UMPIRES Heavey and McCready got plenty of exercise during the innings of The Hills in this Leinster Senior League Section B match at Milverton yesterday. As the extras so bountifully given away by CYM surpassed what any of the home or opposition batsmen were able to contribute, the men in white had to signal no fewer than nine byes, the same number of no-balls, a meagre enough brace of leg-byes and an astonishing 29 wides.
Yes, The Hills would probably have won in any event, after a string of early disasters, as Matt Dwyer and Mark Clinton knocked off the requisite runs. Still, no team can really afford to be that generous in the field, and CYM duly paid the price.
Batting first, CYM had also suffered an early set-back, with the first four batsmen - among then Joss Singh - back in the clubhouse with only 46 runs on the board. The run rate was, well, modest, to put it mildly; only 44 runs came off the first 21 overs, and a mere 76 runs off 36.
Without Stephen Cullen, CYM's plight would have been truly desperate. He was the game's top-scorer - if you forget about the extras - with a fine and patient 42, which came off 110 balls, and which included four boundaries and one six.
Eddie Moore, looking rather less sylph-like than in his international days (which, one hopes, will return) made a useful 20. But otherwise, CYM found the runs hard to come by, though soon enough their total of 137 was not looking too bad at all.
Stephen Archer did most of the damage for The Hills, returning a fine bowling analysis of 3 for 28 off 15 overs. He was well supported by Matt Dwyer, Noel Harper and Barry Archer, who each captured a brace.
When The Hills' turn came to bat, an earlier start than usual to the post-match, bar post-mortem looked very likely. With a pittfal five runs on the board, Barry Archer, Patrick Byrne and Brendan Moore were all in a position to take an early shower, and The Hills seemed destined to be deafened from the clatter of tumbling wickets.
Joss Singh was the architect-in-chief of destruction. Bowling with impressive pace, he first had Archer caught by Shane Moore, and then clean bowled Byrne and Moore.
It was time for a rear-guard action, and Noel Harper was moved up the batting order. He scored only two runs, but by the time he was removed - caught by Singh off Cullen - he had helped Paul Mooney put on an invaluable 28 for the fourth wicket.
Then it was Mark Clinton's turn to do his bit. He scored just 14 runs, but he stayed there, and with Clinton put on 48 runs for the fifth wicket, which fell at 81, when Cullen clean-bowled the steadfast Mooney.
With skipper Declan Moore still dubious about his broken, though recovering, finger, Matt Dwyer, like Harper, was promoted in the batting order. The strategy - as in the case of Harper - worked, as Dwyer and Clinton shared in an unbeaten stand of 60, to win the match.
Dwyer scored his undefeated 38 off 42 balls, and smashed one six and six fours. All in all, a good day's work; but one which would have been a great deal more difficult for all concerned but for that veritable spate of extras.
Meanwhile, Leinster are now the only Leinster club still in contention in the Irish Senior Cup following Saturday's third-round matches. They had an emphatic, eight-wicket away victory over Brigade, when Mark Jones' unbeaten 98 won him the Man of the Match Award.
But really, what can be done about the regulations of this competition? YMCA and Sion Mills both scored 128 at Claremont Road, which is a tie, in anybody's book; Sion Mills got through on the basis of fewer balls faced, just as Lurgan got past Downpatrick because they lost fewer wickets, both sides having scored 229 runs.
