From The Pavilion

This Season’s Draw
At last count a disappointing but not unusual 18 of the 53 teams accepted our invitation. As you can see there is plenty of scope for this to become a larger 32 team competition with double the FTP award to the finalists. Maybe next year.

I applied a bit of jiggery pokery to try to ensure that the lowest ranked 16 sides of those who accepted were included the draw. Apologies to the 2 of us (I was one) who didn’t make it.

There are no teams from the top two tiers in either format. There is an almost even split between the 9 tier three teams and 7 tier four teams. There is no previous winners and only one previous finalist (St John's Athletic); this guarantees a new winner.

We also have four teams competing for the first time: GWS CC; Meister CC; Save the Rhino and Spingleberry. Please welcome Ghost117 (GWS CC) and Jawsey (Meister CC) who are new to the Irish League setup and good luck to everyone involved.

Note: Youth One Day rankings from the start of the season are used.

The draw
Top half
#028 Royal Eleven ( Youth 3.4 ) vs. #051 Newtown Pirates ( Youth 3.1 ) [Youth Rivalry: 0-0]
Royal Eleven won by 16 runs
#052 St Johns Athletic ( Youth 3.3 ) vs. #055 Belmont CC ( Youth 4.6 ) [Youth Rivalry: 0-0]
Belmont CC won on countback (wickets fallen)
#068 Xessux Club ( Youth 4.3 ) vs. #060 Spingleberry ( Youth 3.3 ) [Youth Rivalry: 0-2]
Spingleberry won by 6 wickets
#new Meister CC ( Youth 4.4 ) vs. #066 FPCC Ireland ( Youth 4.5 ) [Youth Rivalry: 0-0]
FPCC Ireland won by 6 wickets

Royal Eleven are the top ranked team in the competition and have avoided their closest rivals so would hope to progress to the final.

• An honourable mention goes to the Pirates' Cathal Slattery (71) and Ethan Roche (68) who topped the individual batting but the Eleven still won royally as a collectively team.

The remaining games offer a lot of interest and potential new rivalries. St Johns and Belmont have met previously in the senior version of the Irish League Plate.

• Talking of battles royale Belmont and St Johns Athletic tied. Hannes Haylett (Belmont) scored 77 not out and Peter George (St Johns) seventy not out weren't the difference. The four wickets from Newland Fedee and Bernard Small were enough, though slightly, to separate them from the three from Stephan Mathers and Michael Mosley.

• In yet another close game, Avneet Naidu's 128 guided Spingleberry to victory with a single ball to spare.

Meister's plate debut is against FPCC.

• Meister put up a good show, FPCC won with just three balls to spare thanks mostly to Elliot Gosiewski's (83*) and Evan Knox (50*) steering them home with a partnership of 102.

#028 Royal Eleven ( Youth 3.4 ) vs. #055 Belmont CC ( Youth 4.6 ) [Youth Rivalry: 0-3]
#060 Spingleberry ( Youth 3.3 ) vs. #066 FPCC Ireland ( Youth 4.5 ) [Youth Rivalry: 3-1]

We expect Royal Eleven to progress against Belmont and we are hoping for the plate to throw up another deliciously close game between Spingleberry and FPCC Ireland.

Bottom half
#038 Blazing Dragons Cricket Club ( Youth 3.3 ) vs. #067 Babylon5 ( Youth 4.5 ) [Youth Rivalry: 0-0]
Blazing Dragons Cricket Club won by 135 runs
#047 North Cardiff Cosmos ( Youth 3.2 ) vs. #043 Save the Rhino ( Youth 3.2 ) [Youth Rivalry: 3-5]
North Cardiff Cosmos won by 75 runs
#049 Western Suburbs Hacks ( Youth 4.2 ) vs. #042 Rocket City Trash Pandas ( Youth 3.1 ) [Youth Rivalry: 2-0]
Rocket City Trash Pandas won by 6 wickets
#061 Muggles Cricket Club ( Youth 3.1 ) vs. #new GWS CC ( Youth 4.7 ) [Youth Rivalry: 0-0]
Muggles Cricket Club won by 60 runs

The bottom half includes four of the top five ranked teams and opens with two great matchups: Save the Rhino at North Cardiff and the Trash Pandas visiting the Western Suburbs. Save the Rhino and North Cardiff Cosmos have also met in the Irish League Senior and Matt Krevs Memorial cups.

• Do the Cosmos deserve universal acclaim for beating Save the Rhino? Baburam Gurung (5-19) and Wade Horton (78*) starred.

• Spinners Logen Maddox (3-24) and Eric Gamble (3-28) opened the Hacks door for the Pandas batters to push through.

The Dragons would hope to blaze past Babylon5 and GWS open their Irish Plate account against the Muggles.

• Hashim Mirzad (131*) and Sandy Cubit (127*) were on fire against Baylon5's; bowler Mir Nadeem (3-23) finished the job.

• Spinner Liam Hendrick (3-40) of GWS deserves honourable mention for his performance in their loss to their Muggles.

#038 Blazing Dragons Cricket Club ( Youth 3.3 ) vs. #047 North Cardiff Cosmos ( Youth 3.2 ) [Youth Rivalry: 2-1]
#042 Rocket City Trash Pandas ( Youth 3.1 ) vs. #061 Muggles Cricket Club ( Youth 3.1 ) [Youth Rivalry: 1-1]

Four Division 3 sides in the bottom half do battle four a spot in the final; this promises three exciting games to determine who wins out.

Leaders
Player of the Tournament, for most fantasy points:

• 174 Hashim Mirzad (Blazing Dragons Cricket Club)

• 170 Sandy Cubit (Blazing Dragons Cricket Club)

• 168 Avneet Naidu (Spingleberry)

• 128 Baburam Gurung (North Cardiff Cosmos)

• 126 Bernard Smal (Belmont CC)

Golden pads, for most runs scored by a batter:

• 131 Darrell Haggett (Applewood Crossing)

• 128 Walter Adair (FPCC Ireland)

• 127 Inga Muddle (Blazing Dragons Cricket Club)

• 83 Shrish Swamy (Applewood Crossing)

• 78 Hamed Farahi (Balls Deep)

Golden cap, for most wickets taken by a bowler:

• 5-19 Mir Nadeem (lfs, North Cardiff Cosmos)

• 3-23 Mir Nadeem (rfs, Blazing Dragons Cricket Club)

• 3-24 Logen Maddox (rfs, Rocket City Trash Pandas)

• 3-28 Eric Gamble (rws, Rocket City Trash Pandas)

• 3-40 Liam Hendrick (rfs, GWS CC)

Golden gloves, for most dismissals involving the keeper:

• 3 (2c, 1st) - Paxton Grant (North Cardiff Cosmos)

• 3 (2c, 1st) - Leigh Sargent (Rocket City Trash Pandas)

• 2 (2c, 0st) - Avneet Naidu (Spingleberry)

• 2 (2c, 0st) - Miran Ibadulla (Blazing Dragons Cricket Club)

• 2 (2c, 0st) - Nico Carlstein (Muggles Cricket Club)