After seeing off the challenge of Cork County in last weekend’s Senior Cup quarter-final, Limerick’s 1st XI fronted up to a tricky test away to County Galway on Sunday afternoon in what was a must-win game for both sides should they aspire to be at the top of the table come the end of the season. After setting a strong total surpassing the 300-run mark, Limerick managed to the opposition run-chase well, eventually getting the key wicket of Nasim, to finish out a strong performance earning full bonus points from the fixture.

After winning the toss, Bogavelly elected to bat in perfect playing conditions at Lydican. A few changes made from last weekend saw Venkatesh, Sharma and Potgieter all back in the starting line-up. Karur and Kumar stabilised a good partnership for the second wicket after 25-1 became 47-2, with Karur being adjudged LBW in the ninth over. Kumar continued to bat aggressively, with his cameo of 31 from 38 balls keeping the scoreboard ticking over nicely. His end saw 86 runs on the board, before Bogavelly and Madyalkar constructed a match-winning stand for the fourth wicket. Madyalkar played the aggressor, batting above a 100 strike-rate as his counterpart ensured a captain’s knock, carving out another 50. For Madyalkar, it was back-to-back half centuries, in just his second game for the club, on his way to 72 from 61, while Bogavelly was 71 from 78, with both players hitting the same amount of boundaries in their innings (6x4s, 3x6s).

The partnership came to an end after an amazing 130 runs on 216-4. Hedge followed with a breezy 18 from 6 balls, with Sharma (31*) and Alla (33) wagging the tail at the end to get their side to substantial 322-9. 

 Galway responded with an early onslaught, seeing 73 runs accumulate from the powerplay with the 100-run mark reached on the 15th over. At this point however, the visitors’ first change bowlers were making inroads, as Sharma and Bogavelly took two and three wickets respectively in the space of just 19 runs. Galway's demise from 73-0 to 92-5 needed counterattack, with a welcome 60-run partnership for the sixth wicket following to get them back in the tie. Limerick plugged away and the reintroduction of opening bowler Prasad Hegde resulted in the key wicket of opener Nasim, who was just 16 runs shy of a century, as Hegde’s short pitched delivery meant Nasim’s shot found the safe hands of Karur behind the stumps. Hegde and Alla applied the finishing touches to the innings with Galway finishing 143 runs short of the target. 

RESULT| MCU Premier League 

We defeated County Galway by 143 runs today.

Limerick 1: 322-9 off 50 overs.

Sreehari Madyalkar 72

Anvesh Bogavelly 71

County Galway 1: 179 all out off 30.5 overs 

Anvesh Bogavelly 3-19

Prasad Hegde 3-42

                                           * * *

Limerick’s women's side were also in Lycidan on the weekend, where they were in Superleague action against Galway in a T15 encounter.

Losing the toss and being put into field, Limerick saw off the challenge of the new ball with Charlotte Vercoe retiring for 12 from 27 balls after the powerplay. Her counterpart, Kajal Bohr, negotiated her deliveries well also, taking advantage of loose deliveries to make two boundaries on her way to 19 from 20. The experienced Shashikumar came in at number 3 and did well to anchor the remainder of the innings, showing her consistency with the bat once again with an unbeaten 22, as a target of 80 was set.

Limerick captain Saadia Mahmood halted the opposition response, with two wickets in her first two overs, dismissing both Maxfield and Rathnayaka to leave the score at 13-2. The game ebbed and flowed from this point, as pressure was released from the Galway innings with some extras from the away side’s attack. This allowed a steady partnership to see the hosts over the line, as the Shannonsiders couldn’t get the breakthrough they needed in the later stages of the innings. 

RESULT| MCU Women's Superleague.

We lost to County Galway by 8 wickets today. 

Limerick W: 79-5 off 15 overs.

Sanjana Shashikumar 22*

Kajal Bohr 19

County Galway W: 83-2 off 11.2 overs.

Saadia Mahmood 2-24

Avni Ravishankar 0-7

                                 

                                           * * *

Limerick’s U15 side couldn’t sustain their unbeaten run in the Superleague as they suffered a four-wicket defeat to Cork County in the new setting of Glentsall Abbey on Sunday afternoon.

Confusion in the middle resulted in the run out of Shinde in the second over before a decent partnership between Aziz and Alagesan got Limerick motoring. Both were dismissed by Ross shortly after, with more rebuilding to be done. This was completed through the skipper Ghufran Chaudhry, who did well to anchor the innings in a well-made 27 from 41 balls, including 2x4s and 1x6. Unfortunately wickets started to fall around Chaudhry, who batted well but couldn’t get the support needed from the other end, as Limerick rallied to a total of 99, leaving 15 or so overs out in the middle.

A solid opening partnership from County through Gude and Ahsan formulated a good response, with Gude eventually dismissed by Ramay in the tenth over. County needed about 50 or so runs from this point, and got their score into the 70s before the introduction of off-spinner Robert McCutcheon altered proceedings. McCutcheon took three wickets in his spell, helped from the other end by one from Chaudhry, which clawed the game back to a more respectable scoreboard for the hosts. County applied the finishing touches in the 26th over with four wickets to spare to see the table now wide open once again.

RESULT| MCU U15 Superleague.

We lost to Cork County by 4 wickets today. 

Limerick U15: 99 all out off 24.5 overs.

Ghufran Chaudhry 27

Atharvan Alagesan 14

Cork County U15: 101-6 off 26.2 overs.

Robert McCutcheon 3-18

Ghufran Chaudhry 1-10

* * *

Next weekend sees the 1st XI in Senior Cup action, where they will welcome Kerry in Adare on Sunday in what is sure to be an enthralling semi-final tie. The 4th XI will play on the same day, travelling to the Oyster Oval in Tralee. There will also be a lot of youth action spread out over the week, with the u17s making the trip to the Mardyke on Tuesday to face Cork County B, followed by U13 games against County Galway on Saturday and Cork Harlequins the following Tuesday.