Are you looking for the drama, excitement and skill of an England v India Test Match but in condensed form? You might be tempted by The Hundred with its razamataz, flashing stumps, miked up fielders and endless 6s into the crowd, but, if this charade leaves you feeling a little empty, then look no further than the Taverners Cricket circuit of County Dublin and surrounding areas.  Last Friday’s match at Shanganagh Park had it all in a tightly contested match that ebbed and flowed throughout.

The much anticipated start was delayed by crowd congestion outside the ground the usual M50 traffic which allowed time for Dalkey Archives caps to be awarded to Supreeth, Tan and Shailesh and also resulted in the under strength travellers batting first by default.  Malahide openers were soon back in the pavilion in front of the container thanks to a second ball caught behind off Sajamon and a wicket maiden from Supreeth.  The warm, sunny evening and recently mowed grass, did nothing to make run scoring easy as accurate Dalkey bowling made for slow batting progress with the notable exceptions of Ian and Robbie who both retired on 20.  Deserved wickets for Goldstein and Taylor, a run out and 3 late wickets for Reay left Malahide all out for 104 in the 19th over.

And so to the Dalkey innings which started with such promise, reaching 36 after just 4 overs despite the loss of Supreeth to a sharp run out.  Sushant hit 3 boundaries in quick time, while Tratalos kept the runs coming from the other end until the first bowling changes slowed things down. A lot. Both Ram and the lanky Damien took wickets with their first balls - Tratalos holing out and Sushant bowled, before the less lanky Ken had Pickford caught for 3.  A little wobble perhaps but still plenty of Dalkey batting to come and just a modest total to reach.

Ramam was the second Archiver to be run out, but with Tan at the crease things were back on track until what looked like a certain six was well caught just inside the boundary. Wobbles intensified when Sajamon, struggling to hit the slow bowling, was out caught and bowled attempting a switch hit.  The Archivers were now 8 wickets down and still some 25 runs short when the gloveless Taylor made his way to the middle and set about scoring the runs needed to turn the tide and the WinViz swingometer back in favour of Dalkey. For a while there was hope until the ball was caught again in the deep, Taylor departing with the score on 88 to leave Reay and Goldstein as last men standing. 17 runs needed from the last 3 overs meant less than a run a ball, but no wickets in hand meant there was no room for error.

After singles off the first 4 balls of the next over, Reay attempted an ambitious second run which in truth was never there and was run out. A rush of blood to the head, handing victory to Malahide when calm heads could and should have got the Archives over the line.

Footnotes

This was the last match of the season to be played at Shanganagh as groundworks to combine the cricket and baseball facilities are now under way. Fingers crossed for a swift return next year. The match was played in good spirit despite the recent simmering rivalry between the teams.

There were 2 head injuries, both caused by fielders using the wrong part of their body to control the ball. First Sajamon stopped the ball with his foot only for it to fly up into his forehead, luckily causing nothing more than a graze. Then the Malahide skipper tried to catch the ball above his head only for it to ricochet off his head like a near post flick-on. He went off the field for the rest of the game but thankfully both were ok.

Dalkey awarded the MOTM bottle to Robbie for his batting and keeping. Amid some confusion, Malahide awarded their bottle first to Supreeth and then to Shailesh for his bowling.

 [Written by Stewart Reay]