GazetteSPORT
4 October 2012 CASTLEKNOCK gazette 35
american dream: Dublin’s hockey stars snapped up by US Colleges: Page 28
cricket: local players shine with bat and ball in annual staffordshire event
Leinster U-15 stars just pipped to title by Cheshire side
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THE Leinster Under15 boy’s cricket squad enjoyed a successful visit to Wolverhampton recently as they participated in the Staffordshire Youth Cricket Tournament. They recorded four wins out of five during the festival week, with a narrow loss to Cheshire costing them the title in the final reckoning. They enjoyed wins over Cumbria, Norfolk,
Staffordshire and Lincolnshire. Between the Interprovincial and the Wolverhampton tournament, 23 players were used which reflects the depth of cricketers at this age-group in the province. Among them were Malahide’s Cameron Shoebridge, Phoenix’s Eoin Cleere and Marc Gibson-McKenna while there was a trio of North County players in the panel – Kashif Ali, Brian Smyth and Ross Staun-
ton, They started the campaign with a six wicket win over Norfolk with Ali (2-16) and Fiachra Tucker (2-19) producing fine spells. Balbriggan’s Nathan Rooney fired 58 with Smyth clipping 37 not out to see the side home with 12 overs to spare. Smyth then hit 61 in the defeat of Cumbria as Leinster made 221-6 before restricting the opposition to 114-8 from their allotted 45 overs,
Leinster captain Danny Hogan is presented with a shield at the Staffordshire youth cricket tournament
Tom Stanton’s spell producing an excellent 3-8. Cheshire, though, got the better of Leinster on day three, running up 157-8 and the Irish side fell 31 runs short in response. T hey got back on track with a 19-run win over Staffordshire and
closed out the competition with a 75-run win over Lincolnshire to tie at the top of the table with Cheshire. Having received the same amount of bonus points, though, Cheshire were awarded the overall title by virtue of more wickets taken.
Smyth ended as the leading run scorer for Leinster with 191 runs at an average of 63. Tucker was the province’s leading wicket taker with nine wickets at a miserly average of 9.5 runs per wicket. Indeed, he was named the bowler of the tour-
nament as he picked up the Peter Jones Bowling Award. His controlled leg spin impressed many seasoned watchers on the boundary. Te r e n u r e ’s D a n ny Hogan ably led the team, setting imaginative and attacking fields throughout the week.