Captained by Daniel Johnston , a true all-rounder, the team are looking forward to the season ahead in a tough group. The bat of Masood Ahmed is sure to provide entertainment and a bowler to watch is Bally Bhatia. The Phoenix 2's are certain to finish strong this season.

Training times are as follows:

Tuesday 1st & 2nd XI's Only
Wednesday 3rd & 4th XI's
Thursday All Welcome

Captains Match Reports

Phoenix 2nd XI v North County

13th July 2008
First match for a few weeks thanks to weather interruptions/postponements. A good side for the 2’s this game, things got underway in customary fashion with DJ losing the toss (that’s every game bar one this season). County decided to bowl on what proved to be a bowlers wicket, and immediately began well, steadily taking wickets. At one stage we were 20 odd for 5 and things were looking grim. To be fair, there was some bad luck, with balls hitting batsmen then spinning back onto stumps twice.

Tariq Ali and Manu Kumar then steadied things a little, putting on 37, which would eventually prove to be the largest partnership of the match. A few more bits and bobs, and the innings ended all out for 90. Despite the low score, the weather was great, and the lads never lost hope.

Chris Cavanagh was able to extract the bounce he always does from the zoo end and bowled a superb unchanged 12 over spell. He took his fifth wicket with the very last ball of his spell, ending with 12-1-39-5. This great spell held one end, and when Manu Kumar came on at the other end, County required 20 odd with 4 wickets remaining. Mike Cluccas took a nice sharp catch at midwicket, then it was 15 required with 3 wickets in hand.

Just like in the other close finish we have had this season, Manu decided it simply wasn’t exciting enough, and fired in his now customary 5 wides. With the tension now where he likes it, Manu then proceeded to bowl the next 2 batsmen, with the ones and twos bringing it down to 3 runs to win, one wicket remaining (24th over). The first ball was driven hard to Vipul at mid on, no run. The tail-ender for County decided to walk right across his stumps for the next ball and try and heave it over square leg, missed, and was bowled.
Delirious celebration followed, a truly remarkable win. Chris and Manu the heroes with the ball, but rock solid fielding, flawless catching, and a belief in victory from all the boys made this win possible.
A great game, no arguments at all, which is a tribute to County in this sort of match

Phoenix 2nd XI v North Wicklow

Cancelled due to Rain

Phoenix 2nd XI v North County

22nd June 2008

Despite howling wind and sideways rain, a phone call to North County confirmed the game was on, and it was a bemused bunch of cricketers at the North County ground. County won the toss and elected to field, much to our surprise with the conditions. The local knowledge shown in this decision was to be revealed later.

Playing on a mat, and in horrendously windy conditions at times, Phoenix made 205-8 from the reduced 40 overs.

Jonty Wardell scored a good 44, Manu Kumar 38, and Kuli Bhatia a hard hitting 38 toward the end. We were pretty happy with the total, but it wasn’t enough.

After the break the sun appeared magically, the wind dropped, and conditions became almost pleasant.

The County skipper had said the day would improve and he was right. A few early wickets saw Phoenix seemingly coasting to victory, before poor bowling and excellent controlled aggression from County saw them comfortably home. A frustrating day, for most of the game feeling as though we were ahead, only to lose rather badly in the end (5 wickets). Special thanks to Willy Clarke for playing.

Phoenix 2nd XI v Clontarf 2nd XI

20/20, 16th June 2008

We crawled through the traffic to Clontarf to play our 2nd 20/20 match. Conditions were fairly gloomy even at 6pm, so batting first was a priority, but a wrong call at the toss ended those hopes.

Clontarf started well and had 90 odd on the board after 10 overs. Only a superb spell of bowling from Shahid Farooq and Kuli Bhattia prevented a massive total, and ‘Tarf finished with 158. Aaron Joseph held a great catch at midwicket, as did Masood, but 158 was always going to be tough in the darkening evening.

99 was our eventual total, highlights were a massive six by Mo Shabaz, and a nice not out dig from Stu Russell, but otherwise not much joy. That’s it for the 20/20’s then, a pity as we have some good players in this format.

Side note: Edo De Jongh kept wicket superbly again, and unfortunately copped one in the throat while standing up. This left his voice barely audible by the end of the match, and contributed to his run out. I know everyone at Phoenix hopes he is back to full bellow as soon as possible.

Side side note: Young Bibek, who had that awful lip injury earlier in the season, is apparently fully recovered after minor plastic surgery. We hope to see you back on the pitch soon Bibek.

Phoenix 2nd XI v Malahide 3rd XI

14th June 2008

Back home again, a strong Phoenix side proved too much for Malahide. This was the most enjoyable match of the season so far.

Phoenix batted first and had a fantastic start with Vipul and Edo putting 80 odd on the board. A small collapse was then steadied by Masood (26) and Mark Headon (51 not out). This was Mark’s first game for Phoenix, and he scored his fifty in short time coming in at number 9. Vipul Gargya ended up with 75, a fantastic dig, chanceless, and scored over 41 overs, while wickets were tumbling around him.

