The first round of Premier Division fixtures eventually fell last weekend as Limerick faced off against title-holders Cork County in Adare on Sunday afternoon. Limerick had a much-changed side from their last outing with Usman Khan, Yogesh Borghare, Ajay Hari and Manoj Sharma coming into the side.
Cork County gained the upper hand early on after winning the toss and electing to bowl with two of the opening four wickets being run outs. A real pressure was created in the middle because of this and Limerick’s middle order struggled to withstand. Mango Sharma got started with 25 from 52 balls but couldn’t convert whilst skipper Prasad Hegde offered the only real other resilience with 34 from 32 balls. No real partnerships were consolidated for the final few wickets with Limerick setting a target of 111 for their counterparts.
Limerick 1st XI vs Cork County: (Back row, l-r) Sumukh Venkatesh (wk), Dharmesh Patel, Prasad Hegde (Capt.), Manoj Sharma, Usman Khan. (Front row, l-r) Ramoji Alla, Anvesh Bogavelly, Ajay Hari, Asif Hussein, Shozab Ali Taj, Yogesh Borghare.
Although a small total to defend, Limerick’s opening bowlers produced one of the brightest spells of the season. Prasad Hegde had the ball nestling around the batsman at an awkward height whilst Ramoji Alla’s deviations from the opposite end caused equal amounts of distress for the batters. Both finished with figures of 1-34 with the first change bowlers Ajay Hari and Usman Khan both connecting a series of dots to exert more pressure. They both picked up two a piece and the visitors were in a pot of bother at 69-5 after 20 overs. County negotiated the final 40 runs or so patiently, and despite the loss of Aiman for 21, got over the line with four wickets to spare.
RESULT| MCU Premier League.
We lost to Cork County by 4 wickets today.
Limerick 1: 110 all out off 35.1 overs.
Prasad Hegde 34
Manoj Sharma 25
Cork County 1: 111-6 off 33 overs.
Ajay Hari 2-17
Usman Khan 2-19
* * *
Limerick suffered defeat in the Junior League to the hands of County Clare in Adare on Saturday afternoon, it was somewhat a baptism of fire for incoming captain Waqas Mehmood who experienced his first game as 2nd XI captain following his move from the 3rd XI.
Limerick 2nd XI vs County Clare: (Back row, l-r) Vinaykumar Nagaraju (wk), Sumukh Venkatesh, Sarfraz Ramay, Waqas Mehmood (Capt.), Mohit Malik. (Bottom row, l-r) Nishant Kumar, Yogesh Borghare, Ramoji Alla, Karthik Karur, Neeraj Kumar.
The hosts had to deal with the early dismissal of Karthik Karur who couldn’t negotiate the challenges of the new ball from Amjad, whose spell brought the wicket of other opener Nishant Kumar who was bowled for 21. A similar recurrence of a top order collapse saw Limerick in deep trouble at 40-5 after 10 overs as light rain began to fall which softened the outfield. The captain led by example as he contributed 37 of the 87-run partnership he shared with Venkatesh for the sixth wicket brought Limerick to a respectable 127-6 after 28.8 overs. A late wag from the tail meant the innings finished on 181 despite leaving five overs out there, a target of 182 was set.
With expected rain in the latter end of the innings, Clare looked to up the ante early on as they pushed a high run-rate in order to stay ahead of a potential revised target. Neeraj Kumar got the early breakthrough for Limerick with the edge of Udin finding the gloves of Nagaraju. There was unfortunately not much to shout about from that, a 90-run partnership for the second wicket brough Clare to 101-2 at drinks and despite the immediate fall of the third for 107-3, the rainfall thickened to leave conditions unplayable for the rest of the day with Clare well ahead of the DLS target.
RESULT| MCU Division One.
We lost County Clare by 7 wickets today (DLS).
Limerick 2: 181 all out off 38.5 overs.
Sumukh Venkatesh 46
Waqas Mehmood 37
County Clare 2: 109-3 off 22 overs.
Shoaib Zazai 1-5
Sarfraz Ramay 1-23
* * *
Limerick’s 3rd XI were in a T20 action with a double-header at the Ballycasey Oval in Shannon on Sunday.
The first game saw Limerick chasing a sizeable total of 142 with Chinmay Shinde, Waqas Mehmood, Part Borghare and Bharadwaj Mysore all chipping in with a wicket apiece. The total may have been a lot more but for the introduction of Pakistani pacer Muhammed Ammar who was the pick of the bowlers with 2-25 from three overs.
Limerick captain Sathya Prabu pictured before the toss of his first game as skipper
In response, Limerick struggled to get going with the top order falling before reaching double digits and the run-rate ever increasing, a bright 37 from 33 balls through Monish Pawar was followed by cameos from Waqas Mehmood (18 from 20) and Parth Borghare (26 from 21) but it wasn’t to be enough as the Sannonsiders found themselves 15 runs short at the end of the twentieth over.
