2018

Walnuts v Arthur's Knights 10/08/2018 Venue: Away @ St. Columba's College

Walnuts update. A short report this week , not much in terms of highlights i am afraid. A huge thank you to Arthur's Knights for the game in St. Columbas. It was a great game (as Sean said , for them anyway), played in true taverners spirit and with a lot of banter during and after the game. Also many thanks for the fabulous spread the knights put out in the pub afterwards.
As alluded to above, the result was very much a win for the Knights.
Walnuts fielded first and there was some great bowling from Peadar D, Ian F, Sean and Philip, with Ian bowling a beauty which took middle stump. Fielding was actually pretty good with special kudos going to Ian and Peader who ran tirelessly in the field, and to Damian (I guess) for taking 2 pretty decent catches (one of the bowling of John D and the other of Philip). The Knights posted 129 and it looked chasable however it wasnt to be.
The Devlin father and son team opened the batting and from some great bowling and being blinded by the sun for the first 8 overs, it was slow going. Peadar though got his 20, and Paddy D was his.usual dogged self. Sean, Paddy B, Philip and Damian put up a bit of a fight with some really good strokes but the damage was done in the sun. A special mention to Arthur's grandson (and the captains son) Max who had a cracker of a game with the ball and in the field for the Knights. A decent cricketer in the making there.

Personally I can see why everyone looks forward to this game as the Knights young and not so young are the nicest guys around.

My performance was ok today (not as critical as I normally am) I really really enjoyed playing this game and I think that showed. My energy levels were up and I didn't get injured which is shocking. With the ball gave up my usual wides but wasn't too bad otherwise - gave up one boundary of a ball that sat up though. Fielding as mentioned in the main report , took 2 nice catches which felt great. With the bat , yeah did ok too . Felt the ball hitting the middle a few times. Have no clue what I scored though.

All in all a very enjoyable evening. However the slide continues. Roll on Air Corp next Friday.

Walnuts v Parkmore 13/07/2018 Venue Away Rathgar High School
Walnuts Update. Firstly thanks to Parkmore for the game and for Rathgar High School for the pitch. Highly enjoyable Friday evening in the sun.
Game format was strangely 15 overs of 8, (thought it would have been 20 6s , we had the time and the sun.)
Firstly the result, Walnuts fell short by 16 runs in a game we were really always chasing.
Bowling first, the first over was awful (Damian) , giving up way too many runs. There was some great overs to come from the others though, and some not so good. The stand out in the bowling line up was our player of the match Andrew, with a great catch of his own bowling and a clean bowled. Other notable bowlers were captain Sean, Eddie and the Brummies Tom D, and Liam. Also a special mention to the wicketkeeper Paddy. A thankless task , but some outstanding stops.
Parkmore posted 115 and was about a run an over more than we should have given up to make the game chaseable.
To the batting, a couple of 20s , a couple of run outs and a couple of catches. A bit of a mixed bag really.
Outstanding batting by Tom D (18 in quick time when we needed it, with our only 6, and was very much a contender for PoTM, - unlucky to get caught out), a steady 20 by our wicketkeeper Paddy (his first and a huge congratulations on this milestone) and a good 20 by Damian (3 fours and a steady run of singles). Great batting by Philip and Tom M at the death, but it wasn't enough unfortunately and we ultimately fell short.
My own performance was very mixed. Bowling and i just could not get the line at all giving up way too many wides and way too many runs, sorry Sean , fielding was mixed , thought I did ok but in my only run out possibility threw the ball to the wrong end. To be honest my energy levels weren't there on the night and it showed.
Batting was a good bit better, love your bat Philip, ball was coming out of the middle and had my eye in for the first time this year. This is still very much a learning curve for me, and I have to get into the mind set of backing up when not on strike.
Back home next week on grass against North Kildare and can't wait.

Walnuts Away Tour to The Nederlands 22/06/2018 and 24/06/2018 Venue The Hague

Well. What can I say.....!!! Thanks to both our Hosts The Zamigos and Groenendaal CC for having us over but unfortunately we did not do ourselves justice our any favours! We played very poorly overall with just a few exceptions. We were a weakened side travelling and so rightly got played off the pitch. A pity but there will be better days and Tours ahead.

