The Limerick Cricket Club 1st XV came away triumphant in their Premier League encounter with Kerry yesterday, in what was a very wet day for Cricket in Adare. After several hours of rain, match umpire Michael Hickey decided that the game would be reduced to 20 overs a side, a format both teams were well used to having played the format the week previous respectively.
In Ramay’s absence, club veteran Asif Shahab took on the captains role for the day and won the toss for Limerick. Shahab elected to bowl in order to give his team something to chase with the bat in the latter stages of the game.
Limerick chipped away with wickets at regular intervals before Kerry were able to pile on some runs in their middle order before Farukh Bhagat would put the halt to Q Butt’s cameo. His caught and bowled wicket put the pressure on Kerry in the latter part of the inning. Farukh himself would earn the best bowling figures for his team, finishing on 3-23 from his 4 overs.
Towards the end of the match, Arsalan Anwar came to quickly wrap up the opposition innings, he picked up two wickets in quick succession to leave Kerry on 143-9 for their first innings.
Anwar’s introduction gave Limerick the perfect start and it was his 60 runs off just 50 balls that would lay down some great foundations for Limerick’s middle order to build on. Limerick batted well and outfoxed the opposition by scoring quickly and rotating the strike regularly, instead of looking for big boundaries. It was a tactic that paid off.
The in-form Zubair Rehman came in at 7 for Limerick to see it home for his side, his stint of 24 off 20 balls was too much to handle for Kerry as Limerick chased down the total with 6 balls to spare. Limerick ran out by 3 wickets, in the end, to climb back up to third in the league table.
Meanwhile, Saturday brought more good fortune in Adare as the Limerick Junior Cricket side picked up 2 wins from 2 in their t20 Round Robin qualifying games vs Limerick Blasters and Kerry 2. Notable scores from the day were Farukh Bhagat’s monster score of 88 against Kerry as Limerick ran out by winners by 61 runs after finishing on 190-9 from their 20 overs. The result means Limerick will play Cork County in the semi-final of this tournament next.
Limerick’s Minor Cricket team and their t20 campaign came to an end last Sunday against Kerry and Cork Harlequins respectively in Tralee.
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