With no adult weekend fixtures taking place, attention turned to the three youth games taking place in Cork for the club. It was the opening competitive fixture for the U13 side whilst the U15s were looking to build upon their strong victory from back in May.

The U15s travelled to Farmer’s Cross in Cork on Saturday afternoon where they took on Cork Harlequins in a double header with a T20 format in both matches. Quins won the toss and elected to bat first in the opening encounter. The hosts got the upper hand early on, scoring freely in the first three overs to leave the score at 28-0, before Chinmay Shinde got the breakthrough in the fourth over as his delivery found the safe hands of Abubakar Aziz to dismiss Ahsan.

Two wickets fell in the eight over, both being run outs, as Limerick edged their way back into the innings at 57-3. This was before the next eight overs or so belonged to Quins, as they batted well past the 100-run mark. Some good bowling from Behroz Khan and Chinmay Shinde in the final few overs ensured a target which didn’t get away from the visitors, as Quins set 145 to be chased.

In response, Limerick suffered with the loss of Ibrahim early on but regathered themselves well, with Aziz and Shinde both scoring 25 runs each with some extra supplementing the score. Time at the crease proved crucial in this regard, with Ramay (24 from 26) and Chaudhry (26 from 18) getting their side closer to home in the middle overs. A vital 14 off 12 deliveries from Riyan Shah helped Limerick over the line, as wickets fell around Shah, the youngster guided his side to needing just four runs from the final over, and despite the loss of two wickets therein, Arham Ullah managed to hit a single with the scores tied off the final ball to land the first victory for his side.

RESULT| MCU U15 League. 

We defeated Cork Harlequins by 3 wickets today. 

Cork Harlequins U15: 144-9 off 20 overs.

Chinmay Shinde 2-10

Yousaf Ramay 2-21

Limerick U15: 145-7 off 20 overs.

Abubakar Aziz 25*

Chinmay Shinde 25*

Limerick had a much-changed side for the second encounter with a more comfortable victory as they reached a target of 112 from 17 or so overs. Again bowling first, the Shannonsiders did well to limit the opposition with Chaudhry (1-12), Ramay (1-13), George (1-23), Aziz (1-5) and Alagesan (1-12) all chipping in with the ball. The pick of the bowlers was the outstanding Arnav Ravishankar, whose two overs saw him take two wickets, dismissing the dangerous Yewale as well as Shah, for the concession of just six runs. 

Limerick did well with the bat and consolidated some good partnerships, with Chaudhry (15*), Atharvan Alagesan (27*) and Aziz (29*) all steering the ship home to seal a comfortable victory by six wickets to make it two wins from two and maintain the sides 100% record this season.

RESULT| MCU U15 League. 

We defeated Cork Harlequins by 6 wickets today. 

Cork Harlequins U15: 111-7 off 20 overs.

Arnav Ravishankar 2-6

Abubakar Aziz 1-5

Limerick U15: 112-4 off 20 overs.

Abubakar Aziz 29*

Atharvan Alagesan 27*

                                           * * *

Limerick’s U13 side put up a monster score on Sunday afternoon when they met Cork Harlequins in Farmer’s Cross in the U13 League. It was the sides first competitive fixture of the season and wanted to get off on the right foot with a number of players making their competitive debut for the club.

There were half centuries for each of Bharadwaj, Alagesan and then George, in the middle order, to really press down the advantage for Limerick. Each innings saw a flurry of boundaries with the time occupied at the crease significant also, with Alagesan and Bharadwaj putting on a stellar partnership of over 150 runs for the second wicket. This was further helped with contributions from Behroz Khan (30) and Findlay Mayo (15) which saw Limerick score 290 from their 30 overs.

In response, all 11 players bowled for Limerick with Quins making just 175 and finding themselves well short of their target. A number of wickets spread across the bowler, complimented with a few run outs, allowed Limerick to win the game in comfortable fashion in the end.

RESULT| MCU U13 Superleague 

We defeated Cork Harlequins by 115 runs yesterday.

Limerick U13: 290-4 off 30 overs.

Anvit Bharadwaj 50*

Atharvan Alagesan 50*

Leon George 50*

Cork Harlequins U13: 175 all out off 30 overs.

Findlay Mayo 1-5

Apoorvan Alagesan 1-14

Faizan Chaudhry 1-15

                                 

                                           * * *

Next weekend sees three of Limerick’s senior sides back in action, with the 1st XI taking centre stage on Sunday where they will look for vengeance against Midleton after losing narrowly away from home earlier in the season. The 2nd XI play in their opening tie of the Junior Cup at home to County Clare on Saturday, with the 4th XI travelling to the Mardyke for their Division Five clash against Cork County on the same day.

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