Walnuts v CYM Terenure Tavs 15/06/2018: Venue Home Terenure

Walnuts Update. Well that's the CYM game over and done with and personally if we don't play them again it will be too soon. If there is a team that hasn't embraced the Taverner game it's these guys. Not much to report. Bowling for the first 10 overs was very good however when CYM brought in their ringers (a division 3 and sometimes 2 player for one for God's sake, and what's the point in that?) they just hammered the ball around. Batting. Eddie and myself got into double fugures but runs were at a premium and it was slow going against again non Taverner players. Game was not fun and this from a relative newbie that loves the game. My first performance behind the stumps was up and down but the only thing that made this game in any way bearable. Thanks to Karen and to Ginny and to Sean for the Spread afterwards. It was fabulous. Also a great pick for our man of the match chosen by Captain Sean. Richly deserved and congratulations Cyril. On a personal note it was great to see Tom Morrissey back and as usual with great advice to me on how to play. Next up for me will be the Tour to The Nederlands. Am very much looking forward to that. Will have to start taking photos Philip. Of the Team at least!

Walnuts v The Evening Herald Tavs 21/06/2018: Venue Home Terenure

Walnuts Update. Game Cancelled as both Evening Herald and The Walnuts struggling for players this week.

Walnuts v Leinster Taverners 04/05/2018: Venue Leinster CC Rathmines

Walnuts update. A BIG Thanks to Leinster Cricket Club for the game. A green oasis in the middle of Rathmines. Great setup. The game format again was 15 x 8 ball overs.

Batting. What a performance. Opening 5 Batsmen got their 20's with Welsh Mike and IoW Brian setting the pace getting their 20's in quick time. This continued with Irish Philip, Brummie Liam (Top scoring with 21) and Graham. The rest of the batters were not as proficient ( Nordie Damian getting caught on 3 and Brummie Tom falling suit) Irish Eddie had a great Cameo with a couple of boundaries. All in all a great batting performance posting 144 (record score) from our 120 balls.

This trend continued (at a slightly slower pace) for the home team with 4 of their 5 batsmen getting 20 ( with a Mr. Crowley hitting the only 6 of the game) It is the reporters contention that our early bowling put them under a little pressure with great overs from Mike and Graham. Again this was continued with Brian and the rest of the bowling with Philip taking the death overs. There were a couple of wickets (a nice catch from Brian and a bizarre hit wicket off Mike)

At the end the Walnuts won by 13 runs in a very batting orientated game and gave Paddy B his win as a stand in Captain for the vacationing Sean. My performance was non existent. batting got 3 - disappointingly holed out to the Leinster Captain Brian Godfrey I did not bowl and left the field injured with a thigh strain after 2 overs in the second innings.

Walnuts v Rathgar Ramblers 31/08/2018 Venue: Home Terenure
Walnuts update. Thanks to the Rathgar Ramblers for an extremely fun game in Terenure college in our penultimate game.
Unfortunately for the Walnuts it was another one sided game with the Ramblers winning easily, which to be fair didnt take anything from the fun game it was with what looked like, from a relative outsider point of view, good friends having great banter with the cricket almost secondary.
Walnuts batted first and we really didn't do ourselves any favours with the 3 of the top 4 batters leaving for less than 10 runs between them. There were sterling efforts with maximums from Mr Gould and Mr Devlin (junior) and a 19 from Mr Doyle with the latter playing a walnuts MotM performance. However the 78 the walnuts finished with never going to be enough.
The Walnuts bowling was actually quite good with great line and length from Frank, Peader, Eddie , Mark, Brian, Damian and our fearless leader Sean however the target was way too low to defend and the Ramblers got there in just over 10 of their 15 overs.
All in all a very enjoyable game in the sun
Next week is the final game of the year against Malahide and am really looking forward to it
My performance was up and down again , I was one of the top 4 to line out with the bat and scored a nice boundary but got bowled out between my legs. To be fair the bowling from the Ramblers was very good. With the ball gave up maybe 5 or 6 in my 8 balls . Personally i feel i didnt make any mistakes in the field so that was nice.

Walnuts v North Kildare CC Taverners 25/05/2018: Venue North Kildare CC The Maws Kilcock

Walnuts Report. Thanks to North Kildare CC for hosting this game on a perfectly manicured outfield and for the afters, a fabulous spread.

Great set up these guys have with Rugby, Lawn Bowling, Tennis and Hockey also available. Format of the game was 15 overs of 8 balls.

