Cork County opened their Division 1 campaign with a thoroughly convincing 9 wicket victory over Limerick Raiders at the Mardyke. Having been denied a third league title in as many years last season despite having lost just one Munster fixture throughout their campaign, the Leesiders are in determined mood to get their competitive season off to a good start as they aim to wrestled back the league title.
Following some overnight rain the match was forced onto the artificial wicket and having won the toss the home Captain, Andy Wootton, had no hesitation in putting the Limerick side in to bat. Backing his strong bowling attack which included Morne Bauer, Abubakar Saddique and Siddharth Joshi along with new arrival Ahmed Bilal and of course not forgetting his own ‘dibbly dobblers’, he was confident of restricting the away side.
The home side were soon on the front foot with the Captain restricting the attach mind Limerick side with consecutive maidens while Bilal tore through their top order with some devastating fast bowling first up. Wootton finishing with 1-0 from his six over spell and was replaced by Saddique (1-10) at the River end. Bauer replaced Bilal (2-14) from the Mardyke end and offered no let up for the Limerick batsmen taking the opener Aftab’s middle stump out of the ground. Joshi replaced Bauer (1-16) and with spin from both ends the innings soon petered out with the Corkonian Indian finishing with fantastic figures of 5-10 leaving County with a target of just 54 to chase down.
Brad Morgan and Ross Durity opened the Cork County reply, both of whom used the chance to get their eye in before their first Leinster league fixture away to Pembroke 2 next Sunday. Due to the variable bounce of the mat, which is being replaced this week, both openers had to concentrate hard and play each ball on its merits. Going back to a delivery just short of a length which kept decidedly low, Durity was bowled with the score on just 15. Robert Duggan joined Morgan at the crease and both set on extinguishing any hope for the Limerick men with Morgan (22*) in particular playing some lovely drives through the covers. County reached their target in the 15th over with the loss of just one wicket to complete a comprehensive and confidence boosting win to get their competitive season off to the first start.
MCU Division 1:
Limerick Raiders 53 all out (Joshi 5-10, Bilal 2-14)
Cork County 54-1 (Morgan 22*)
Cork County won by 9 wickets at the Mardyke.
Next match:
LCU Division 3: Pembroke II v Cork County at Sydney Parade (12.30 p.m.)