Limerick continued their run in the Junior Cup with an emphatic 162 run win over Cork County in their Munster Junior Cup semi-final victory at the Mardyke on Saturday.
This will be Limerick’s fifth junior cup final appearance since they lifted the trophy in 2005, Mohammed Gouse’s men will be looking to go one better when they face off against Cork Harlequins on the August Bank Holiday weekend in Cork.
It wasn’t all plain sailing for the Shannonsiders however, although opener Shani Alam stayed at the crease, County were able to take some early wickets to leave Limerick 77-3 at the turn of the 14thover.
In came Sourabh Teke at 5 for Limerick; they often say it sometimes the time you occupy at the crease and not the runs you score which are most important and Teke’s 25 off 50 balls meant him and Alam could share an 81 run partnership at the crease to push Limerick to 158-4 after 29 overs, a great position to be in with 16 overs to play.
Limerick’s middle order pushed on to keep the scoreboard ticking over. Both Ramay and Z Rehman with respective scores of 29 and 26 pushed Limerick to 287-7 before Shani Alam raised his bat to make his second century for the club this season, a great landmark for the opening batsman.
He wasn’t finished there either, Shani carried his bat to the last over of the innings where he was eventually run out on a score of 137 off 107 balls including 14 4’s and 2 6’s.
Limerick were able to make light work of the County batsmen in reply, S Cheatley’s impressive form with the new ball continued as he was able to take two early wickets and diminish any signs of early momentum for the home side, he would finish on 2-30 from his 5 overs.
Wickets kept tumbling and Alam could not keep himself out of the game, he trapped S Mathew for LBW on 83-5 to leave the home side in trouble. Limerick were ruthless in their demolition of the tail, spinners Sarfraz Ramay and Sourabh Teke wrapping things up with two wickets a piece to leave County on 140 all out after just 34.2 overs.
Limerick 2: 302-8 off 45 overs
Shani Alam 137
Usman Khan 29
Sarfraz Ramay 29
Cork County 2: 140 all out off 34.2 overs
Sourabh Teke 2-5
Sarfraz Ramay 2-18
Abhishek Ramanujan 2-23
Limerick 4 had a close victory against their Division 3 rivals Waterford District on Saturday as well, they would run out winners by just two wickets in Adare, Umair Akber with a MOM performance after his 68* guided the home team to victory.
It wasn’t to be for Limerick in the Premier League yesterday however as County secured a comprehensive victory by 129 runs in the Mardyke on Sunday, Limerick giving themselves too much to do with the bat after conceding 364 runs from their 50 overs.
Limerick’s junior side will be back in action next week as they play host to city rivals Limerick Blasters in Adare on Saturday whilst Limerick 3 are also back in action after their long rest on the sidelines, they play host to County Kerry on Sunday in Adare as well.
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