Limerick’s long wait for Junior Cup success came to an end after a long 19 years. It was indeed 2005 when Limerick last lifted the Percy Harris trophy, with many final heartbreaks in between.The sweet taste of victory came in the late sunshine of Saturday afternoon at the Manor Fields in Adare as the Shannonsiders eased their way to glory with an astounding 118-run victory over Cork Harlequins. 

Having batted first in the semi-final, skipper Nishant Kumar did not need a second invitation to send the opposition into field after winning the toss. A rapid-fire start was momentarily in question as Arslan Sayyam picked up consecutive boundaries in the second over, but was soon to be adjudged LBW giving Quins their first wicket. Karthik Karur maintained his anchoring role from the other end as the rest of the top order took the more aggressive approach. Borghare kept the score ticking over with 23 from 31 deliveries before another consolidated partnership between Ullah and Karur for the second wicket put Limerick in a commanding position of 96-2 at drinks.

Ullah was unfortunate to find the hands of Jack Buss as he attempted to glance a short delivery to third man, but his score of 41 set a superb platform for the rest of his teammates. Limerick were able to go into ‘T20 mode’ with seven wickets and seventeen overs remaining. Sumukh Venkatesh and Anvesh Bogavelly added some real impetus to the batting momentum, with Venkatesh in particular finding singles and doubles from unlikely positions all around the park. There was no let up for the bowling side as Limerick made full use of their 45 overs and ended on a score of 233-9. 

Kumar couldn’t have asked for a better start with the ball as batting momentum shifted perfectly to bowling. Ramoji Alla continued his fine form as an opening bowler, putting his counterparts in all sorts of trouble and picking up two wickets in his spell. He was well backed up by Manoj Sharma from the other end as the two right-armers worked in tandem to put Quins on just 14-4 at the turn of the sixth over. 

A firing start from which the away side could never recover, Limerick’s first and second changes paid dividends as Dharmesh Patel and Sarfraz Ramay both chipped in with two wickets apiece as well as one wicket to both Ayan Ullah and Anvesh Bogavelly. Limerick were able to wrap it up in 27 overs as Quins finished on 115 all out. It was scenes of joy at the final wicket as supporters rushed onto the field to celebrate with the team. 

RESULT| MCU Junior Cup Final.

We defeated Cork Harlequins by 118 runs yesterday.

Limerick 2: 233-9 off 45 overs. 

Anvesh Bogavelly 44

Ayan Ullah 41

Sumukh Venkatesh 41

Cork Harlequins 2: 115 all out off 27 overs.

Sarfraz Ramay 2-11

Ramoji Alla 2-13

                                           * * *

Saturday however was not the only success story for Limerick Cricket Club this weekend. After Saturday’s heroics, attention turned to the U13’s side All-Ireland Qualifier with Cork County on Sunday afternoon, with a win for Limerick securing their semi-final spot in two weeks time. Yousaf Ramay won the toss and elected to bat, as the opening pair of Ghufran Chaudhry and Behroz Khan played a remarkable partnership to see off the new ball. Limerick had 24 on the board before Chaudhry was bowled, and despite the loss of Ramay at number 3, Behroz continued to bat strongly with an wide shot selection on display. He was backed up by contributions in the middle order from McCutcheon (17), George (11) and Alagesan (10*) as a good run-rate was maintained with County struggling to pick up wickets. Behroz would retire on 30* with the score on 84-5 in the fifteenth over as Limerick chipped away to set a target of 121. 

Limerick struck early through Ramay in the first over and were relentless with the ball from start to finish. The pair of Behroz Khan and Arham Ullah came on first change and picked up one and two wickets respectively with County somewhat staggering on 54-4. Chinmay Shinde bowled a beautiful spell and finished on 1-14 from his set of four but County battled back to get to 95-6 with two overs to go. Limerick held their nerve and restricted the batting side 110-8, securing a 10-run victory and booking their place in the All-Ireland semi-finals.

RESULT| MCU U13 T20 Cup.

We defeated Cork County by 10 runs today.

Limerick: 120-5 off 20 overs. 

Behroz Khan 30*

Robert McCutcheon 17*

Cork County: 110-7 off 20 overs.

Yousaf Ramay 3-5

Arham Ullah 2-25

The victory capped off a perfect weekend for the youths which started with a thrashing victory over County Kerry on Friday evening for the U15 side. Limerick batted first in drying conditions at the Oyster Oval, and with a lot of overlap between the club’s U13 and U15 sides, it was a good warm-up for many before Sunday’s qualifier. 