Would also like to thank North Kildare for the extra fielders. Both youngsters were amazing.

So this was the game that should have been, could have been and then WAS a win for the Walnuts. It was a win that looked out of reach at certain stages. Walnuts batted first with Sean(15) and Mike(12) opening. A couple of really sterling performances with 20's from Devlin The Younger and Whelan The Elder. Whelan the Younger also had a great pop. Total for The Walnuts was 117 - Just 3 from a run a ball.

When the teams changed over it looked like it might not be enough! But Captain Sean taking a wicket off his first ball

helped a lot. Great overs followed from Liam. Peadar (lovely bowled out wicket) and Eddie. My over was a mixed bag.

3 runs coming off the first 6 and then a ball that was sent straight back at speed which I decided to stop with my shin!

That was that for me! Finished up the over giving up a wide and a 4 and that was me for the day.

Thanks to Dr. Pat for looking after me. The rest of the game I will be honest was a bit of a blur.

The bowling prowess continued with fantastic bowling from Player of the Match Graham and finally Eddie with great

fielding from Peadar to get a run out for the final wicket. All gone for 99 and left The Walnuts with 2 wins out of 3.

Seans first win as captain this year.

A cracking game and great fun had by all.

Walnuts v Phoenix Taverners 27/04/18: Venue Phoenix Park

First game of the season and it was great to be back. A huge thanks to Phoenix cricket club for playing a match at home that looked earlier in the day was going to be called off. The track and outfield as it turned out was in fabulous condition. the game itself, we lost by 9 balls in a quite up and down low scoring affair. Format was 15 x 8 ball overs. We were a tad rusty with the bat to some excellent bowling. A couple of exceptions with stand out performances from Peadar with 16 and a MOTM performance from Tom D. We totalled 85 which was probably a run an over shy of what we needed. With the ball there were some unfortunate missed fielding off the bowling of Mike and Brian (great line and length but just sneaked by the field) and some fantastic catches by Tom D x 2 and Mike x 2. Mark was on a hat trick at one stage and some great bowling by El Capitano Sean and also Philip. Good performances too from Tom D and Paddy B in their stints behind the stumps. Had a decent stint myself with bat and ball scoring 14 and giving up 4 or 5 runs in the 8 ball over. Thanks to my friend and colleague Teja for the practice. All in all it was fantastic to get out again. Roll on Leinster next week.

Walnuts v Dalkey Archives 20/07/2018 Venue: Home Terenure

Walnuts update. As always we would like to extend our gratitude for Dalkey travelling to Terenure for a great evening of cricket.

This was a game that should have at least been a lot tighter . Dalkey eventually victorious by about 30 runs, but it could have been so different. In the field we let ourselves down with a total of 9 dropped catches , some easier than others but all catchable. There was also a couple of fielding issues, but this can be blamed on the dusty outfield (ball was changing direction all the time). There was some really good bowling performances with the father and son Graingers doing well, and the Whelans as well. Devlin junior, Mr Doyle and Mr. Mc Ginn contributing beautifully. There was 2 catches in the game for the Walnuts with Rhys taking a beauty on the run. Dalkey posted 110 with steady batting along with our mistakes.

The batting started really well with the opening pairing of Mike and my player of the match Rhys getting their 20s . Peadar continued his run of form with the bat as well, however after that things went downhill with ducks and low scoring from everyone else.

My performance was not even mixed , bowled my 1 over okish giving up my usual wides and a couple of runs , fielding dropped a doozy , and batting out for a duck, a simple pop up . Just wasn't at the races.

Roll on Arthur's next week and hopefully we can end this slide.

