The sun shone at Milverton yesterday and The Hills CC ground with its newly refurbished pavilion was looking as pretty as a picture. Sadly for The Hills that was about as good as it got.
On the pitch The Hills were outclassed by a strong looking, determined Donemana outfit who will be a difficult hurdle for anyone to overcome in this season’s Irish Cup. While Donemana were not impacted by Ireland’s exploits at the Twenty20 World Cup, The Hills were without their talisman Jeremy Bray. With Mike Baumgart also unavailable (attending a wedding in Spain) and having suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of Clontarf the previous week it was a Hills team, low in confidence that took the field.
Still Luke Clinton won the toss and perhaps surprisingly, given the forecast of heavy showers later in the day, decided to bat. In the end the showers never arrived but The Hills may be wishing they did, such was the comprehensive nature of Donemana’s win.
Shaffique and Steven Dunn opened the bowling and in truth The Hills never got going. Farooqi went in the 6th over to Dunn for 6 but they actually didn’t lose another wicket until the 16th over. When Patrick Byrne was lbw to Dunn he had only 3 runs to his name.
The Hills got to 50 in the 24th over. It looked at that point that Sorensen and van der Merwe may just be beginning to break Donemana’s stranglehold. At the halfway point they were 62-2.
However when ‘Junior’ McBrine joined Jordan McGonigle in the attack the classy left arm spin duo was too much for The Hills depleted batting line-up. When Sorensen was out for 19, caught and bowled McGonigle in the 27th over it was 63-3 and it was all downhill from there.
Imran ul Haq before he got off the mark lofted McGonigle to long on but the ball dropped just short of the fielder. Still he had only made 4 when he was caught at mid-off by Shaffique who did well to cling on to the ball which looked to be going over his head, off the bowling of ‘Junior’ in the 30th over. 70-4.
Next to go was Mark Dwyer for 3 in the 33rd over, a smart bit of work behind the stumps by Dougherty off McGonigle. 77-5. At this point Matt Dwyer (playing as a batsman) joined van der Merwe who was holding the innings together at the other end. Dwyer senior brought some much needed positivity and sense of urgency to The Hills innings.
However The Hills needed van der Merwe to bat out the 50 overs to achieve a defendable target. It wasn’t to be as he perished caught in the deep in the 36th after skying a sweep off Junior. 87-6.
By this time Donemana had brought on the latest in their conveyor belt of young talent, 15 year old Andy McBrine, Junior’s son to bowl his off-spin. He didn’t look out of his depth at all and went on to capture 3 late wickets for 29 in his 7.2 overs.
Michael O’Herlihy (12) and James Rogan (13) helped Dwyer give the innings some respectability but when Dwyer was out for 21, lbw to Andy McBrine, with the score on 133 that was it. The last two wickets failed to add a run.
Donemana were good in the field but then again weren’t put under any real pressure. Though both Dunn (2 for 19 off 8) and Shaffique (1 for 10 off 9) were accurate the highlight of the bowling for me was Junior McBrine’s masterful 10 overs of left arm spin, taking 2 wickets for 22. Lots of subtle variations in flight and pace.
Andy McBrine having made an impressive 41 on his senior (batting) debut last weekend opened the batting with the burly Richard Key. Though hitting Sorensen for a fine drive through extra cover for 4 it wasn’t to be the teenager’s day and he was bowled by Clinton in the 4th over for 5, with the score on 18.
That brought Azhar Shaffique to the crease and from then on neither he nor Key looked in any real difficulty. Shaffique built his innings beautifully, starting patiently but then unleashing a fine array of shots. No bowler was spared.
Key settled down into a supporting role not wearing a helmet even against Sorensen such was his confidence. The Hills, aware that was vital to get Shaffique early, had strike bowler Sorensen change ends twice but it was very comfortable for the Derry men.
They achieved their target in the 25th over with Shaffique 70* and Key 35*.
The Hills look like a team out of sorts. They need Bray back and to get one or two results under their belt to restore confidence and get some momentum.
For Donemana, when the draw is made for the quarter-finals no-one will relish a tie with them. The men from Derry are capable of beating anyone.
Result: Donemana beat The Hills by 9 wickets Donemana 134-1 off 24.2 overs (Shaffique 70*, Key 35*,). The Hills 133 all out in 49th over (Sorensen 19, van der Merwe 38, Matt Dwyer 21, Andy McBrine 3-29)
Liam Rooney
Copyright: Cover Point
