Limerick faced the in-form Cork County in Adare on Sunday with the visitors looking to mount their title challenge whilst Limerick faced the uphill task of climbing up the Premier Division table. With a title shot out of the picture, Limerick were looking to salvage some pride in the first of their final three games of the year.
Having lost the toss, Limerick were put into field in dry conditions in Adare. The returning Shani Alam hit the ground running with the new ball, breaking the defences of Saddique for 20 before repeating the same to dismiss Adianatos for 6. Despite a strong start, Limerick struggled to break a sturdy fourth wicket partnership where County pressed past the 150-mark to solidify a stead platform. Nonetheless, Limerick rallied in the final twenty overs to give themselves a fighting chance, with Shani Alam’s return to the attack seeing him pluck away at the middle and late order. A superb effort from Alam which saw his spell return figures of 6-37 from nine overs, landing his maiden five-wicket haul for the club and seeing him just one wicket short of the 100-wicket mark.
Shani Alam pictured with his figures after the day's play
County’s target of 227 was by no means insurmountable, but Limerick’s top order found their negotiation of the opening exchanges difficult with Teke and Sridhar both exiting without scoring. Sarfraz Ramay and Ayan Ullah attempted to steady the ship and got over the 50-run mark. Ullah would be stumped for 21 after Ramay was adjudged LBW off the bowling of Adrianatos. The game was held in a balance where Limerick needed a middle-order partnership to get themselves within sight of the finish line, but wickets fell around the batting of Arslan Anwar, who constructed another half-century but was unable to galvanise support from elsewhere as Limerick fell 74 runs of their target.
RESULT| MCU Premier Division.
We lost to Cork County by 75 runs today.
Cork County 1: 227-9 off 50 overs.
Shani Alam 6-37
Prasad Hegde 2-45
Limerick 1: 152 all out off 38.2 overs.
Arslan Anwar 51*
Ayan Ullah 21
* * *
Against the same opposition, Limerick’s 3rd XI played out a thriller down in the Mardyke where they clinched a four-wicket victory, captain Waqas Mehmood leading from the front with a match-winning 84* to captivate a superb run chase from his side. The game saw over 400 runs scored between the two sides with the Shannonsiders chasing down their target with just four overs to spare.
The hosts won the toss, elected to bat and were off to a flyer with 80+ runs on the board after 10 overs. Limerick clawed their way back into proceedings, taking five wickets at the concession of the next 80 runs with the score at 165-5 after 24 overs as Mohit’s Malik introduction into the attack stemmed an aggressive County run-rate. With a solid platform, no partnerships accrued but healthy contributions all the way down to the tail meant Limerick struggled to withstand some delicate shot selections. The first innings ended at the 38th over with a target of 220 set.
Limerick 3rd XI vs Cork County (Top row, l-r): Pavan Prajapati, Mohit Malik, Muhammed Ammar, Eshan Tanveer, Jeevan Krishna, Muhammed Salman, Kumar Divyesh. (Bottom row, l-r) Dharshan Dwarakanath, Vinaykumar Nagaraju (wk), Wawas Mehmood (Capt.), Bhargav Kumar.
County won the early battles in the second innings with the new ball taking three early wickets and leaving Limerick in a hole at 34-3 after 6. Wicketkeeper Vinaykumar Nagaraju’s solid stand of 40 from 45 deliveries kept his side in the game, which included 7x4s and a healthy strike rate. Waqas Mehmood came to the crease at 80-4 and started to dictate the game, finding the boundary ten times in total as the game started to tick in Limerick’s favour. He was amply supported by Pavan Prajapati (18) and Jevan Krishna (24) which got Limerick to 185-6, before a 26-run partnership between Mehmood and Malik (15*) got Limerick over the line to secure the win.
Waqas Mehmood pictured after his match-winning knock of 84*
RESULT| MCU Division Two.
We defeated Cork County by 4 wickets today.
Cork County 3: 219 all out off 38 overs.
Muhammed Ammar 2-36
Mohit Malik 2-38
Limerick 3: 221-6 off 36.1 overs.
Waqas Mehmood 84*
Vinaykumar Nagaraju 40
* * *
The final weekend of games sees the same set of sides in action, a double-header against County Kerry and Cork Harlequins respectively will see them finish out their season whilst the 3rd XI will travel to Lisronagh once more to take on United Cricket Clonmel. Finally, the 4th XI will make the trip to Farmer’s Cross to face Cork Harlequins to play their final Division Three game with a place in the top half of the table up for grabs.
