It’s be 20 years since Halverstown last appeared in a Cup Final run by Cricket Leinster. Back in 2001, it was the Intermediate Cup against Bagenalstown. Back then, the Skipper of the team was the late Alan Ruddock. It’s fantastic to see both his sons, Matt and Danny representing the club in the Final on Sunday. Alan would be exceptionally proud of this team and how they’ve played throughout the competition. This time around, Halverstown are lead by the Unsinkable Des Drumm. A man who the tag “Iron Fist in Velvet Glove” was made for. He’s led his troops to 6 wins from 7 games, with the only defeat coming to North Kildare 5 in the final game of the group, with a lets say, experimental line up. By that stage, the Group has already been well and truly won, and it was a good opportunity to try something new, like chasing a total. The only change from the Semi Final team that beat Adamstown 7 is that Stuart Conroy drops out due to work commitments and is more than ably replaced by Danny Ruddock.
So lets look at some of the statistics that’s gotten Halverstown to this final. Opener Abhishek Pandey has scored 141 runs from 5 games in the competition, including a fantastic 67 in the Semi Final. Paolo Rosa is the only other player that’s reached three figures scoring 116 runs from 6 games. Paolo is also the clubs top Wicket Taker in the competition with 9 wicks with an economy rate of 3.75 which is fantastic. Captain Des Drumm has also been in scintillating form with the ball with 8 Wickets and an economy rate of 5.05.
So who are the opposition? Well Terenure Cricket Club are a top Senior Club in Cricket Leinster have in the past produced Senior Internationals for the Irish team as well as Youth Internationals. We’ll face their 4th team on Sunday. The finished top of their group which involved teams like Phoenix, Civil Service and Leinster so they will be tough nuts to crack. James Hanrahan has been their leading Run Scorer with 130 runs from 3 games. Anand Haritwal is their leading Wicket Taker with 9 wickets from 5 games with an economy of 4.78.
It’s important to reiterate how much of a squad game that cricket has now become. Des has used 21 players over the 7 games it’s taken to reach the final. Each and everyone of them has played a vital role at one stage or another. No matter how the result goes on Sunday, it’s a huge testament that this small village cricket club is once again punching well above it’s weight. It’s not a distant memory to think we were once struggling to get 11 players on the pitch each week, let along have two team competing in Cricket Leinster Cup Competitions. The work done behind the scenes by people like Tim Ronaldson, Hubert Beaumont and Barry Ashmore keeps this great club going.
The Road to the Final.
Game 1 – Beat North Kildare 5 by 9 Wickets
Game 2 – Beat Adamstown 8 by 132 Runs
Game 3 – Beat Adamstown 8 by 14 Runs
Game 4 – Beat Athlone 3 by 79 Runs
Game 5 – Beat Athlone 3 by 40 Runs
Game 6 – Lost to North Kildare 5 by 52 Runs
Semi Final – Beat Adamstown 7 by 30 Runs
Team for Sunday – Abhishek Pandey, Mark Ronaldson, Manik Islam, Paolo Rosa, Matt Ruddock, Sahab Uddin, Ahsan Syed, Kevin Hodson, Danny Ruddock, Cecil Johnston (WK) and Des Drumm (Capt).
Game updates will be available via the Cricket Leinster Match Centre on Sunday – www.cricketleinster.ie
