Saturday saw the quarter finals of the Lewis Hohn Williams Senior Cup resolved, two by clear margins and two much more closely. I was at one of the closer contests, at Anglesea Road , between Merrion and Clontarf. The home team won the toss and batted.

Dom Joyce set off at a good pace, accompanied by the more watchful Kade Beasley. Dom is good on the front foot, and played a couple of cracking drives, but he's very uncertain when playing back and, as often happens to him, he was caught betwixt and between to a nipper-backer from Conor D'Arcy and was lbw for 31 out of 47 in the 14th over.

Beasley and John Anderson made very little progress against D'Arcy and Greg Molins, even though Greg's bowling was very far below where it should be. Not satisfied with getting away with murder, he produced a widish rat which Anderson (15) dragged on to his stumps. Rod Hokin's leggies were no easier to get away, and just before lunch he bowled Beasley for 37.

Lunch was taken after 34 overs with Merrion on 115-3. Almost immediately on resumption, Pradeep Lavang was disappointed to be given out lbw to one from Hokin he thought was going over the top. Ben Ackland and Rory Allwright were becalmed, both wanting to hit the ball, but neither managing to do it more than occasionally off Hokin or Andrew Poynter's gentle off breaks. Poynter accounted for both, Ackland lbw for 18 to one he thought turned too much, and Allwright caught wafting for 21.

That was 158-6 with overs running out. Matt Petrie and Jeff Short managed to work the ball past the infield off Alex Cusack and a second spell from Molins. They were one light of a fifty partnership when Short was bowled by Cusack for 21, and Petrie took himself to 35* and the total to 226-9 as the overs ran out.

Top scorer for Merrion was the ever reliable Ernie Extras, with 44. Cusack took 2/42 off 12, Hokin 2/36 off 12, and Poynter 2/26 off 8. Yes, the pitch got lower and slower as the innings progressed, but only 182 off the bat in 60 overs was pretty dismal, 30 or 40 below a testing target for Clontarf.

Adrian D'Arcy nicked off to Richard Keaveney for 9 with the score on 28. Immediately Dom Rigby was dropped at cover, a simple chance to Lavang. The chunky Scotsman, playing his last innings for Clontarf, took full advantage, and added 46 with Hokin before holing out for 39 off Lavang.

Dom, a great thinker of how to combat bowlers, and technically good enough to vary his game accordingly, has been a super player for Clontarf, and I shall miss his presence in the Dublin cricket scene. The best of luck to him and his missus in Guernsey . He was replaced by another technically accomplished player, Andrew Poynter.

With Hokin he added 53 for the third wicket before getting himself in a tangle and being bowled by Ben Ackland for 27. Ackland was exercising some control with his off breaks, as well as attracting the attention of the 70 yard men, as Martin Russell calls us amateur umpires on the boundary.

From square on, there's a break in Ackland's delivery, not every ball, and not clearly a straightening of the arm during delivery. I've found that the best place to view a suspect action is from long off, something the umpire can't do. From there it was much clearer: many balls are delivered with the arm bent throughout, but not straightened; like George Hook, it's very ugly, but not illegal.

Occasionally, however, the arm is straightened: like cocaine, this is illegal, although how much harm it does is another matter. For his own sake, Ben should be subject to a proper video analysis by people who know what they're doing. That excludes anybody from the LCU. Perhaps Adi Birrell can help – he's more sense than the entire wardrobe of Ireland 's blazers.

Ackland continued to put pressure on Clontarf, and after he bowled Cusack for 19 there was a bit of panic in the Bull's Meadow locker-room, Greg Molins ran himself out, and Vijay Gopal thumped a couple of boundaries before getting in a dispute with Rod Hokin over the existence of a run. The Aussie made sure that he stayed further away from the danger end and Gopal was the man ordered to go.

