Phoenix Cricket Club

Rory Flanagan, Conor Kelly and Jamie Faulds dropped out of the side for various reasons and missed the trip to Rush. Stephen Neill and Graham Flanagan returned and so did the lesser spotted David Ford. The illustrious hyphen did not seek paternity leave.

The latter opened the bowling for Phoenix with Coach Downton taking the other end. The coach bowled eleven dot balls to Jansen and concluded this duel when the Rush opener played down the wrong line. Van Zyl struck three boundaries at the other end but after rotating the strike with Gull he also fell to the coach – caught Neill. The coach conceded a boundary to Shaukat but got his revenge when the unsung hyphen took a catch. After two further maidens his last over saw the demise of S Iqbal and the coach ended with 10-6-7-4. Conliffe had been on for several overs at this stage and the Kildare man’s figures were quite respectable. Phoenix probably regarded Gull as the danger man after his 86 in the Park and so were quite pleased when he was bowled by Masud for 23. Sheridan and Mullan were left to carry the burden of the batting and the former became the senior man after Kumar had Mullan caught by Conliffe. Masud and Kumar both took one more wicket, Neill had a caught and bowled and the innings closed on 178 when Conliffe got an lbw verdict against Sheehan.

Batting was not easy early on for Graham Flanagan and the unsung hyphen and a stand of 35 in 56 minutes ended with Flanagan out for 17. Conliffe came in next and scored 9 in a stand of 19 after which drinks were taken. The arrival of Coach Downton to the crease brought more action to the Phoenix innings and the coach contributed 38 runs to a stand of 67 which appeared to put Phoenix in a strong position. The loss of the coach and the illustrious hyphen within three minutes put a little pressure back on and the unsung hyphen reached his maiden 50 for Phoenix during a stand of 25 with Captain Dickeson. The former was finally dismissed for 54 which left the latter to guide the tail home. The skipper was the subject of several lbw appeals all of which he survived and ended undefeated on 38 with Masud providing sufficient support to see Phoenix through by 5 wickets with 2 overs to spare.

Man of the Match

Bowling Nomination: Coach Downton

Batting Nomination: Matt Plunkett-Cole

Phoenix were largely unchanged from the Malahide defeat apart from Faulds slotting in to the position vacated by Stone. CYM claimed to be even more under strength than usual and were talking up the prospect of an early finish. Captain Dickeson won the toss and inserted the home team.

Nicol and Henson got off to a steady start. Coach Downton’s economy rate was not as miserly as usual but Rory Flanagan fared a little better at the other end and the former CYM stalwart broke the partnership at 51 with Faulds taking the catch. Captain Dickeson decided to keep a few Flanagan overs in the bank and brought on Conor Kelly. Downton ended on 10-2-41-0 and was replaced by the illustrious hyphen. The latter caught and bowled Nicol in his second over and after a short stand with Rasool McDonald lost his wicket to Kelly. Rasool and Vaughan added 38 for CYM and then Rasool fell to Masud Ahmed who had replaced Kelly as Wardell took his second catch. Morgan and Vaughan added 60 at a good pace and Vaughan ended as top scorer for the home team with 52 not out. Flanagan bowled Morgan in the final over and the innings closed on 191 for 5.

After four dot balls there was some action in the Phoenix innings with a boundary for Flanagan followed by Brennan hitting the stumps. The score was still in single figures when the unsung hyphen and Conliffe (Saturday’s top scorer) essayed a dodgy single and paid the price. Coach Downton batted steadily with both hyphens as Plunkett-Cole fell to McDonald for 6 and Langford-Smith was caught and bowled by Rasool for 12. Phoenix were 60 for 4 after 18 overs and then it started raining. Coach Webb later described the Phoenix innings as a roller coaster ride and although he is a great believer in the power of positive thinking he might have taken the 8 points for a game being rained off at this stage. However, the game continued uninterrupted until it reached a definite conclusion. Coach Downton and Conor Kelly added a quick 50 stand to put Phoenix ahead on the Duckworth-Lewis method but the loss of both batsmen close together for 40 and 31 respectively left Phoenix at 109 for 6 with a lot to do. There was some controversy from the CYM viewpoint when Captain Dickeson survived an appeal for a catch early in his innings and then his stand with Masud seemed to give Phoenix the winning momentum. A stand of 72 contained five boundaries for the skipper and three for Masud with the latter also hitting two “maximums”. Nicol had Dickeson caught by Kennedy to leave Masud in charge of leading the tail to the finish for Phoenix and Masud added 8 with Kumar before Vaughan had him caught by Henson. Needing 3 to win Phoenix had just two wickets in hand and Kumar’s aerial efforts were not the best for supporters with cardiac difficulties. He added 2 with Wardell to level the score but was caught when he attempted to hit the winning run. Last man Faulds tentatively negotiated the last ball of the over and No. 10 Wardell was on strike at last. Umpire Walsh called a wide against Nicol to give Phoenix victory and the match ended with neither of the undefeated batsmen having scored a run.

Man of the Match: A good team effort by Phoenix to defeat a spirited home team

Phoenix began the Bank Holiday weekend with a crucial league fixture. Out of the side went Graham Flanagan, Steven Neill and Jamie Faulds for various reasons and coming back in were Matt Plunkett-Cole, Masud Ahmed and Manu Kumar. Captain Dickeson won the toss and chose to bat.