A well-made 22 from Robert McCutheon opened the account for Limerick with Behroz Khan securing another score of 30 in the middle order. Limerick were 72-5 after 10 overs but accelerated the run-rate significantly from that point onwards. A quick-fire 61* off just 23 deliveries from Ayan Ullah was matched with a maiden half-century from Skandan Lakshmanan (52 from 35 balls). The tail came in with some scores also, including 17 off 17 balls from Yousaf Ramay and 36 off 25 deliveries from Eshan Tanveer. The innings culminated in Limerick’s record batting score at underage level with the final total reading 313-8 from 30 overs. 

Kerry’s response was shortlived as the Oystercatchers made 72 before being all dismissed after 13 overs. Behroz Khan bowled some nice lines and picked up three wickets in just two overs with other notable bowling performances from Eshan Tanveer, Arham Ullah and Ayan Ullah. 

RESULT| MCU U15 Superleague.

We defeated County Kerry by 241 runs yesterday.

Limerick: 313-8 off 30 overs. 

Ayan Ullah 61*

Skandan Lakshmanan 52*

County Kerry: 72 all out off 13.4 overs.

Behroz Khan 3-3

Eshan Tanveer 2-3

                                           * * *

Elsewhere, Limerick could not repeat the same in their other league encounters in Division Two and Three. 

On Sunday, Limerick’s 3rd XI took on an in-form Nenagh side in Adare looking to get their league campaign back up and running after some mixed results so far this season. 

Nenagh capitalized on some loose bowling and smartly kept their wickets in hand for a late flourish in the final ten overs or so. Ayan Ullah’s figures of 3-35 from his eight overs ended some building partnerships, but Nenagh’s tail was able to really kick on and would eventually finish their innings on 192-7. 

The response with the bat was tame with no partnerships relay being built, Nenagh started to turn the screw on the Shannonsiders with their opening bowlers eating into the top order. Syed Asif Hussein was the only batsman with a significant score, but his 25 off 50 balls was all in vain as Limerick’s middle order couldn’t regather any momentum. The home side ended up with a score of just 103 on the board before being bowled out at the start of the 29th over. 

RESULT| MCU Division Two.

We lost to Nenagh by 89 runs today.

Nenagh 2: 192-7 off 40 overs.

Ayan Ullah 3-35

Chandra Sekaran 1-17

Limerick 3: 103 all out off 29.2 overs. 

Syed Asif Hussein 25

Neeraj Kumar 15

                                           * * *

The Mardyke was the setting for Limerick’s 4th team on Saturday afternoon, with perfect conditions for the 40-over game. Having bowled first in a lot of games this year, skipper Ramji Lakshmanan was put into bat after Cork County elected to field after winning the toss. The loss of Waqar Ahmed early meant Limerick needed to consolidate to avoid another batting collapse. This was done in the form of Shayan Malik (25) and Chandra Sekarah (21) who pushed the ball around and ran well between the wickets to get their side back in the game. County were able to bounce back with a few sharp wickets to get the score to 78-5. Bhargav Kumar came in at 7 and the right-hander took the fight to the bowling attack in style, his first 50 in Limerick colours came just after the 30th over as his 71 included 3x4s and 2x6s. He was supported by scores of exactly 26 from both Vinaykumar Nagaraju and Deepak Nagaraju, complemented by 41 extras, meaning Limerick could set a target of 224 for County to chase. 

Although a significantly high score, Limerick struggled to come to terms with County’s top order. An opening stand of 146 from Mannan and Donnelly allowed a super platform to complete the run chase for the home side. Limerick bounced back with wickets at regular intervals but struggled to gather any real momentum with the ball as County eased to a five wicket victory, chasing down their target with a little over 5 overs remaining.

                                       * * *

Next weekend sees another myriad of games for the club, Limerick’s 2nd XI will look to continue their unbeaten league run on Saturday afternoon with a home fixture against rivals Limerick Blasters. The 3rd XI will also have home advantage as they welcome Cork County to Adare in Division Two. With an All-Ireland semi-final just around the corner, Limerick’s U13 side will look to iron out any creases to their form with three fixtures against Galway and Cork County scheduled. Finally, the club’s women’s side will complete in the T10 Supercup finals in Galway on Saturday. The team are fixed for back to back games, firstly taking on County Galway at 11am before looking avenge previous defeats against Cork County at 1pm.