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A busy weekend with mixed fortunes

The 1st XI had their first home games of the season : a double header against North Kildare in the T20 competition. It proved somewhat one-sided with Merrion coming out comfortable winners in both games.

In the first game, Merrion won the toss and  batted with both openers making half centuries, John Anderson [54] and Swapnil Modgill [54]. This laid the foundation for a substantial score and even after a small wobble mid innings a strong finish from Dom Joyce [34] and Max Sorensen [49] saw Merrion post a big total [218/6]

North Kildare [111/9] were never really in the hunt and three run outs did not help. Best figures [in T20] were Tom Stanton with four overs, 2/14. Daniel Forkin helped himself to three wickets but at a cost [3/40].

In the second game North Kildare batted first but could only manage 76. The Stantons [Sean four and Tom three] took most of the wickets. The runs were knocked off quickly with Sam Harbinson making 33 in 13 balls faced.

The 2nd XI had a second excellent victory in the Premier D2 league. Again it was the bowling that put them into winning position, bowling Malahide out for 116. Ten overs from skipper Peter Forkin in which he took 6/22 did the most damage. This puts him at the top of the Bowling Honour Board for the season and it will take a special performance to dislodge him. 42 from Franco Marais was the main feature of the reply in a comfortable six wicket win.

The 3rd XI had a torrid time in Balbriggan where the bowling was put to the sword, conceding 307 in the 50 overs. Denny David opened for Merrion with a well made 52 but the target was well beyond them and they were eventually bowled out for 178.

Merrion 4th XI took on Castleknock on Saturday. A good all round batting performance saw the 4ths reach 203 all out in 44 overs. Castleknock put up a spirited response and made 179 in reply. Again a team performance from the bowlers with all chipping in with at least one wicket.

The 5th XI chalked up their first win of the season with a tightly fought encounter against Swords 2. Merrion dominated from the start and bowled the visitors to Bird Avenue out for 86. Chettan Suttraway  took six wickets [6/27] in his spell to dismantle the Swords batting lineup. It is not often that you get figures of 6/27 and find that they haven’t even the best figures on the day.

And finally, the 7th XI lost out to Halverstown 2 by three wickets. With only 10 players and defending a total of 61, this has to count as a fighting performance, thanks in the main to Sibha Bhoja [4/11] and Winston Dassanayake [3/7] on his return to the colours.

The first publication of the Honour Board for the Club for the season is below. This covers only league and cup [not T20] competitions.

Merrion Honour Board 2023 : Open Leages and Cups
Batting [50s] Bowling [4 wicket]
Name Date Comp Team Against Score Name Date Comp Team Against Figures
Anthony Jones 23-Apr D19 7th XI Sandyford 4 86 Peter Forkin 07-May PD2 2nd XI Malahide 2 6/22
Nigel Bainbridge 16-Apr D19 7th XI Castleknock 4 69 Chetan Suttraway 07-May D15 5th XI Swords 2 6/27
Robert Stanton 23-Apr D7 4th XI Phoenix 3 54 Anthony Jones 23-Apr D19 7th XI Sandyford 4 5/13
Denny David 07-May D4 3rd XI Balbriggan 2 52 Sibha Bhoja 07-May D19 7th XI Halverstown 2 4/11

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