With the business end of the season nearing, Nishant Kumar and the 2nd XI were looking to continue their fine league form with victory over Clare in Adare on Saturday afternoon. With the first round of fixtures almost complete, Limerick knew another victory would take them within touching distance of finishing the first half of the season at the top of the table.

A rain disrupted day however ensued, with an extremely damp outfield on arrival, umpires Paul McCutcheon and Simon Tiptaft agreed on a delayed start with light rain continuing to fall. It was only in the late afternoon, some time around 3pm, when the rain had fully stopped and subsequently, both captains and umpires agreed on a 20-over game starting at 3.50. Visitors Clare won the toss and elected to bat first. 

The opening bowlers for Limerick created some real pressure in the middle with the ball swinging around in problematic fashion. In fact, Kumar decided to bowl both his openers straight through, namely Waqas Mehmood and Ramoji Alla, after their combined spells resulted in five wickets. Ayan Ullah maintained pressure as he dismissed Muhammed Akbar for just four runs, as Clare struggled to get a foothold and meandered their way to a total of 96. 

The opening pair of Arslan Sayyam and Karthik Karur provided a good response in the run chase, maintaining a good run rate and ensuring no early concession of wickets. Despite the departure of Sayyam for 18, Limerick chased down their target with nine wickets to spare ensuring full bonus points would be secured. Karur finished not out on 27 whilst Yogesh Borghare’s 38 from 37 deliveries provided the remaining runs required. The win keeps Limerick in first place in division one with just one final league game remaining, currently scheduled for two weeks time at home to Nenagh.   

RESULT| MCU Division One.

We defeated County Clare by 9 wickets yesterday. 

County Clare 1: 96-9 off 20 overs.

Waqas Mehmood 3-23

Ramoji Alla 2-15

Limerick 2: 98-1 off 16.5 overs.

Yogesh Borghare 38*

Karthik Karur 27*

                                           * * *

Having had their first match vs. Galway CC called off due to rain, Limerick lost the toss to Cork CC and were sent in to bat. Choosing to cycle the batting through all of their available players, Saadia Mahmood and Ashitha Dabbadka were sent out first to bat and started the Limerick Ladies off well with a solid opening partnership. Picking off the singles, and an impressive leg glance past third man for four runs by Dabbadka, the pair retired in the fourth and fifth over respectively for thirteen runs in total before allowing first Sanjana Shashikumar and then Sheena Van de Munckhof to step up to the crease.

Having picked off a few good singles together, miscommunication led to a very tight run out despite an impressive dive from Van de Munckhof. Madhu Marimuthu was next to step up to the crease, who put a couple of fast singles up on the board before her partner, Shashikumar retired. Nisha Patil and Marimuthu then continued with the fast singles as they worked through the seventh and eighth over. A well taken cough behind by the Cork wicket keeper saw Marimuthu walking with Snigda Sibi replacing her at the crease for the eighth over, shortly followed by a clean bowled delivery from Cork CC’s Alex which sent Patil walking after her partner. A quick single for Sibi and a leg boundary from Holly Westmoreland set up a quick partnership in the final two overs of the game, before Sibi found herself clean bowled by Cork CC’s Alex. Maria Van de Munckhof found herself in to bat with one ball remaining, who nudged it onto the leg side for a very quick final single to end the first innings for 37/3.

With the ball, Mahmood and Sibi opened the bowling with tight lines and good pace, limiting the experienced Cork openers to just six from the first three overs, including a well-held catch from Dabbadka off Sibi’s bowling. Some tight bowling from Dabbadka further held the Cork team at bay for a little while longer, before Cork CCs Sara hit some well-timed boundaries to seal the game in the seventh over. 

A special shout-out would also like to be extended from the Limerick women’s to Nick Van de Munckhof who once again volunteered his time to umpire the game, with Cork CCs coach Mick. Further thanks to chief supporters Katy, Zahra, and Henry, and scorers Yousaf and Evelyn.

RESULT| MCU Women's T10 Superleague.

We lost to Cork County by 7 wickets yesterday. 

        

Limerick: 37-3 off 10 overs.

Ashitha Dabbadka 7*

Saadia Mehmood 6

Cork County: 39-1 off 8.1 overs.

Snigda Sibi 1-8

Saadia Mahmood 0-2

                                           * * *

Limerick CC u15s recorded a handsome 40-run win  against a much fancied Cork County side in the T30 Superleague.

Having won the toss the LCC captain elected to bat. The Limerick openers found the early overs difficult but did enough to take the shine off the new ball. No 3 batter, Charlie Wharton, bravely endured some hostile bowling, his score of 14 off 23 ball helping to steady the Limerick ship. He was joined by captain Ayan Ullah who went on to record an impressive 50 before his mandatory retirement. His innings was matched by the equally impressive Yousaf Ramay who also reached the half century milestone. A lively 32-run contribution by Riyan Shah in 30 balls helped LCC reach a total of 214-7.

In response County openers, Connor Ahern and Eddie Ross, kept the Limerick bowlers at bay for 13 overs, recording the match’s partnership of 78 runs. However, Yousaf Ramey struck in the following over taking 3 wickets, including that of danger man Eddie Ross, in 4 balls. By drinks County were on 79-3. As County fell behind that asking rate further wickets were taken by Limerick. In the 18th over Chinmay Shinde struck as did Robert McCutcheon in the 22nd; a run out was also secured in the latter over. A quick fire 52 of 30 balls from Musab Afzal was not sufficient to keep a dominant Limerick side at bay. The final two wickets were taken by Charlie Wharton and Yousaf Ramay who finished with figures of 4-23, which on top of his earlier half century, was truly a player of the match performance.

Rivalries will be renewed next Saturday when Limerick hosts County in a T20 match. Until then the Limerick boys can enjoy their  sweet victory over their southern rivals.

RESULT| MCU U15 Superleague.

We defeated Cork County by 40 runs today.

Limerick: 214-7 off 30 overs. 

Ayan Ullah 50*

Yousaf Ramay 50*

Cork County: 174-8 off 30 overs.

Yousaf Ramay 4-23

Charlie Wharton 1-11

                                           * * *

The action doesn’t stop next weekend which sees three senior teams in action as well as two youth fixtures for the club. 

Sunday afternoon will be the main event where Limerick’s 1st XI will face a stern test in the form of Cork County at the Mardyke, as well as the 3rd XI’s Minor Cup Quarter-Final tie away to Waterford. Limerick’s 4th XI are back in T20 action with games against County Kerry and the Limerick Blasters at the Oyster Oval in Tralee on Saturday, and the U13s and U15s will look to keep their winning momentum intact with T20 Cup games against County Kerry and Cork County respectively.