The asking rate had crept above fours, but only 30 were wanted, and Hokin and skipper Morrissey (17*) took their time before getting home with eight balls to spare. The winning hit was a pull through mid wicket by Hokin taking him to 97. He was the only batsman all day who was happy to play off the back foot, stopping the straight ones and working the rest into the gaps, giving himself far more options than the guys who propped onto the front dog and perforce played into a narrow V.

For Merrion, Matt Petrie bowled his 12 overs for only 31, but can't buy a wicket. Tiktish Patel, so good last year, is also suffering from a wicket crunch, and is leaking too many runs. Ackland's 2/43 off 12 was a worthy effort. The rest of the bowling was at best very ordinary.

The Anglesea Road outfit have gone backwards from last year, but they had that stunning win up in Comber last week. I hope they can repeat the trick in Limavady in a fortnight's time, but I'm not optimistic. I don't fancy Leinster's chances in Wallace Park, either, so when I come back from my holidays there might only be North County left in the Bob Kerr Irish Senior Cup.

My last engagement before taking the car over to Blighty was the short trip to Terenure to watch what used to be one of the games of the season in the early/middle1990s, CYM v YMCA. Both clubs have been somewhat threadbare of late, Section B cannon fodder. The home team are still that, but the visitors have perked up, finding a bit of life in the last of the summer wine.

Michael Launders won the toss and chose to bat. Kenny McDonald got on with it, and whacked a quick 30 out of 40 before edging a lifter from James Parkinson through to Etesham Ahmed behind the stumps. It was the only ball Shammy caught all day, but his mind was on events at London NW8. It certainly wasn't in Dublin 6W.

Donal Vaughan was quickly bowled by Stu McCready, which brought Brad Rasool in to meet the brat pack for the first time. Pleasantries were exchanged, and the tag 'Bargain Basement' seemed to stick. Reinhardt Strydom is still wondering where to find the sheep he is supposed to have dishonoured in South Africa . He should ask Gerry Duffy's advice.

Brad is no stylist, but he can bat, and is adept at working the ball around, accumulating very quickly. Robbie Henson spent a long time with his overs exceeding his runs, but finally opened his broad shoulders to despatch some bad balls. He'd got to 42 out of 139 when he was very smartly caught and bowled by Strydom.

Roxy Morgan (he explained the origin of the nickname to me, but I'll take it to Ian Paisley Jr.'s grave with me) faced two balls – single and out; young Doug Nicol kept Rasool company for a further 40 runs, and at 188-4 CYM looked as if they might get somewhere near the 250 they'd need to make any sort of game of it.

But I digress. Rasool had put Angus Dunlop thrice in the tennis courts, and tried to do the same to Paul Beacroft. He got under it, and Smacker took the catch. The excitement was too much for my favourite training officer, who lost count, and watched Nicol hole out off the seventh ball of the same over.

He then chunged Michael Launders to make it 190-7. Beekers told me he was stitched, but I was looking at Lewie, now behind the stumps, sprawling down the leg side. John Hoey and Steven Moore had a merry little stand of 35, when Moore was done by a 'Porterfield' for 13, JH was bowled for 19, and Niall McDarby became Beacroft's Michelle courtesy of another lbw.

CYM were all out for 226, with 30 extras, half of them down to Shammy. James Parkinson took 1/26, Stu McCready 1/35, and Paul Beacroft 5/25. After a very nice tea, Reinhardt Strydom started whacking the CYM bowlers to all parts. Apart from Michael Launders's opening spell, the bowling wasn't even Senior 2 standard.

Rainy got to his ton out of 150. Alan Lewis then reached 51 and holed out. Stu McCready fell to a good catch by Kenny Mac, but the normally staid Simon Wilson-Moore joined in the fun. Rainy was excellently caught and bowled by his new buddy 'Bargain Basement' for 131, Angus Dunlop never faced a ball, SWM was 23* and YMCA won by 7 wickets with 13 overs to spare.

What did I learn from my afternoon's anabasis? Nothing, but it reinforced several things I already knew. YMCA have some good cricketers, but they won't compete in Section A. CYM need to go back to where I first found them back in the 1970s, in Senior 2.