Limerick completed a clean sweep over the weekend where the club secured three wins from their games in Division One, Two and Three. The victories provided much-needed points with sides looking to challenge for titles and set themselves up for a big finish to the season with now, not many games remaining. 

Limerick’s 2nd XI were the first to get over the line as they were involved in a thrilling encounter in Ballyneety on Saturday afternoon against local rivals Limerick Blasters. Skipper Waqas Mehmood elected to bowl first having won the toss and favoured himself and Waqar Ahmed with the new ball. Both seamers enjoyed the powerplay, taking one wicket a piece and restricting the opposition before Patel’s introduction engineered the dismissal of Krishnan, caught by Mohit Malik. 

The Blasters brought themselves back in with a 45-run partnership for the fourth wicket but 75-3 turned into 116-6 as the Shannonsiders gathered momentum which they were able to take into the final spells of the innings. Malick, Zazai and Aziz added to the wicket column with Malick in particular the pick of the bowlers, despite an expensive few overs, as Blasters finished on 166 all out from 38.2 overs.

In response, Limerick lost both openers early. Venkatesh was joined by his skipper at the crease and rebuilt the innings going from 25-2 to 78-4, and leaving their side 90 or so runs adrift. But the hosts got the better of the middle overs and the game shifted after drinks as 89-4 soon became 108-5 with the dismissal of MK. Waqar Ahmed added 13 before being bowled by Jaison after 31 overs, and the tail-enders of Malick and Zazai needed a 32 run partnership. Successfully done, Zazai played a match-winning knock of 23 from 22 balls ( 1x4, 1x6) whilst Malick anchored from the other end with an undefeated 10 from 48 balls to see their team through by just one, single wicket.

RESULT| MCU Division One.

We defeated Limerick Blasters by 1 wicket yesterday. 

Limerick Blasters 1: 166 all out off 38.2 overs.

Samad Malick 3-30

Waqas Mehmood 2-12

Limerick 2: 167-9 off 37.5 overs.

Sumukh Venkatesh 27

Shoaib Zazai 23*

Limerick completed the double over the Blasters on Saturday as the 3rd XI were winners by 7 wickets in their encounter at the Manor Fields in Adare. Captain Sathya Prabu lost the toss and was put into bowl by the opposition in overcast conditions, which would presumably favour the bowlers. Not on this occasion however, as Blasters accelerated 1-19 to 130-2 after 23 overs, as opener Roby went on to make 98 runs from 86 before being dismissed by Ammar in the 27th over at 175-5. Incidentally, that was Ammar’s third wicket who added his fourth moments later, but the tail added on 50 or so runs to finish the innings on 226-9. 

Limerick altered their game plan in their reply, opting for a more conservative approach in the powerplay and thereafter to secure a platform for the latter stages. Dahim and Srivastava ensured this with an opening stand of 37 before Dahima motored on to another 50 for the club, a stylish half-century which included 3x4s and 2x6s. He was supported well by Krishna who made 29 from 58 before he made way for Borghare who made his highest score of the season with 54 from just 26 balls, a powerful knock which saw him punishing a number of short deliveries to the boundary. Dahima’s dismissal on 64 was all but a blip as Nagaraju and Prabu joined Borghare to knock off the winning runs.

RESULT| MCU Division Two.

We defeated Limerick Blasters by 7 wickets yesterday. 

Limerick Blasters 2: 226-9 off 40 overs.

Muhammad Ammar 4-57

Sathya Prabu 3-23

Limerick 2: 227-3 off 34.4 overs.

Bharatkumar Dahima 64

Parth Borghare 54*

Limerick’s 4th XI avenged their earlier one-run defeat to Midleton in another close encounter which saw Ramji Lakshmanan’s side edge a 15-run victory in the end. 

Early contributions from Chandra (32) and Pawar (59) set a solid base for the subsequent batsman to work off as Aziz (33) showed maturity and touch, which was backed up by another youth member, Shayan Malik, who made 35 from just 23 to accelerate things for the visitors. The final ten overs went for 54 runs as Limerick set a target of 274 for the hosts. 

Tight spells from Ramay and Lakshmanan set a good tone for the Shannonsideers in response before Midleton edged their way slowly back into the game despite an ever-increasing run-rate. A few big overs after drinks got them back into full contention before the introduction of Chiranjeevi Totad turned the game on its head, a spell of four overs yielded three crucial wickets for just 19 runs as Aziz finished off the final partnership with Midleton needing 15 from 10 balls. 

RESULT| MCU Division Three.

We defeated Midleton by 15 runs today. 

Limerick 4: 273 all out off 38 overs.

Monish Pawar 59

Shayan Malik 35

Midleton 4: 258 off 38.4 overs.

Chiranjeevi Totad 3-19

Abubakar Aziz 2-40

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Limerick’s U17 side ended their league campaign in dramatic fashion, losing out to Cork County by 15 runs in Curraheen Road on Wednesday which diminished their chances of coming out as the table-toppers. In a race against time, Ayan Ullah and his side were looking to finish their run-chase before the 18th over in order to overtake Cork Harlequins at the summit of the table. Having lost the toss, his side were put into field for the first innings.

Opening with his brother Arham and pacer Chinmay Shinde, Limerick were up against it in the opening exchanges before running out Aherne from a terrible mix-up in the middle. The error was compounded when Aziz dismissed the other opener, Noori, who played one too many across the line and was bowled. A steady partnership followed for the third wicket with Faizi and Ross adding to the scoreboard, Ross was eventually bowled for 48 after chopping on from a fullish delivery, again from Aziz, who was the pick of the bowlers for his side, as County set a target of 144. 

Aziz and Lakshmanan got their side on the front foot with some nice shots through the outfield early on before Lakshmanan holed out to mid-wicket in the third over for 22-1. Malik, at 3, could not get going as a short-pitched delivery got him in a tangle as he gloved one to short fine-leg. Ullah and Aziz recovered the innings for Limerick and Shinde’s contribution of 21 got his side over the 100-run mark. Ulllah’s retirement on 50* enforced promotions to the batting order and despite Ullah being able to return late on, too many runs were needed in too little deliveries remaining, as County ran out victors by a 15-run margin.

RESULT| MCU U17 League.

We lost to Cork County by 15 runs yesterday. 

Cork County U17: 143-7 off 20 overs.

Abubakar Aziz 3-25

Behroz Khan 1-12

Limerick U17: 128 all out off 17.2 overs.

Ayan Ullah 51

Abubakar Aziz 24

Chinmay Shinde 21

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Next weekend sees just two games for the club as all teams playing last weekend will take a break as the 1st XI return to Adare for Premier League action. They will face a tricky test against Cork Harlequins with an 11am start expected at the Manor Fields. The Women’s side will play their final league game to round off their fantastic season, they host County Galway on Saturday with a noon start time.

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