticipated Rathmines clash with Bagnalstown wasn't really one to raise the pulse. From afar, it still seemed to be a contest at tea. The Carlow men had been "restricted" to 188-8, a total that should be gettable. Four bowlers took one wicket each, one went for a few, and Gavin Miller wrapped up the tale with a brace of wickets without so much as a nurdle against him. 188 proved to be a good few too many though, as the corpse that is now the 3rds (sorry, that's a bit harsh, but I'm struggling with the anatomical theme)put together a performance that only the South Africans would have been proud of. Amir Khan scored a typically rumbustious 31, and Owen Henson, languishing at number 8 was unbeaten on 26*. One game left in the second week of November against Merrion
August 20th and 23rd - You know the story by now. Rathmines was as wet as anyone had ever seen it for the visit of Clontarf on Wednesday and Railway's Park Avenue suffered similar problems on Saturday.
August 9th and 17th - The rain returns (which at least stops the 3rds losing streak). The trip to Mullingar was aborted before it had commenced on the 9th, and one for the Junior Branch on the 17th, where a communication cock up meant that Railway weren't informed that the game was off. The weekend's torrential rain may complicate things, a walkovers on wet weekends aren't always given.
July 19th - The reports on the YM Salver cup run will be included on the 4th team page. It has been a long time since the 3rd's last completed league match (15th June to be exact)If you need your memory jogged, the 3rds are still unbeaten. Dundrum didn't offer much in the way of resistance either. A short match means a short report. Here it is. Over to you Paul.
Leinster (63/1) beat Dundrum (62 all out) by 9 wickets
The negativity surrounding this match being played in St Columba’s College was left off the field during this, the thirds most clinical performance of the season.
Winning the toss, Dundrum elected to bat first on a decent enough summer’s day but never got going at all, being shut down completely by opening bowlers Paul Rodgers and captain Rob O’Connor. Dundrum didn’t lose too many early wickets, but had only reached 30/2 at drinks, barely scoring above one per over: O’Connor was the pick of the bowlers here, helping himself to 4 – 21 and being unlucky not to finish with at least a couple more. Hugh McDonnell collected 3 and there was one each for Calum Paterson, Asif Hussein and the stingy Rodgers.
Replying, Leinster were never in any danger, Gary Lawlor looking impressive as he collected a not out and Leinster achieved maximum points to solidify their position at the top of Middle A.
June 28th - A cup defeat that was so bad that Paul Rodgers' report doesn't even merit a page on it's own. Here it is in it's entirety.
Merrion 3 (290/9) bt Leinster 3 (96 all out) by 194 runs
The thirds’ chances of winning the Middle Cup were ended abruptly at Anglesea Road by a Merrion side which exacted revenge for the midweek defeat handed to them by Leinster seconds in the league.
After being asked to bat on a green top, Merrion were initially shackled by opening bowlers O’Connor and Rodgers but, after the shine wore off the new ball, Merrion started to get on top and were, for a large part of this match, going at around 8 an over. But for Hugh McDonnell’s 5 wickets Merrion would have reached well in excess of 300 on a day which most of the Leinster bowlers will want to forget. There’s nothing worse than chasing leather on a hot day and that’s what happened to Leinster during the 50 overs (which felt more like 100) in which Merrion batted.
Leinster’s reply isn’t really worth talking about, Justin Storey scoring half the total runs – at one stage it looked as if Leinster might struggle to reach 30.
The thirds can now focus entirely on the league campaign and trying to win promotion up to Senior 3. A black day.
RHB, RM, DOB: --/--/--