There was literally no rest for the wicket as Limerick’s second T20 against County Kerry followed immediately. On winning the toss this time, captain Sathya Prabu elected to bat and the decision paid dividends. Opening batsman Bharadwaj Mysore teed off against the Kerry bowlers with some amazing power-hitting during the power play. It was a stunning display from Mysore and arguably the best from an opening batsman this year thus far, his 81 from 45 deliveries included 5x4s and 7x6s at a strike rate just a touch short of 200.
Risks were taken after Mysore’s dismissal with some risky running resulting in run outs and big swings leading to easy catches, except in the case of Vinaykumar Nagaraju who added another significant knock to his season with 43 from 46 balls as Limerick reached 169.
Kerry’s reply was disrupted at key intervals by Limerick with partnerships being cut short to add pressure to the run chase. Faizin Hakim, on debut, spun webs with 2-14 from 4 overs with Waqas Mehmood picking up three wickets to cap off a strong bowling performance and victory by 29 runs.
RESULT| MCU Division Two T20.
We defeated County Kerry by 29 runs today.
Limerick 3: 169-7 off 20 overs.
Bharadwaj Mysore 81
Vinaykumar Nagaraju 43
County Kerry 3: 140-9 off 20 overs.
Muhammad Ammar 2-12
Faizan Hakim 2-14
* * *
On the back of a midweek loss to Limerick Blasters, the club’s 4th XI were looking to keep their T20 Cup hopes alive with a crucial decider against Cork Harlequins in Farmer’s Cross on Saturday afternoon.
The losing of the game arguably occurred during the first innings, Limerick bowled bravely but were left to chase 202 as home advantage played into Cork Harlequins hands with the bat.
Knowing over 10 runs an over was always going to be an uphill battle, Limerick tried to accelerate early in the form of Pavan Prajapati and Sundar MK who made use of the power play and put on 65 for the first wicket inside nine overs. The innings somewhat petered out for visitors but there were some bright cameos with Skandan Lakshmanan carrying his bat in making 36 from 31 balls whilst Waqar Ahmed enjoyed his 21 from 11 balls towards the latter end of the innings.
Following defeat to Limerick Blasters midweek, the 4th XI will look to bounce back in their final T20 game against Nenagh on Monday.
RESULT| MCU Division Three T20.
We lost to Cork Harlequins by 41 runs today.
Cork Harlequins 4: 201-5 off 20 overs.
Darshan Gopal 1-32
Khushal Bahramkhel 1-35
Riyan Shah 1-47
Limerick 4: 160-5 off 20 overs.
Pavan Prajapati 40
Skandan Lakshmanan 36*
* * *
Limerick’s U13 side were looking to make it three wins on the bounce as they faced off against Cork County Sharks on Sunday afternoon at the Mardyke. Having lost the toss, Yousaf Ramay and co. were put into bat by their counterparts in the 30-over contest. Whilst opener Faizan Chaudhry couldn’t repeat last week’s heroics, himself and Behroz Khan did well to soften the new ball and set a platform for their middle order. This was taken advantage of through Atharvan Alagesan once again, with arguably another match-winning knock making 45 from 51 deliveries. He was amply supported by Arham Ullah (34 from 38) and Anivt Bharadwaj (20 from 24) as Limerick set their opposition a target of 177 runs.
Limerick U13 XI vs Cork County Sharks: (Back row, l-r) Muthuvel Alagesan (coach), Yousaf Ramay (Capt.), Arham Ullah, Faizan Chaudhry, Behroz Khan, Atharvan Alagesan, Findley Mayo (Capt.), Pavan Rao (coach). (Front row, l-r) Sashwath Suren, Anvit Bharadwaj, Leon George, Apoorvan Alagesan, Vishnu Pavan.
Limerick piled the pressure on the Sharks response as skipper Yousaf Ramay made early inroads with the new ball picking up one of the Sharks’ openers. The subsequent bowlers did well to bowl economically; whilst keeping extras to a minimum, the opposition batsmen were living off the odd loose delivery with dot balls accumulating. Ramay delegated the bowling equally with all ten bowling options used! This returned a handful of runouts as well as Arham Ullah (1-20), Faizan Chaudhry (1-14), Leon George (1-13) and Atharvan Alagesan (1-10) as County ended their innings 28 runs short on 148-8.
RESULT| MCU U13 League.
We defeated Cork County by 28 runs today.
Limerick U13: 176-6 off 30 overs.
Atharvan Alagesan 45
Arham Ullah 34
Cork County U13: 148-8 off 30 overs.
Yousaf Ramay 2-19
Atharvan Alagesan 1-10
* * *
A number of teams will be in action next weekend for the club with both limited overs and T20 games taking place across the bank holiday. Limerick’s 1st XI will look to correct themselves in the MCU Premier T20 League with back-to-back games against Cork Harlequins and UCC on Sunday. The first division continues for our 2nd XI who face off against Cork County in the Mardyke. The 4th XI will continue their T20 campaign against County Kerry and Nenagh on Saturday and Monday respectively. In youth, the U13s will look to make it four from four against Cork County on Saturday afternoon whilst the Women’s side return to action and will look to bounce back from last weekend’s defeats when they host County Kerry and County Galway in Adare on Saturday also.