These efforts, along with 46 extras from Malahide, meant a good total of 258, our best so far this season. In the field, it was the Masood (bowling pace) and Amit Battan who went through the Malahide top order, Mark Headon and Shahid mopping up the tail. The catching and ground fielding was superb from the lads, with two good run outs from the boundary, both from Manu, and a superb juggling catch by Amit who had to take it over his head running toward the fence.

Special mention must be made regarding the final Malahide wicket. I had promised Souresh Samuel a bowl should we be well on top, and much to the huge crowd’s delight, on he came. First few balls were a little ‘off line’, but he then took a smart return catch to finish the match and record his first Phoenix wicket. Well done Souresh. You jammy ****.

Great game, nice boost after the difficult cup loss.

Phoenix 2nd XI v Laois 1st XI

Cup match 08th June

For various reasons many players were unable to play this cup game in Laois. Chris Kavanagh was skipper for the day. Big thanks to the other lads too who dropped everything at short notice to make the long trip. 5 players came from the 4ths team to fill the side, and it’s a testament to Aarons Joseph’s  organisational abilities that he still managed to field a team that weekend.

Phoenix batted first and despite a promising opening stand from Masood (apparently I’ve been spelling his name wrong, sorry Masood) and Vipul, only managed 123.

Manu picked up 3 wickets in reply, and Syam was desperately unlucky, having 4 catches dropped off his bowling. Needless to say, Laois knocked off the runs in fairly quick time.  A big thank you again to all those who travelled to this difficult fixture,  in particular young Liam O’Neill.

Phoenix 2nd XI v Civil service

01 June 2008
The second match at Civil Service in a week brought a much different outcome unfortunately. Service batted first and made 240 odd, despite being 6 down for 130 at one stage. Tariq Ali bowled a superb 12 over spell taking 4 cheap wickets, but a spirited partnership from a couple of Service's lower order batsmen resulted in a demanding total.

A clear run out by Shahid Farooq was knocked back by the umpires during that partnership, so luck wasn't with us that day. The lack of luck continued into our batting, and a miserable total of 60 odd all out finished a frustrating day. To be fair, Service bowled and fielded very well, but the low total was embarressing. Shahid Farooq did hit two massive sixes over the pavillion in that total, but thats it as far as batting highlights go. So, a poor match there, but morale was still surprisingly good at the finish, which is important

Phoenix 2nd XI v Civil service

20/20 Tillain Cup 26 May

Civil service won the toss and batted, but fine bowling from Chris Cavanagh and nice tight fielding restricted the total to 90 odd. Naveed showed good pace also in his first run for Phoenix. Phoenix made slightly hard work running the total down, but a good solid 20 from Vipul Gargya, along with a great flurry of boundaries in the closing overs from Tariq Ali safely brought us home. Special mention must be made of Edo de Jonghs wicketkeeping, which was solid.  

Phoenix 2's v Old Belvedere

18th May 2008

Despite overnight rain, Colly, our trusted Phoenix groundskeeper, had prepared an excellent wicket.

Belvedere won the toss and elected to bowl. A good opening stand from Masood Ahmed (19) and Matt Plunkett-Cole (40) wasn't backed up, and the rest of the side managed to struggle to 137 all out. A couple of questionable LBW decisions contributed to the collapse, and only 37 odd overs were batted, not a good start.

Despite the low score, great enthusiasm in the field and excellent straight bowling from Chris Cavanagh meant Phoenix went to lunch after bowling the half hour required with Belvedere at 13 - 2. An unfortunate incident occurred just before the break. Vipul Gargya and Bibek collided sickeningly as they both went for a high catch. Incredibly, Vipul held the catch, but Bibek suffered a large gash to his top lip. It appears as though his tooth ripped right through his lip in the collision. Last report I had was that he may require plastic surgery to correct it. All our best wishes to Bibek, I will update on his progress next report.

So, despite being a man down, the fine tight bowling and fielding continued, and with wickets steadily falling amongst the maidens, Manu Kumar and Masood Ahmed cleaned up the tail giving Phoenix a great 13 run victory. Chris Cavanagh bowled well taking the first 4 wickets, and Edo De Jongh had an excellent game with the gloves.

Applause must go to Manu Kumar also, deciding to make things a little more exciting by firing in 5 wides when 18 runs were needed for victory, then bowling the last batsman next ball. What showmanship!

Leinster v Phoenix 2's

Phoenix won the toss and elected to bat. Masood Ahmed did well scoring a good, yet fortunate tonn (104). He was dropped about 6 times, but made good strokes in between the good fortune.

A middle order slump left Phoenix disappointingly unable to bat the whole 50 overs, and Leinster were left 230 to win in 55 overs.  Leinster cruised to their target, a dead pitch and nice controlled batting made it a frustrating time in the field. Bally Bhatia took 2 wickets in 2 balls near the end, but it ended a 6 wicket win to Leinster.

A good first effort for the 2's, a little luck with the ball may have turned this one, and a solid batting effort from Masood was backed up nicely by Shahid Farooq (28), Tony Carey (21) and Bally (18).