Trinity 3 v. Halverstown

Leinster Division 13, Saturday 21st May
Match Abandoned due to Rain

Playing cricket in Ireland is proof of hope over experience. The forecast was for rain and despite arriving in the sunshine; rain soon became the default state. We were on and off the pitch about 4 times and at 7.15 pm the captains, quite correctly, decided that conditions had become impossible.

Going to College Park to play cricket is a treat and it is always a fixture played in good spirit. The opposition captain was Kevin Threadgold, a product of Halverstown’s junior cricket academy of whom we are justly proud and we knew that fair play would prevail on both sides.

Our skipper, Mick Neville, won the toss for the fourth consecutive time and while resident ‘’odds compiler’’ Stuart Conroy worked out the probability of that and the result of the Guineas we decided to bat. It is a grass wicket and we used to play a lot of home matches on this surface. However we have had to rely on a mat to avoid the vagaries of Irish weather and this has left us vulnerable to the ‘shooter’, which accounted for a number of wickets. Of the 11 wickets that fell 9 were bowled. 

Halverstown’s first 3 wickets went cheaply. Two accounted for by Kevin Threadgold who didn’t spare his former club mates an early return to the Pavilion.  The next 3 bats accounted for the majority of our runs. Richard Greene whose name appears on the honours board in Trinity’s pavilion played with authority at his old alma mater. Wasif Rashid took the game to the opposition understanding that this wasn’t the day for careless heroics. He was patient and hit the bad balls to the boundary whilst defending the good ones. After Richard’s departure Moon Rashid came to assist in compiling a reasonable total. 

Once Wasif (64) and Moon (21) were gone the tail failed to wag. Even the dependable John Threadgold got a ball he couldn’t see such were the gloomy conditions overhead. Cockerill took 4 wickets and accounted for Wasif who played a chanceless innings up to that point. We were all out for 131 off 32 overs. 

Richard remarked that the ‘Trinity girlfriends’ used to do the teas but this is clearly not the case anymore. Whilst Trinity did their best to provide adequate sustenance it lacked the delicate touch of years gone by. Nonetheless our hosts were generous and caring and we thank them for their hospitality.

Trinity lost their first wicket early to the redoubtable Wasif but after that Cockerill (57 n.o) and Bhabakar (36 n.o) started compiling an innings that looked decidedly dangerous until one stoppage too many for rain meant that the game had to be abandoned with Trinity on 104 for 1 after 24 overs.

Congratulations to Wasif for his excellent innings and we look forward to hosting a similarly sporting return in Halverstown when summer returns to these shores.