24/04/16 Rob Gorvin
Clontarf 4 v DU 2, Sunday 17th May, Castle Avenue.
DU 2s began their Division 8 campaign with a frustrating loss to Clontarf 4 at Castle Avenue. Clontarf skipper, and former DUCC player, Sean Devilly won the toss and elected to bat on a surface with a healthy tinge of green. The Trinity bowlers, Garin Howell and Kev Threadgold, made good use of the early conditions in a disciplined opening spell, backed up by some solid support in the field. The sustained pressure led to wickets, and by drinks Clontarf had scrambled their way to 44-4. The fifth wicket should have fallen soon after the resumption of play as the Clontarf number 3 sliced a catch to point, only to be given a reprieve with a dead-ball call from the square leg umpire as the non-striking batsmen was not ready at the time of delivery. The batsman made the most of his good fortune with a counter-attacking innings, eventually falling for 80, caught well by Cal Madden on the long-on boundary. By the close of the innings Clontarf had muscled their way to 179-8 off 45 overs, substantially more than Trinity were hoping for at drinks. 2 wickets for Amit Chaturvedi, and one a-piece for Rob Gorvin, Nitin Rajwar, and skipper Jack Horan on his 2s debut. In reply DU got off to a shaky start losing a wicket in the first over, although a 51 run partnership between John Sampson (30) and Rob Gorvin (20) set things back on track. However a middle order collapse derailed the chase once again. Ash Bharvikar (46) did well to keep DU in with a sniff, but Clontarf kept taking wickets regularly as the required rate increased. DU were eventually all out for 149 in 41 overs, losing by 30 runs. A frustrating result, but some positives to take with the bat and some lessons learnt with the ball.