Walnuts v The Gravediggers 06/07/2018 Venue Away Phoenix Park

Walnuts Update. Firstly a huge thanks to The gravediggers for hosting and playing the game and the feast of sandwiches after were fabulous.. What a stunning setting in the heart of Phoenix park and what a great bunch of lads. The Afters was great fun. Game format was 20 overs of 6 balls. To the game itself. Well what a topsy turvey game which The Walnuts eventually won. Walnuts fielded first and what a start! First over by Tom D led to a catch by Brian. second over was a caught and bowled by Damian and fourth over led by 2 catches by Mike and Damian off the bowling of POTM Eddie. Mike then got a clean bowled and so did Andrew. The game was going very much our way until The Gravediggers got a bit of a roll eventually posting 96 for 9 but not before a fabulous shoe laces catch by Sean. No offence Sean but I didn't think you could stretch that far down lol....off the bowling of Brian. 97 was the target which was about 30 more than seemed possible at the half way mark. Batting. Walnuts started very similar with 3 wickets falling early and was looking bad at the start however thanks to stands by Mike who was the only one of us to reach a twenty, Liam, Tom D and Eddie we got over the line with 10 or so balls to spare. My performance was up and down. 1 caught and bowled and another catch were the highlights but a couple of fielding errors cost a few runs. I was substituted after 10 overs in the field for Liam and did not bat. All in all a fabulous occasion and a great game of cricket.

Walnuts v Walnuts 07/09/2018 Venue: Home Terenure

Walnuts Final Update 2018. We were due to play Malahide on Friday - but after a no show we decided to have a game amongst ourselves. It was a great evening of cricket - with Eddie's 8 defeating Sean's 7 in an extremely fun game. Congratulations to Ian F for the player of the match award for his wicket keeping, bowling and batting. I would also like to extend my sincerest gratitude to the BBQ chefs, Pat Tunney and Eddie Doyle. The food was fabulous guys.

And that is that for another year - its been a real pleasure to play this year, and its been a pleasure to report on the games as well. My sincerest thanks to Sean for his captaincy these last 2 years, and to everyone in the club for welcoming an outsider like me in and giving me the direction and encouragement to play (at least to my face - lol). Roll on May 2019.

MATCH REPORTS 2018

Walnuts v Trinity Theatricals 27/07/2018 Venue: Away @ St. Columba's College

    Walnuts update. Firstly thanks to the Trinity Theatricals for hosting the game in the fabulous St. Columbas College grounds. The view of Dublin was very impressive. Game format was 15 overs of 8.
Result first . Trinity Theatricals were much to good for us and easily beat us. To paraphrase our captain Sean they know cricket. Trinity posted 138 to the Walnuts 67 (or so).
     Walnuts bowled first and to be honest it didn't go well . However there were notable exceptions , with very tidy bowling from Sean (resulting in one of only two wickets, a beauty clipping the bails of off stump and along with his batting earned him PoTM for the 2nd week running), Eddie who deserved a run out, and Ian F who bowled a really nice line and length. In fact Ian had a great game with a complete all rounder performance, starting behind the stumps, and then later bowling. The other wicket came from Damian (a clean bowled , with the batsman looking to hit for six and missing ). There was one outstanding performance on the field , with president Tom's nephew (by marriage) Dara having a cracking game.
    On to the batting and due to some fabulous bowling from the home team the batting again failed us. Again there was some notable exceptions with Mr. Devlin junior hitting a fabulous 22 with 2 maximums and a couple of boundaries and Sean's 19. Ian F again had a good run with the bat to complete his trifecta.
     As mentioned we only got 67 and were well beaten in approx 11 overs.
     My performance was erratic at best . Will start with fielding , didnt have a lot to do but in the second over a ball went out towards the boundary, I tried to chase it down, futile effort as it turns out, and felt a pull in my leg. This niggle remained for the game but only when standing still. I was quite annoyed with myself at the end when I missed a catch (would have been a great catch I think, but only got my thumb on it and has to be called a drop. Sorry Eddie you deserved that wicket. )
   Bowling was all over the place again giving up 2 wides in each of the overs , a couple of boundaries and taking middle stump for a cleaned bowled.
     Batting , got 8 runs including a 4 but was one of the many victims of cracking bowling. 3rd ball in that particular over hit one back over the head of the bowler for a lucky 2 runs, but next ball honestly didnt see it ball came up of the bat and was a relatively easy catch for the bowler.

Line drawn, next up Dalkey at home and looking forward to it very much.

Those who can, play, those who can't play, teach, and those who can't teach, report.

Walnuts v Air Corps Tavs 08/06/2018: Venue Home Terenure

Walnuts Update. Short and sweet this week. Air Corps could not field a team unfortunately and cried off so with no opposition we had a fun competition and training session combined amongst ourselves. Good fun was had by all with Mike and Rhys and Brian with Paddy B winning the competition (sorry Sean Bat was NOT grounded). Highlight was the fabulous fayre and cocktail sausages from Cyril...Thanks Mary. Oh and the few pints afterwards.

