Emran bats well but two defeats for DCC

Division 11

Swords 2: 269/8 (40 ov) Vasanth 73, S. Thomas 3-41

Dundalk 1: 165 (27 ov) Emran 60, Hemanth 4-42

Swords won by 104 runs

Division 17A

Dundalk 3: 73 (22 ov) Murahwi 39, Zahid 5-7

Castleknock 5: 77/3 (17.2 ov) Iqtidar 29*, Adith 2-35

Castleknock won by 7 wickets

Dundalk Firsts were stopped in their tracks by a dominant all-round performance from their title rivals Swords 2 at Hiney Park on the 19th.

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Swords won the toss and batted first in the Carrick Road sunshine, starting well as Farooq Hussain and Justin Jacob put 54 on the board in their opening stand.

A series of solid partnerships followed as the town struggled to break down an in-form away side, the aforementioned Jacob and Vasanth Kumar both posting individual knocks in the 70s to bring the score past the 200 mark.

Dundalk’s Sanju Thomas bowled well and had a chance at a hat-trick after hitting the stumps in consecutive deliveries, but the hosts were unable to close out the innings early and had a tall target of 270 to chase down after the break.

Wickets unfortunately fell early in the second innings as injured opener Sakhi Jan and in-form Shakeel Qamar were both dismissed with the scoreboard on 17.

A further collapse in the 40s saw four wickets fall as Swords’ Vijaya Kumar and Nishank Shukla neutralised the hosts’ entire middle order.

Afghan pair Mohammad Emran and Abdullah Ahmadzai limited the damage with a 66-run seventh wicket stand, youth talent Emran having license to bat in his favoured aggressive style and making an impressive 60 in just 40 deliveries – his third career half century.

However by this stage resources were too far depleted and Dundalk suffered just a third home defeat and were sent a message in the race for the Division 11 title.

The day before in Porterstown Park saw the third team take on Castleknock Fifths in Division 17A, a game the visitors will be happy to forget quickly.

Castleknock’s Zahid Imran took home the match ball with impressive figures of 5 for 7 as Dundalk fell for just 73 in a first innings which saw five ducks, Zimbabwean opener Ben Murahwi providing the only notable batting performance with 39 runs from number one.

The hosts comfortably chased down their target before the drinks break despite the best efforts of paceman Adith Christ, who removed both openers to give his side a sniff early on.

Next weekend’s league fixtures: Clontarf 4 v Dundalk 1 (Division 11, Sun 2 Aug, away), Balbriggan 5 v Dundalk 3 (Division 17A, Sat 1 Aug, away).

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