Phoenix’s opening pair were Rory Flanagan (whose father argues that Rory is an emergency opener) and the unsung hyphen who stated after his innings that opening is a “thankless task”. However, both stuck to this task gamely enough and after 12 overs and 25 runs both opening bowlers were rested. The next three overs all saw one boundary but in Kirwan’s third over Plunkett-Cole holed out to O’Brien to end the stand at 45. Kirwan soon had a second scalp when he trapped Flanagan lbw and Coach Downton was dismissed by the same method although the bowler was Riches. Conliffe managed to outshine the illustrious hyphen in a partnership of 48 although when this ended at 118 Phoenix were starting to run out of overs. Kelly survived his first delivery but was run out trying to get the strike back. Conliffe reached a deserved 50 and Kumar with 21 was best of the tail although some would argue that Wardell might be usefully deployed well above No. 11.

Malahide needed 185 to win and after 20 minutes were 14 for 1 when the illustrious hyphen had Riches caught at slip by Rory Flanagan. Daykin proved too good for anything a range of Phoenix bowlers could direct at him and McAllister held up his end well enough and the cumulative effect of their approach was a stand of 136 runs in 101 minutes. After McAllister was bowled by Masud the visitors took their time to wrap up the match and with Kumar and Flanagan taking two wickets each Malahide surrendered 3 bonus points to Phoenix before they crossed the line.

Man of the Match: M Daykin 112 runs, 3 wickets

With bad weather expected the 11.00 start seemed useful for Phoenix as they sought to push into the promotion slots. In the absence of the unsung hyphen and Mitchell it was decided that the Flanagan brothers would open the batting. Masud Ahmed was unavailable and Manu Kumar dropped out after initially being selected which meant a start for Faulds but also that Neill and Conliffe would be required to take some of the bowling. Captain Dickeson won the toss and inserted the visitors.

Coach Downton and David Langford-Smith opened the bowling. The illustrious hyphen did not start well as he conceded 6 runs off the bat and 4 wides in his first over. However, he settled down and broke the stand at 22. Downton bowled Henson in the next over and then McDonald and Rasool brought the score to 40 before the Irishman was removed by Conor Kelly in his second over. At drinks there were few alarms for Phoenix at 56 for 3. However, Vaughan and Rasool began to accelerate the scoring rate with 17 off Kelly’s last 3 overs and 35 off 4 overs from Neill which resulted in Conliffe replacing the Kiwi. Conliffe conceded only 2 runs from his second over but 44 from his other five although he did manage to break the partnership to put CYM at 166 for 4. From there the illustrious hyphen took 5 wickets for 3 runs from 14 balls to end on 6 wickets for 26. The highlight was an amazing caught and bowled dismissal which ended the innings. In the midst of all this Rory Flanagan chipped in by removing McDarby. Phoenix needed 182 to win.

Unfortunately Graham Flanagan made only 3 before he was dismissed by McDarby and Patrick Conliffe joined Rory Flanagan at the crease. Rory was in more fluent form than has been the case at times this season and when Conliffe struck four boundaries in one over from McDonald Phoenix moved suddenly from 53 to 71. Rasool broke through the defences of both batsmen to leave Phoenix on 86 for 3 and Kop leader John Doran felt that the home team might have had a difficult task if the illustrious hyphen had been caught at gully with the score around 100. The Gaelicised Aussie played a supporting role to his mate “Downs” and this pair saw the game through to its conclusion with almost 11 overs to spare. Coach Downton finished on 63 not out from 64 balls.

Man of the Match: The illustrious hyphen

6 wickets for 26, 1 catch, 27 not out
Apologies to all readers as the Man of the Match citation for Phoenix v CYM may have understated the nominee’s feats during the match. As well as his caught and bowled wicket the illustrious hyphen also took a sharp chance at slip i.e. two catches in total.

Having suffered a setback with their home league defeat to Rush Coach Webb emphasised to his charges the importance of a return to winning ways. Indeed for the 20:20 competition in its own right his hope was to get maximum benefit from the victory over North County. Graham Flanagan was fit enough to open the batting but Alister Stone deputised behind the stumps. Captain Dickeson won the toss and chose to bat.

The illustrious hyphen was confined to one single from the first six balls he faced but his partnership with the younger Flanagan soon hit top gear and after six overs Phoenix were 66 without loss. At 6.18 the illustrious hyphen was dismissed for 39 and the visitors began to take wickets regularly. In the end only Captain Dickeson
And Extras could match the two openers in reaching double figures. Phoenix were all out for 127 with Graham Flanagan the top scorer on 43 and Razza the leading bowler for the visitors on 4-0-16-4.

Coach Downton and the elder Flanagan bowled a tight line early on and the coach got his reward when the unsung hyphen caught Calder although the Dubliner was more prolific as he bagged Ali, Yogesh and Patterson to leave the visitors on 12 for 4. Dutt and O’Donnell brought some respectability to the proceedings and after O’Donnell and Srikkanth had gone Dutt and Razza got the score up to 75 for 6 but when Dutt was run out Phoenix were in charge and the visitors were all out for 91 with the illustrious hyphen and Masud taking 2 wickets each and the last one going to Conor Kelly.

Man of the match: Graham Flanagan 43 runs

This win put Phoenix in a good position for their visit to Rush a week later and the team duly capitalised with a victory which puts them in the 20:20 semi final.

P.S. Apologies to any player who finds the terminology used to identify him offensive and I hope not to repeat the particular term I refer to. However, I will persist with “illustrious hyphen” and “unsung hyphen” where appropriate.

P.P.S. Apologies for the late appearance of this match report. As I was unavailable to score the Rush match on 14/07 it was important to find an appropriate juncture to temporarily pass over the scorebook to the stand-in scorer, Deirdre Fahy, which came before I could write this report. Thanks to Deirdre for her efforts at Rush and the players who impressed her at Rush were bowler Manu Kumar and the illustrious hyphen with the bat.