The Colts team suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of an excellent Merrion XI in their opening league match.  

It had started well for Malahide when Matthew Jeffrey-Carrick, bowling with pace and movement, took two wickets in the first over and another in his third.  Merrion responded to the early losses with a superb fourth-wicket partnership of over 150 in which the batsmen plundered our attack.  Matthew JC returned to break the partnership, finishing on 4 for 35, but by then the damage had been done. 

It's a credit to the Malahide boys that they didn't lose heart and began to exert more control once the other run scorer had retired.  Rohit Upadhyay took 2 for 25 in a fine spell and Daniel Crampton bowled with control at the end.  In the field we took what few chances came our way with smart catches from Raj Upadhyaya, Chris Deacon, Adam Doyle and Oliver Manks.  Oliver Jeffrey-Carrick impressively patrolled an increasingly large cover area as our fielders retreated to the boundary, while James Dickinson kept well in challenging conditions.

Merrion's total of 265 was simply too big to chase and their bowlers pressed home the advantage.  Adam Doyle, though, mounted a spirited response with a 44 that included 5 sixes.  He received support from captain Eoghan Keohane, Oliver Manks and  Matthew Clarke.  James Dickinson was undefeated, but ran out of partners and overs.