A place in the MCU Senior Cup semi-final awaits after a thrilling two-wicket victory over rivals Cork County for Limerick’s 1st XI. A game with many ups and downs, a terrific fielding display with the ball saw Limerick restrict Cork County to 183 before a late flurry of wickets in the run chase brought a nervous ending to an enduring battle for both sides, as Ramoji Alla held his nerve to see his side over the line.

Cork County skipper Sam Fenn won the toss and elected to bat on a pristine outfield at the Manor Fields. Alla and Hegde got the better of their counterparts with the new ball, dismissing Marakassery and Sah respectively for 22-2. County battled back 50-run partnership with the middle order chipping away with starts, eventually outdone by spinner Bogavelly, Hari and Khan, who all chipped in with one apiece. At 136-8, the visitors looked to be in a real spot of bother but escaped momentarily to surpass the 150-run mark. The return of Limerick’s openers paid dividends, with Hedge trapping Singh for LBW , followed by two run outs, one brilliantly taken by Bogavelly from mid-off, saw the end of the innings on 183.

There was no return with the new ball from the away side, as openers Dahima and Karur made it past ten overs unscathed. Both fell shortly after, with the innings rebuilt well in the form of Anvesh Bogavelly and Nishant Kumar, with Kumar enjoying the leg-side with some terrific shots over the square leg and mid-wicket regions. Both players were caught near to drinks, with Limerick then needing 60 runs with five wickets remaining.

County held some key catches on the boundary after this, to bring themselves back into the contest and Limerick struggled to formulate a significant partnership. Alla forced the issue, coming in at 8 and reassuring his side’s chase with some classy shots past the infield in what was a match-winning knock of 28, including 1x6 and 2x4s. His stand with Ajay Hari was enough to seal the deal, with Hari launching a massive 6 over mid-wicket with the scores level to see out a narrow win for his team.

RESULT| MCU Sports Hub Senior Cup 

We defeated Cork County by 2 wickets.

Cork County 1: 183 all out off 50 overs.

Prasad Hegde 3-47

Ramoji Alla 2-28

Limerick 1: 189-8 off 41.4 overs.

Anvesh Bogavelly 37

Ramoji Alla 28*

                                           * * *

The same fortunes were not to be for Waqas Mehmood and the 2nd XI on Saturday afternoon, as they fell short in their run chase against Nenagh. Mehmood lost the toss and was put into field in Knockshigowna, a ground usually favoured to the bowlers.

The Shannonsiders came flying out of the traps, taking early wickets to see a scoreline of 44-4 after 15 overs. Mehmood himself earned two dismissals with Hussein getting the wicket of Vinobaji from the other end. Nenagh made their way back into it with Limerick failing to capitalise in the catching department, with consecutive wickets through Madyalkar and Aziz leaving the score on 121-6 with 13 overs remaining. Nenagh then upped the anti, scoring over 130 runs from the remaining 12 overs leaving Limerick bitterly disappointed with how they closed out the innings.

Needing 257, Limerick struggled to get a foothold with no meaningful partnerships accrued throughout. It was as bleak as it was brisk in response, with the away side succumbing to 121 before being fully dismissed. One shining light was the innings of Sreehari Madyalkar, who was resilient in a well-made half-century on debut.

RESULT| MCU Division One 

We lost to Nenagh by 136 runs.

Nenagh 1: 257-7 off 45 overs.

Waqas Mehmood 3-53

Muhammad Aziz 1-46

Limerick 2: 121 all out off 25.4 overs.

Sreehari Madyalkar 50*

Sourabh Teke 28

                                 

                                           * * *

Limerick’s 3rd XI suffered a heavy loss at the hands of UCC’s 1st XI on Sunday afternoon. Prabu and co. made the trip to Cork in expectation of a win to bring them back up the division two table, but were toppled comfortably in the end.

Prabu lead the line superbly with the new ball, causing serious trouble for the UCC batsmen in the powerplay with three wickets to his name. With the scoreboard reading 29-5 after ten overs, the Shannonsiders were in dreamland and looked set for a low total to chase. A massive turnaround ensued however, with partnerships of 61 and then 125 following the early procession, as Limerick struggled to keep up their early pressure. UCC were in free flow in the middle overs before Prabu brought himself back on to finish his spell. The decision paid off, as Prabu took three more wickets to finish with a six-wicket haul and a place on the honours board.

