The Leinster Senior 55 Overs League - sponsored by Whitney Moore and Keller - gets into full stride this weekend. Saturday and Sunday. Merrion have pride of place at the top of the Section A table, followed by last season's winners, Clontarf, who have a match in hand; the sides , and are away to CYM and North County, respectively.

But tomorrow, on Sunday, the match of the day is likely to be the encounter in the Phoenix Park between Phoenix and The Hills, both languishing at the bottom of the Section A table. Phoenix have lost both their league outings to date but have collected four bonus points, while the solitary bonus point collected by The Hills has been deducted because of a breach of the umpires' reports regulations.

At the time of writing, wicket-keeper Dwayne Dundon, the captain of The Hills, had yet to finalise his starting line-up.

Meanwhile, the players from North County and Merrion must be getting sick of the sight of each other. Following last week's Lewis Traub League final at Phoenix CC, the sides meet again this Saturday, morrow, only this time around North County will enjoy home advantage.

Skipper John Andrews will lead the same team which defeated Merrion last Saturday. So once again, he will be hoping for good performances from the likes of Andre Botha, Joe Murphy and last week's man of the match, John Mooney.

The Munster Reds, who won their opening Section B match against Leinster a few weeks back, will be in action twice over the weekend. They play Rush at Kenure today on Saturday and take on Old Belvedere at Cabra tomorrow.

Ireland's women cricketers take on mighty Australia twice over the weekend in the two one-day internationals at College Park. These are likely to be rather daunting assignments for Nikki Squire and her team, given the former World Champions' recent form against England.

Julia Price, who kept wicket at senior men's level a few times for Merrion last season, will be lining out against Ireland.