A glorious sunny day. Oceans of Northside flesh browning/pinking/reddening on various chairs, seats and blankets around the ground. The banter humorous and entertaining. A fantastic display of cricket and a marvellous team performance saw The Tarf edge out Leinster to reach the semi-finals of the Antallis Cup, in a thrillingly nail-biting game in Rathmines.

Leinster winning the toss put us into field. Despite the best efforts by Joemo, Ewan, Ropu, Deller Beag, Cusy, Greg and Poynts, the runs started to clock up. Joemo was hit for a thrifty 36 off 10 and Greg, who according to one alleged expert was ‘throwing up pies’, was our most economical bowler, with 40 off his 12……makes good pies does our Greg. A fine unbeaten knock of 158 by Byron Vermaak gave Leinster a total of 322 for 5……..the chase was on.

Ado and Dom opened the batting and decided that there was no point in wasting time………attack, and attack they did. Ado put on a sterling 35 before he was dismissed. Step up to the plate Mr. Poynter.

Poynts took over where Ado left off, ably assisting Dom who was in fine batting form. The score was being chased down admirably and the boys weren’t hanging around. Unfortunately we lost Dom (76) just after tea and Cusy strolls in to help Poynts. The running between the wickets by all the batters was great and Cusy added 42 to his averages before he went.

I should at this point keep you apprised of the score……..but I don’t want to spoil the end. Ropu joined Poynts who was giving a master class on batting and running between the wickets…….until he ran Ropu out…..or did he? Crowd reckon ball was dropped before bails came off, but finger went up and Ropu had to go.

Good of him sacrifice his wicket so Greg the Pieman could come in and hit the winning 4. Captain’s honour. Tarf got the 323 required in the 58 over and so to question on everyone’s lips…….What about Poynter?

Well in this reporter’s humble opinion and I’m very hard to impress, it was one of the cleverest batting performances I’ve seen in a very long time. Balls were counted, super running, gaps found and bad balls punished, it was breathtaking. Poynts finished on an unbeaten 130 off 132 balls………..were ye watching Phil……yes you were.

Well done to all, a great team performance and a brillant result.

THE END………..or is it……see ye at the next match

Will drip feed results as and when I get them over the weekend…

Rathmines: LEINSTER 322-5 (60 overs; B Vermaak 158no, A Scholtz 71, M Jones 46, N Delany 1-18) lost to CLONTARF 324-4 (58 overs; A D Poynter 130no, D Rigby 76, A Cusack 42, A D’Arcy 35, G Dockrell 2-52) by six wickets

2nds were beaten in Pembroke

3rds beat Dundrum In Castle Avenue, with VJ Gopal making 75

3rds beat North Kildare on Snday, chasing 171 to win, with Neil Blair and VJ Gopal both making 50’s. David Foley took 4/27 earlier

On Monday in Catle Avenue, the 2nds beat The Hills, bowling them out for 135 and chasing it with the loss of four wickets

Also on Monday the 4ths bowled Leinster out for 136 (N. Blair 3/18) and chased it to win by six wickets, with Ciaran Wilcox making 64*

More when I get it… Captains email or post in results please, for all the fixtures listed in the post just below this one!! Thanks, JC

Thursday:

Leinster Womens League Division 1: Clontarf v Leinster, Castle Avenue

Saturday:

Antallis Cup 2nd round: Leinster v Clontarf, Rathmines
Senior 2 league: Pembroke II v Clontarf II, Sydney Parade
Middle A league: Clontarf III v Dundrum, Castle Avenue

Sunday:

Middle A league: Clontarf III v North Kildare, Castle Avenue

Monday:

Senior 2 league: Clontarf II v The Hills II, Castle Avenue
Intermediate A league: Leinster V v Clontarf IV, Rathmines

Tuesday:

Whelan Cup (15 x 8-ball overs): Clontarf IV v Old Belvedere, Castle Avenue, 6pm

The starrings have also been updated in the tab above. Many thanks to Joe and the captains for the information

Can anyone who is free to help out in the club on Wednesday for the Ireland v Northants match, make contact with Brian (president@clontarfcricket.com) or Stella (secretary@clontarfcricket.com) please. Many thanks

Great weekend for Clontarf on the field, the thirds had two good wins and the fourths won an entertaining nail biter.

Saturday saw the 3XI start early and bowl Mullingar out for 110 (K. Lynskey 3-20, J. Norton 3-28), chasing it with the loss of four wickets (VJ Gopal 32*, T. Dickenson 18, H. Whelan 15*). Most importantly, the game ended before Munster took the field in Wales! On Sunday they went to Sydney Parade, restricting Pembroke to 220-9 in 45 overs (D. Foley 3-40, N. Delaney 2-24, A. Cole 2-32), and chasing it with 5 overs to spare for the loss of three wickets; Richard Forrest anchored the innings with 114*, supported by captain Bryan McDermott (50). The 3XI remain unbeaten this year.

Sunday saw the 4XI post 212-9 in 45 overs against Halverstown. Even our heavy bails were discarded early on due to a strong wind. Neil Blair made an excellent 92, with support from Fintin (32). Confident of enough runs on the board and snapping up two early wickets, Clontarf began to struggle as Halverstown kept the asking rate at 5 per over. Eventually Selvin Nakka (the bowler formally know as Sunny) was reintroduced, taking three wickets in an over and removing the wind from Halverstown’s sails. With a direct hit run out from Jon Heath finishing the day off at 8:10pm, Halverstown were all out for 206 (Pr. Kumar 3-45, S. Nakka 3-47, J. Cotter 2-24) and Clontarf won by 6 runs with 3 balls to spare.

Just a quick note to say please use your full name, or at least enough of your name to make you recognisable to everyone else, when posting on the site.  You can adjust what appears on your posts in your user profile when you log in, it does not have to be your username.  I’m not willing to publish comments that are, basically, anomymous.

Thanks,

John

A reminder to players and parents that Under 11 and 13s Training is cancelled this Wednesday 28th May due to the Ireland match at the Club.

For this week only all players can attend Tuesday training at the following times:

Under 11 Green, Yellow, Red, Orange - Tues 4pm - 5pm

Under 11 Blue, Under 13 Black, Purple, White - Tues 5pm - 6pm

Big thanks to Zoe for a great nite. Very poor turnout by club members (no moaning that we don’t hold social functions in future please). Ended up with about 50 people……thanks Hockey club. It was brill fun, the costumes were the great. Indian was the best. Very interesting line dancing Terry, Clodagh, Zoe and co. Never seen line-dancing in a circle before….excellent. Well done Zoe, had a ball, Thanks

……..Only 1 day to go to find those Chaps & Stetson!!!

Wild West Party
Clontarf Cricket Club
8pm - till late
€5 in…its worth it u get a souviner!!
DJ & dancing
Hay Bales & Cactus
Fancy dress optional but even if u only put on the jeans….ur a cowboy!!
See you there

Zoe

I know there is Kiddies training on but please could someone help out and Umpire for me tomorrow night the game is on in Pembroke 6.30pm start. Please!!!!! You can contact me 087 9316273. Thanks