CRICKET: After the Inter-Regional Challenge, the Leinster Senior 55 Overs League - sponsored by Whitney Moore & Keller - returns to the limelight this weekend with eight matches on offer over the two days.
There is also the little matter of the European Championship which is being staged at various northern venues, with Ireland involved in five Division One games in less than a week.
That will mean that Pembroke, Merrion and Railway Union will be short Peter Davy, Dom Joyce and Niall O'Brien, respectively, over the weekend; Conor Armstrong and Paul Mooney are also with the national squad, but their club, North County, happen to be free.
Merrion head the WMK League Section A table, with 74 points from five matches, which puts them 20 points clear of runners-up CYM, who, however, have a match in hand. Clontarf, going through a lean period and languishing at the bottom of the table, have lost both their matches to date, and are away to Phoenix today and at home to CYM tomorrow.
CYM, with two wins in three games, head the Section B table with 44 points, seven ahead of second-placed Munster Reds. The Hills,making their first appearance, are away to Old Belvedere and YMCA today and tomorrow, respectively.
In individual terms in Leinster cricket, Jeremy Bray of Phoenix heads the batting averages; in eight innings to date he has scored 510 runs, highest 128, with one century and three fifties for an average of 85.20. In second place is Paul Mooney of North County, with 330 runs, highest 84 not out and three fifties, for an average of 82.50.
Brad Spanner (Merrion) has scored the most runs, with 708 so far, and has also taken 28 wickets at an average of 13.89. Warwick Hinkel (CYM) has held the most field catches with nine to date, followed by Spanner and Mooney who have held eight each.
Spanner is also the top all-rounder, followed by his Merrion clubmate Shawn Flegler, who has scored 541 runs, including five fifties, and taken 25 wickets with seven catches. In third and fourth places in the all-rounders table are CYM's Michael Lax (516 runs, four fifties, 21 wickets, two catches) and the afore-mentioned Hinkel (417 runs, two fifties, 23 wickets and nine catches).
