Pembroke took a step nearer to Section A when they defeated Old Belvedere by 62 runs in a low scoring encounter at Sydney Parade.

Losing the toss & being invited to bat, they lost Brian O’Rourke caught behind by Peter O’Donnell from the first ball of the match to a Ritchie O’Donnell out-swinger. That brought Rick Francis to join the promising young Ryan Hopkins & they proceeded to bring the score up to 41 before Francis who in attempting to make the railway tracks holed out to change bowler Del Boy McGeehan for 17. Hopkins soon followed for a well made 20 & from 41 for 1 the score then went to 64 for 6. Enter the new youth brigade of Robbie Garth & Barry McCarthy. They brought the score up to 95 & showed signs of things to come for the future. Garth was out for 8 & McCarthy for 17. Skipper Peter Byrne scored a brisk 17 n/o but ran out of parteners bringing their total to a mere 115.

Best of the Belvedere bowlers was Ritchie O’Donnell who bagged a long overdue Michelle—his figures 5 for 27 off 8.5 overs. Others to impress were Manoj Kumar bowling gentle off cutters & Saddaf Raza bowling Leg Spin.

In reply Belvo never challenged a very obtainable total in a match completely dominated by the bowlers. The seamers ripped through the top order & at tea, Belvo were on 26 for 4. They never recovered & were eventually all out for a meagre 53. Best of the Pembroke seamers was Bill Whaley 3 for 15 supported by brother Emmet 2 for 4. Aussie Jonathan Cook mopped up the tail taking 4 for 23.

Pembroke who were without Balbirne & McDonnell will be relieved to have got away with an under par performance in a fixture they would have viewed as a must win match.