With two out of the four games for Limerick Cricket Club losing out to weather over the weekend, Limerick’s 4th XI more than made up for the entertainment with a thrilling encounter against Midleton coming down to the final ball. 

The Limerick side was much unchanged to their last game with Andrew Girkin stepping in as captain in the absence of Ramji Lakshmanan but still a strong presence of youth players from top to bottom. With home advantage on his side, Girkin lost the toss and was put into field for the first innings. 

It was the home side that won the first powerplay, taking three wickets as opening bowlers Shravan Chandra and Eshan Tanveer causing trouble with the new ball. Yousaf Ramay’s first spell was also noteworthy, he tightened things up with 1-20 from five overs as Girkin continued to diversify the bowling attack. Midleton went from 51-4 to 126-6 in a match-changing partnership which was broken by Abubakar Aziz in the 29th over. The wickets didn’t stop there for Aziz, who was on target to dismiss Wilson for a golden duck with the following delivery, leaving him on a hat-trick ball with the final ball of the over. Midleton continued to push and got their side up to 180 at the end of their innings. 

In reply, Limerick battled back to losing Girkin in the third over with a stand of 66 runs for the second wicket between Chandra (25) and Pawar (32). This shifted the momentum in the visitor’s favour with a procession of wickets at a crucial point in the game as Limerick went from 75-1 after 14 to 105-6 after 25. With 15 overs left, a partnership of 42 runs between Ramay and Aziz brought the hosts close. Aziz continued to bat responsibly, his knock of 39 from 67 deliveries showed great maturity. 

Limerick needed a run a ball from the 30th over in but had to rely on the tail to finish the run chase with his dismissal at 176-8 leaving 5 runs needed from the final over. A wide delivery in the penultimate ball of the game, with LImerick needing three runs to win, was capitalised by Shinde and Tanveer who attempted a third run to get the scores level for the final delivery. It wasn’t to be, with Tanveer short of his ground when the ball was thrown in meaning the final wicket for his side and the end of the innings with the score at 179. 

RESULT| MCU Division Three.

We lost to Midleton by 1 run today.

Midleton 3: 180 all out off 37.1 overs.

Eshan Tanveer 2-8

Shravan Chandra 2-27

Abubaker Aziz 2-32

Limerick 4: 179 all out off 39.5 overs.

Abubaker Aziz 39

Monish Pawar 32

                                           * * *

As if one close encounter was not to be enough, Limerick’s 3rd XI played out a thrilling draw against Cork County on Sunday afternoon at the Manor Fields in Adare. The game was disrupted by rain during the first innings, resulting in a 32-over per side match. Limerick would be proud of their efforts during the first innings, with youngster Ayan Ullah stepping up with the ball. He managed to take the wicket of Abas in his first spell and smoothly cut through the tail, taking three wickets in his penultimate over, and County finished on 106-9.

Limerick’s struggles with the bat continued as opener Bharadwaj Mysore carved out a well-made 28 from 51 deliveries, wickets fell around him to garner some momentum for the visitors. Despite a small total, County continued to take wickets with the dismissals of Laksmanan, Ullah and Nagaraju all ensuing and in quick succession. When skipper Sathya Prabhu departed after being bowled for early on his innings, Mysore was dismissed three overs later and the game swung against the hosts with 15 overs remaining and the tail now looking to chase down the final 45 runs or so. 

Pavan Prajapati and Kumar Divyesh added to the total with 10 and 22 respectively before being dismissed with Dicyesh departing with the score at 99-9. The final pair needed 7 runs from the final 11 deliveries and a tense finish was in store. Zazai and Krishna brought the game to needing three from the final two, a single was followed up by a bye and the scores were level with a final ball to go. With Krishna on strike, he couldn’t manage to make a single and a dot ball resulted in a tied game for both sides.

RESULT| MCU Division Two.

We tied with Cork County today.

Cork County 3: 106-9 off 32 overs.

Ayan Ullah 4-19 

Parth Borghare 2-18 

Limerick 3: 106-9 off 32 overs.

Bharadwaj Mysore 28

Kumar Divyesh 22

RESULT| MCU Division One.

Match abandoned- No Result.

UCC 1: 182 all out off 43.2 overs.

Sarfraz Ramay 2-16

Waqar Ahmed 2-23

Limerick 2: 2-1 off 4 overs.

Mohit Malik 1*

Karthik Karur 1*

                                           * * *

After their short break, Limerick’s 1st XI will return to action as the only adult team to play next weekend, they will welcome All-Ireland finalists County Kerry to the Manor Fields on Sunday with the game expected to start at 11am. Elsewhere, all remaining games will be youth encounters as the U15s are faced with four games in three days, taking on County Galway, Cork Harlequins and Cork County in T30 formats. Limerick’s U13 will have home advantage on Saturday where they will host Cork Harlequins on Saturday afternoon in Adare. The action will continue into Monday as the U17s look to get their campaign up and running with the test of Cork Harlequins at the Manor Fields scheduled for a 1pm start.