24/04/16 Rob Gorvin
DU 2 v Adamstown 2, Saturday 23rd May, College Park.
The seconds got through a tough double weekend with two hard fought victories against two teams recently promoted to Division 8. On Saturday DU welcomed Adamstown 2 to College Park for the first time. Adamstown won the toss and decided to make the most of overhead conditions and bowl first. The visitors got off to a good start, taking an early wicket as the ball nipped around. However DUCC debutant Danny Paul (23) and number three Ash Bharvikar (35) did well to absorb the pressure and set a solid platform for the middle order. With the score on 71-3 at drinks, Trinity were able to make the most of keeping wickets in hand for the rest of the innings. Garin Howell was the star with the bat making the first fifty of the season at College Park, eventually falling for a full throttle 62 off 56 deliveries including six boundary fours and two maximums. Peter Kingston, Cal Madden, and Mark Strong all also contributed with the bat, and the Trinity innings closed on 193-9 after 45 overs. A very good effort on a pitch offering some assistance to the seamers. The Trinity seamers certainly made use of the pitch conditions in spectacular style. Really good opening spells from Kev Threadgold (4-28) and Garin (2-4) dealt the Adamstown chase a lethal blow. By the eighth over the visitors had lost 6 wickets for 18 runs. A crushing victory seemed on the cards, especially once Adamstown fell into further trouble at 30-7 approaching drinks. However, the Adamstown lower order dug deep to offer the discipline and resistance which the top order had failed to do. DU kept plugging away as Rob Gorvin and Ash Bharvikar took 2 wickets each, and at 90-9 a full bonus point win still looked just about on the cards. However the Adamstown batsmen had other plans. Although a DU victory was never in real doubt, a brutal last wicket partnership of 59 saw the visitors claim a couple of bonus points. Job done for Trinity, although it was a bit harder work than it should have been!