Walnuts v North Kildare CC Tavs 20/07/2018 Venue: Home Terenure

Walnuts update. Firstly thanks to North Kildare for travelling all the way to Terenure for the game that looked like it could have been called of, and wanting to play even if raining, a level of commitment that is very commendable and very much in our spirit of the game. Weather was lovely as it turns out, overcast but dry. Game format was 15 overs of 8 balls. A special mention to the groundskeeper Philip, and the weather . The track was hard but great, with the earlier rain softening it up just enough.
Result first. North Kildare were much to good for us , and got revenge for earlier in the season.
Walnuts batted first and there was some very commendable efforts firstly from Philip (16) with some lovely boundaries, and later from Liam with a steady 17 with great running and a massive 22 from captain Sean, whom North Kildare deemed POTM for our side and richly deserved (with a fabulous 6). Some lovely batting by Eddie as well late on for his 10 not out. The bowling from North Kildare was absolutely spot on for the most part, with the ball coming up of the hard track. A couple of these were too much for me (see my performance later). I think we got about 85 or something of our 120 balls and this was never going to be enough and so it proved.

In saying that the first few overs of our time in the field went well firstly from Frank (unfortunate that bowled out was the batters first ball) and then Philip who got a lovely wicket in his over, and Eddie who was unfortunate with some beautiful bowling. Unfortunately the big hitters came in and the game got away from us. Notable bowling performances came later with Sean taking a lovely wicket and Liam bowling a fab line and length and got rewarded with a drive of his bowling resulting in a lovely catch by Damian. A further special mention to Tom D behind the stumps , he had a great game with nothing going past him. The game unfortunately was over by the 11th over and North Kildare tied the series.

My performance , well not much to say today . Batted third and got 1 or 2 runs , with their bowling spot on really. A couple of balls came up on me and on the third over one came up of the bat and hit me on the chin, that one I shook off but the next one , again of the bat, caught me on the forehead and I had to retire hurt. Thanks to everyone for making sure I was ok , I felt the love and concern I assure you and it was so very much appreciated.

My time on the field was ok I think though one fielding error (again) gave up an overthrow run. I did make up for it I think with a lovely low catch that I think was my best yet, which got me our captains call for our potm (though it could have been for the sandwiches, or maybe it was sympathy). Thanks Sean .

An eventful game and (for the most part) highly enjoyable.

Looking forward to playing Trinity Theatricals in St Columbas College next week.

Walnuts v Fitzwilliam Taverners 31/05/2018 : Venue Home.

Walnuts Update. Firstly, as always, thanks to Fitzwilliam Tavs for the game on our home turf and thanks to Philip for a lovely manicured crease. The format of the game was 15 overs of 8 balls. Result first. Fitzwilliam were way too good for us and beat us by about 45 runs.

Walnuts fielded first and personally I thought we did rather well keeping them to just 104 off their 120 balls. Some great bowling by Liam, Coxsy, Eddie,Tom D and Philip picking up wickets and keeping the run rate down. Our only gripe was the number of missed catches - someone said it was as high as 7. Some were relatively easy misses - sorry guys it has to said, however the fielding itself apart from that was good from my point of view. One "missed catch" though would have been catch of the century had Liam caught that over the head one with his back to the wicket! Was delighted with my own performance in the field to be honest picking up my first catch of the year off Tom D's bowling - a pop up but I had yards to make up. Was given the task of the death bowler - laughing as I write this because anyone that knows me knows I am definitely not a 20th over bowler or any over for that matter, however giving up just 1 run in the first 7 balls and a wide on the 8th gave me 1 final ball and with it took my first wicket and my first ever clean bowled.

I will keep the batting report very short. We started brightly in response. Peadar and Liam opening we had at one stage 34 runs off 32 balls and very much on track however it soon fell very much apart with Peadar on 17 and Liam on 10 the only two batters to get double figures and we were bowled out for less than 60 I think.

My performance with the bat this year and in this game particularly was pretty poor with a 3 ball duck. just couldn't get up to speed.

Congratulations Fitzwilliam. It was still a very enjoyable way to spend a Thursday evening in the Terenure sun.

Also a big thank you to Mark and Paddy B for the sandwiches - Very impressive spread guys.

Roll on Air Corp Tavs next week - weather permitting!