Limerick obtained 4/5 bonus points on Saturday with a 95 run win against Galway in the second round of the All Rounder MCU Premier League games in Adare on Sunday.
Seeing as a win is worth 20 league points, Limerick would obtain 24 points out of a possible 25 from the game.
Captain Sarfraz Ramay won the toss he elected to bat first to set the away side an unreachable target and put a strong foothold on the match.
Limerick however found themselves in a spot of bother early on, losing some cheap wickets to find themselves 41-4 after just 14 overs.
Galway continued to tighten the screw and 41-4 soon became 77-6, Limerick strangled on a below par score in and around the halfway mark.
To the crease came club veteran Asif Shahab, playing his 11th year at the club and fresh from a four for last weekend against Quins, knew a thing a two about getting his side out of a spot of bother in the past.
Himself and Shani Alam stuck at the crease for 17 overs and put on a 78-run stand for the 7th wicket, a partnership which would turn out to be key in the outcome of the game.
Limerick began to pile on the runs in the later part of the innings. Two more 30+ run partnerships for the 8th and 9th wicket meant Limerick had miraculously gone from 77-6 to 216-9 come the turn of the 47th over, however, there was one big milestone left to conquer.
Shani Alam was still at the crease for Limerick having batted a brilliant innings of 90* to this point.
Shani and no.11 batsman Syed Ahmed were able to knock another 22 runs from the final three overs and Shani would then complete his century, finishing on 102* from 113 balls.
His maiden century for the club in just his second appearance and also Limerick’s maiden century for the 2019 season.
Limerick were proud of their first innings total as they put a target of 253 runs on the board for Galway to catch.
Limerick took a couple of wickets early on but Galway came back well. When captain Sarfraz took the vital wicket of Connor Mullen (52) in the 23rd over, Galway found themselves struggling at 115-5.
Galway’s tail was not able to wag as lively as that of their counterparts as Sarfraz continued to cut through the Galway middle order, he would finish on figures of 4-30 off his 9 overs, an incredible effort.
When our other spinner Arsalan Anwar cam on from the other end, it wasn’t long before he mopped up the rest of the tail and Galway were sent packing on 157 all out after just 35.4 overs.
This win really kicks starts Limerick’s season in the premier league as they play host to rivals Cork County CC next weekend in Adare.
In other results, Limerick 4 obtained full points after receiving a walkover from Lismore on Saturday. Unfortunately for Limerick 3, they followed in the footsteps of their first team in Farmer’s Cross when they took on Cork Harlequins on the bank holiday Monday- Quins running out eventual winners by 104 runs.
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