HALVERSTOWN: 92 for 9 (15X8 overs)
Stuart Conroy 20* S.Rix 19* K.Hodson 18
D.Drumm 1.7-0-6-0 D.O'Ceallaigh 1.5-0-6-0 M.Coyle 2-0-8-0
K.Hodson 1.1-0-10-0 E.Maguire 1-0-10-0 R.Hodson 1-0-11-0
S.Rix 1-0-12-0 D.McConaghy 1-0-13-0 Stuart Conroy 1-0-15-0
NORTH KILDARE:93 FOR 0 (11.5 overs)
R.Machin 21* J.Habbington 20* J.Scully 20* D.Galbraith 11*
J.Habbington 2-0-10-2 L.Tobin 2-0-7-1 L.Winters 2-0-12 -1 R.Cruise 2-0-12-1
“North Kildare” they are called, which I suppose makes us “Central Kildare” if we wanted a geographical nomenclature. Or perhaps “East Kildare”. But, without any airs and graces, “Halverstown” does us fine. Kildare once boasted 27 cricket clubs, but now there are just the two of us, sadly. North Kildare are the new boys on the block, formed just yesterday- well 1928 to be exact. Interestingly North Kildare Cricket and Tennis Club was formed by the amalgamation of clubs at Lucan and Firmount, Clane. Presumably the location, near Kilcock, was close to midway between them. Firmount House was the site of the national communications bunker in case of nuclear war and is now a recently opened, and quite nice, cafe. I have no knowledge of a cricket club at Firmount. Shame it moved: it would have been really handy for Cecil and me.
John Habbington, the North Kildare Captain, doubted me when I rang to tell him that I was bringing a genuine Taverners team “I have heard that 6 times already this year!” he said. However, was less sceptical when he saw our batting, and truly believed me when he saw our bowling. Any team that fails to take a single wicket in a Taverners game must be genuine!
There was some doubt as to whether they got us all out: Ryan Hodson was down as a run-out in their book, but I was at the wicket with him and didn't see that. However since I also failed to see pretty much every ball that was bowled at me, it might well have been the case. Only 3 of our players got into double figures with Stuart's 20 not out very impressive; Steve Rix sportingly retiring himself on a well hit 19 to give others a bat. Such gallantry is not usual! Steve was awarded their Man of the Match for his innings and-they said- he bowled well also. I missed that bit too. Kevin Hodson batted well but pulled a muscle at the start of his second over so I finished out for him. Technically (and oddly) those 7 balls should be counted in Kevin's figures. However they were quite good so I kept them for myself.
North Kildare bowled tidily throughout, but notably John Habbington and Liam Tobin, who bowled a couple of very accurate overs. Their batting line-up was too strong for us, with the first 3 batsmen, Robin Machin, John Scully and their Man of the Match John Babbington, all getting their 20s not out. The die was cast. After that it was a matter of how long it took to get the runs. And that wasn't long. The good news was that everyone got to bat and bowl for Halverstown. If that was the objective of the game we would be unbeatable! The leadership in Kildare Taverners goes North, for the moment.