The first games of the shorter format cups took place over the weekend with three of Limerick’s four adult teams in action. All games were T20 with the round robin formats deciding who would qualify for the subsequent stages of each competition. 

Limerick’s 1st XI took centre stage on Sunday afternoon as they welcomed County Clare and County Kerry to the Manor Fields. Looking to bounce straight back from last week’s heartbreaking loss to Ardmore, Bogavelly and co. were put into bat first against Clare with a loss for either side proving crucial in the final standings. 

Clare started the brighter with early wickets to dismiss Hari, Bogavelly and Kumar in the powerplay, but a sturdy innings from Manoj Sharma, sometimes known as a bit of a white-ball specialist, provided an anchor to the innings. Wickets fell around Sharma but the Indian was able to get his side out of a spot of bother at 53-6 after 10 to 86-8 after 14. Despite having only two wickets in hand, the home side’s tail did extremely well to bat out the innings and reach a respectable 119-9. 

It wasn’t until the final ball of the fourth over which saw the opening wicket, Alla finding the edge of opener Hakim before Clare took control and partnerships formed. 46-2 at the start of the ninth over looked showed ominous signs for the visitors before 3 wickets in 4 overs turned the game on its head. Limerick were also sharp in the field, claiming two run outs to claw back the momentum and run-rate with a nailbiting final few overs in store. Needing 21 from 12 balls, Ramoji Alla came back on to concede just five runs in the penultimate over with Hari finishing the business in the final six deliveries. Clare scored two early boundaries to need six from four, but Hari held his nerve crucially, in similar fashion to a few weeks against Carrickfergus, to ensure victory by a margin of just one run.

RESULT| MCU Premier T20.

We defeated County Clare by 1 run.

Limerick 1: 119-9 off 20 overs.

Manoj Sharma 28

Karthik Karur 15

County Clare 1: 118-7 off 20 overs.

Anvesh Bogavelly 2-11

Parth Borghare 1-17

Limerick were unable to follow their early win up as a heavy downpour fourteen overs into their innings resulted in the match being abandoned with the points settled between both sides. The three sides will now meet again in Tralee this Sunday where places in the knockout stages will be up for grabs. 

RESULT| MCU Premier T20.

Match abandoned- No Result.

Limerick 1: 99-4 off 14.1 overs.

Bharat Dahima 28

Jaco Potgieter 19*

County Kerry 1: DNB

                                           * * *

The star of the weekend played his blinder for Limerick’s 3rd XI on Sunday afternoon as Pavan Prajapti etched his name on to the club’s honours board with a superb century against County Kerry at Ballycasey Oval, Shannon. The landmark knock included a bludgeon 11x4s and 6x6s at a strike rate of a whopping 144.44, as Prajapati carried his bat for the entire 20 overs on his side’s way to 185-4. Prajapti eased his way into the innings alongside Teke, who put on 48 during the powerplay with Prajapti scoring 22 off the sixth over hitting five consecutive boundaries.

He was partnered by Pawar in the 8th over as the two let rip into the Clare bowlers, Pawar adding 35 from 25 balls as Prajapti dominated the strike in a 71-run partnership and made his 100 in the final over with a 6 off the third delivery to round off a great knock in style.

The shannonsiders defended their total well, with prabu leading by example with exemplary figures of 3-18 from four overs. He was backed up by the youth of Eshan  Tanveer (1-29) and Abubakar Aziz (2-31) whose vital wickets added to Kerry’s woes. The introduction of Yousaf Ramay all but sealed the deal, a tight spell of 1-14 from 4 overs increased the run-rate past an attainable number for the batting side, as Limerick claimed victory by a margin of 53 runs.

RESULT| MCU Division 2/3 T20 Group D.

We defeated County Kerry by 53 runs.

Limerick 3: 185-4 off 20 overs.

Pavan Prajapati 104*

Monish Pawar 35

County Kerry 3: 132-8 off 20 overs.

Sathya Prabu 3-18

Abubakar Aziz 2-31

Prabu’s side would feel hard done by in the second match, with heavy rainfall causing the match to be decided by DLS in the favour of opponents County Clare. Setting a respectable target of 144 batting first, Pawar’s 27 from 19 balls in the middle order proved significant with the tail of Nofil Khan and Bhargav Kumar putting together a much-need 47-run partnership in the final five overs with a flurry of boundaries on show. 

Clare’s fast start did the damage in the run chase, with their score of 49-1 after 5.3 overs enough to surpass them over the DLS run-rate. This leaves Limerick with one win from two but a very favourable run-rate given the margin of victory from their first game.

RESULT| MCU Division 2/3 T20 Group D.

We lost to County Clare by 9 wickets (DLS).

Limerick 3: 143-8 off 20 overs.

