Cork County completed a Munster Senior and Junior Cup double as they finished the 2012 season in impressive fashion by convincingly defeating Galway Cricket Club in the Munster show-piece final at the Mardyke. The Cup victory capped off another successful season in senior competitions, losing just one game in both league and cup which is was a fantastic effort considering the poor weather which prevented the Leesiders gaining any form of momentum throughout the season.
After losing the toss, Cork County were put in to bat by Galway Captain Danesh Ali who was hoping to capitalise on any early seam movement on a good looking wicket at the Mardyke. However, after the early losses of Captain Ross Durity and Brad Morgan the Leesiders began to take the initiative with Stephen Stone (57) and Robert Duggan (22) striking some impressive shots to both sides of the wicket and dampening the early Galway enthusiasm. They were followed by an exhilarating innings from Man of the Match Morne Bauer who took the game out of reach of the Connacht men with a fantastic knock of 123, peppering the boundary at the Mardyke on regular occasions. A brief cameo from veteran Andy Wootton (27*) helped County to an impressive total of 288-8.
In reply, Galway needed to get off to a steady start but were unable to deal with the craft and guile of Abubaker Saddique who tore through the top order with a devastating spell of bowling finishing with figures of 6 for 20 including the possibility of hat-trick. Galway had no answer to County’s left orthodox bowler and they breathed a sigh of relief when he completed his 10 overs with the Connacht men teetering on 50-6. A resolute fightback from Galway’s star man Waqqas Raja (69) and Umair (26) gave a bit of respectability to their total but once Waqqas was caught and bowled by Reed the tail soon folded and Galway were finally bowled out for 167 in the 40th over.
Munster Senior Cup Final
Cork County 288-8 beat Co. Galway 167 all out by 121 runs at the Mardyke scorecard