In response, a similar outing to that of the 2nd XI, with individual scores few and far between as only three players reached double figures. A relatively inexperienced side, Limerick only managed 88 with the bat in response, resulting in a 118-run margin of victory for the hosts.

RESULT| MCU Division Two 

We lost to UCC by 118 runs.

UCC 1: 206 all out off 37.3 overs.

Sathya Prabhu 6-28

Abdur Rahman 1-15

Limerick 3: 88 all out off 25.5 overs.

Yash Srivastava 10

Deepak Nagaraju 10

* * *

Limerick’s youth sides earned four wins from four over the weekend, as the U13 saw a hat-trick of results in their favour as they saw off the challenges of Cork County, Lismore and County Galway over the weekend. Faizan Chaudhry’s side were consistent with bat and ball in all three encounters, restricting all three opponents to scores of less than 110 with the ball. Chaudhry altered his batting order in all three games, with Alagesan, Khan, Singh and Bharadwaj proving themselves in their top order positions with some unbeaten scores. The wins see Limerick shoot up to the top of the U13 league table and continuing their unbeaten run in the competition.

RESULT| MCU U13 Superleague 

We defeated Cork County by 120 runs.

Limerick U13: 181-8 off 30 overs.

Atharvan Alagesan 51*

Behroz Khan 31

Anvit Bharadwaj 24

Cork County U13: 62 all out off 19 overs.

Leon George 2-8

Apoorvan Alagesan 1-3

Ritwick Malu 1-4

RESULT| MCU U13 T20 League 

We defeated Lismore by 100 runs.

Limerick U13: 148-4 off 20 overs.

Atharvan Alagesan 31*

Anvit Bharadwaj 30*

Faizan Chaudhry 30*

Lismore U13: 48 all out off 14.4 overs.

Vishu Rao 2-1

Muhammad Aftab 2-4

Kulwant Singh 2-10

RESULT| MCU U13 League.

We defeated County Galway by 38 runs today.

Limerick U13: 146-5 off 20 overs.

Behroz Khan 33*

Kulwant Singh 28

County Galway U13: 108 all out off 18.5 overs.

Vishnu Rao 4-9

Behroz Khan 1-1

The final youth victory came on Thursday afternoon, as the club’s U17 side finished their opening game with a well-earned 42-run win over Cork Harlequins in Farmer’s Cross. Skipper Ayan Ullah was desperately unlucky to not earn his century, finishing his innings on 99 before being run-out from the non-striker’s end in the penultimate ball of the game.

Ullah won the toss and batted first, opting for the duo of Aziz and Chaudhry to face the new ball. Aziz fell into temptation in the opening over, following a boundary with an attempted pull to long-on not coming off. Ullah and Chadry steadied the ship, but a mix-up attempting a singe at the end of the powerplay left Chaudhry short of his ground to see the score at 33-2. Ramay, in at 4, anchored well and left the majority of the strike to Ullah, who surpassed the half-century mark after 40 deliveries.

Ramay and Ullah accelerated in the remaining overs, with Ramay unlucky to not reach a 50 himself, falling just ten runs short. Ullah, now in the 90s, tried his utmost with the remaining batsmen to earn his century, but was dramatically one run shy when he lost his wicket, attempting to gains strike, as Limerick finished on a respectable 173 from their 20 overs.

It took Limerick until the seventh over to get their first wicket, as Abubakar Aziz kept a full and straight line to dismiss Hashim. Subsequent wickets followed a similar pattern, with Ullah castling both Kumar and Brokenshire subsequently. Some tight spells were then met with a strong counter-attack from Quins, who made 47 runs in 24 balls in their strongest spell of the game. The wicket Sumanasinghe proved crucial, as the Shannonsiders chipped away at the remaining batsmen to earn a comfortable victory in the end.

RESULT| MCU U17 Superleague 

We defeated Cork Harlequins by 42 runs today.

Limerick U17: 173-5 off 20 overs.

Ayan Ullah 99

Yousaf Ramay 40

Cork Harlequins U17: 131-7 off 20 overs.

Ayan Ullah 3-10

Abubakar Aziz 2-16

                                           * * *

Next weekend sees Limerick’s 1st and 4th XI sides in action with women’s cricket also returning. Bogavelly and co. will make the testing trip to Lyicdan to face County Galway in the Premier League on Sunday with the 4th XI back in action after a brief break, where they will welcome Midleton to the Manor Fields on Saturday afternoon. On the same day, a double-header for the ladies side will see them face the challenges of Cork County and County Galway where they will look to cement their place at top of the Women’s Superleague table.