Cork County 3 took on County Kerry 2 in MCU Division 3 action on Sunday 8th of July at the Mardyke. After heavy rain midweek the ground required an early morning inspection but was deemed to be playable.
County captain James McCarthy won the toss and decided to bat first on the artificial wicket. Ian Coleman and Narsa Renjarla opened the batting for the Cork side but the partnership did not last long, Renjarla(0) caught at mid-wicket off the second ball of the opening over.
Peter Barlow joined Coleman and the crease and they began playing themselves in, taking singles off the bowling of Eddie Garzyniski (2-16) and Sean Rutland (2-8). A change of bowling however did for Barlow, bowled by Kerry captain Richard Rutland for just 2.
County needed someone to add some runs at 14-2 and County’s number 4 batsman James McCarthy (8) set to work taking quick singles with Coleman and pulling a loose delivery from Richard Rutland (1-19) to the square-leg boundary before being given out lbw off the bowling of Qasim (1-18).
Hugh O’Brien(15) came to the crease and looked in good touch with two fours to the short boundary while Ian Coleman also began to smash the ball around, the damp square preventing a number of well hit shots going for four.
Three bowling changes did nothing to stop the flow of runs and Coleman soon reached fifty to loud applause from the pavilion, his first half-century in Minor cricket. Kerry seamer Ian Rutland (1-13), slow bowler Dave Ramsey (0-12) and seamer James Oallman (0-19) tried in vain to break the partnership, which was eventually broken by Ron Kimber (2-15) when Ian Coleman (58) mistimed a shot through the leg-side and spooned one up in the air to mid-wicket.
County batsman Ravi (3) soon followed, deceived by the slow bowling of Kimber. County were now 111-5 and Kevin O’Sullivan joined O’Brien at the crease. Kerry were now on to their 8th bowler(they used 10 bowlers in total!) Niall Riaz but O’Sullivan and O’Brien (15) quickly moved the score to 136 with some quick running and good shots through the covers. Kevin O’Sullivan (13) departed, caught by Oallman at extra cover attempting another shot through the off side.
Two quick wickets by Kerry(Aidan Kelleher-5 and Justin McGurk-0) left County 141-9 when young Brian Kelleher joined Martin Keohane at the crease and both young batsmen held out well with Keohane taking a couple of quick twos and a single before he was eventually bowled by Sean Rutland for 5.
This left County 145 all out, 10 or 15 short of where they wanted to be at lunch but with a strong bowling line-up, confident they could come out with a victory.
Justin McGurk (1-9) and Hugh O’Brien (0-7) opened the bowling for County but initially had little success, with Kerry openers Qasim(5) and Riaz(14) settling down at the crease and playing some good defensive shots. McGurk however did make progress in his third over, knocking Riaz’s off-stump out of the ground.
Sean Rutland (11) joined Qasim at the crease but the partnership did not last long, County seamer Narsa Renjarla just clipping the top of off-stump with an in-swinger and taking out Kerry’s danger man in the process. Renjarla (1-10) and fellow seamer Ravi (0-12) restricted Kerry from scoring but could not get another wicket from their four over spells.
Left arm off-spinner Kevin O’Sullivan (4-7) replaced Ravi at the City End and had a caught behind appeal and an lbw appeal turned down in his first over. Aidan Kelleher (4-13) replaced Renjarla at the River End but was luckier in his first over, Sean Rutland edging to ‘keeper Ian Coleman for Kerry’s third wicket.
Kerry’s batsmen could not deal with the slow bowling of Kelleher and O’Sullivan and in his second over, the left arm spinner had Eddie Garzyniski (4) caught at deep square-leg.
Following a maiden by Kelleher, Kevin O’Sullivan had another wicket this time Dave Ramsey advancing down the wicket failed to pick the spin and was out stumped for 1.
James Oallman (0) was the next to go, bowled by Aidan Kelleher. Kerry were now in deep trouble and it was to get worse with Paul Finch (3) deceived by a quicker one and bowled and with the very next ball Ian Rutland(0) also bowled by Kevin O’Sullivan.
Darragh Lynch (0) was given out lbw first ball to fellow Munster Under 15 Aidan Kelleher and although Ron Kimber and Kerry skipper Richard Rutland held out for an over it was Cork County 3rds who came away with a 93 run victory after Rutland was bowled by Kelleher for the final wicket.
An excellent performance with the bat from Ian Coleman and four wickets apiece for Kevin O’Sullivan and Aidan Kelleher helping County 3rds to their fourth straight victory and third place in the league table.