Monish Pawar 27

Nofil Khan 21

County Clare 3: 49-1off 5.3 overs.

Arham Ullah 1-10

Asif Hussein 0-39

                                           * * *

Limerick’s 4th XI suffered back to back losses from their games on Saturday but two spirited performances against two very experienced sides offered a lot of positive takeaways from their outing in Shannon.

 

Their opening game against the hosts, after losing the toss, we were put in to bowl first. Arham Ullah gave the team a great start with an excellent opening spell, breaking the opening partnership early. However, the conditions did not favour us with the ball, and the opposition batting side managed to post a strong total of 222 runs on the board.

In reply, Chiranjeevi and Yash started positively and played excellent innings, putting together a strong opening partnership of 77 runs. Unfortunately, we then lost 4 wickets for just 7 runs, which shifted the momentum away from us.

Skandan and Ajay showed good fight and batted well to take the team score to 156 in 19 overs. Unfortunately, we lost the match despite a determined effort from the team. There were several positive moments during the game, but missed opportunities and pressure situations affected the final result. Credit to the opposition for performing well and maintaining control in key stages of the match.

RESULT| MCU Division Four T20 Group A. 

We lost to County Clare by 54 runs (DLS). 

County Clare 4: 222-5 off 20 overs.

Arham Ullah 3-25

Darshan Dwarakanath 1-43

Limerick 4: 156-5 off 19 overs.

Chiranjeevi Totad 47

Skandan Lakshmanan 34*

We then started the second match against Limerick Blasters and, after losing the toss once again, were put in to bowl first. We had a decent start with the spin attack, and Abubakar did a good job with the ball by breaking the partnership early. Thereafter, Arham picked up 2 wickets, while Darshan also contributed with 1 wicket.

Unfortunately, a few dropped catches and the extras conceded proved costly, helping the opposition reach 167 runs in 18 overs.

In reply, Chiranjeevi and Yash opened the batting and gave the team a decent start, although the scoreboard could not move according to the required run rate, which put us under pressure. We then lost 7 quick wickets, which made the chase difficult, and eventually we lost the match against Limerick Blasters, falling short by 65 runs.

Despite the results, there were positive performances with both bat and ball across the two matches. There are valuable lessons to take from these games, and the team will focus on improving and coming back stronger with a more disciplined performance in the next matches.

RESULT| MCU Division Four T20 Group A. 

We lost to Limerick Blasters by 69 runs (DLS). 

Limerick Blasters 3: 166-8 off 18 overs.

Arham Ullah 2-20

Darshan Dwarakanath 1-25

Limerick 4: 102-7 off 18 overs.

Chiranjeevi Totad 27

Darshan Dwarakanath 14

                                           * * *

Limerick’s women's side continued to chalk down more victories into their season with an emphatic 15-run win over rivals Cork County in the Manor Fields on Saturday. The team’s second game of the day was rained off against County Galway.

Holly Westmoreland captained the side for this encounter and elected to bat after winning the pre-game toss. It was a decision which proved to be the right one, as the hosts posted a decent target of 72 from their 15 overs. Limerick suffered early with the loss of opener Kajal Bohr and subsequently Sana George, who was in a recent rich vein of form from previous games. Control was taken back from the second over onward, with Westmoreland and Nimbalkar consolidating a 60-run partnership which last right up the end of the thirteenth over, with the skipper leading from the front with 40 not out from 56 balls, a knock which consisted of good running between the wickets and three boundaries. Nimbalkar ensured a good rearguard with 11 from 24, rotating the strike when needed and allowing her captain to take the reins where necessary.

In response, Limerick were excellent with the ball from the outset, with George executing a magnificent first over with the new ball. The youngster took two wickets to eliminate the opposition pacesetters,  offering herself a hat-trick ball which was kept out by Spalding. This early momentum was exactly what the doctor ordered, with Westmoreland following suit thereafter, dismissing Padaniya and Spalding to leave the score at 51-4. The game was in the balance with plenty of overs remaining, but two run outs through Sanjana Shashikumar and Charlotte Vercoe brought key dismissals in the later stages as Vercoe herself took the final wicket with Westmoreland taking a comfortable catch to end the run chase.

RESULT| MCU Women's Super League.

We defeated Cork County by 15 runs. 

Limerick W: 71-4 off 15 overs.

Holly Westmoreland 40*

Gauri Nimbalkar 11

Cork County W: 56 all out off 13.1 overs.

Holly Westmoreland 2-10

Sana George 2-10

                             * * *

 

Limerick’s 2nd XI kick start their T20 campaign with games against Nenagh and County Clare on Saturday in Adare, where Waqas Mehmood will be looking to put together some victories and regain the T20 cup from four years ago. The 1st XI will repeat their weekend’s games in Tralee on Sunday afternoon with all other teams out of action until the following weekend.