Waterford & District were the visitors to the Mardyke on Sunday last to take on Cork County 2 in the quarter-final of the Munster Junior Cup. In chilly and overcast conditions Kevin O’Sullivan won the toss and had no hesitation in asking the visitors to set a score.
David Head and Bilal Hussein strode out from the pavilion to face Aaron Cawley from the Mardyke End and first Oscar Cotter from the Tennis Club End. With the ball swinging prodigiously and the opening bowlers generating good pace, progress was slow. Wides accounted for the bulk of the 14 runs that Waterford had accumulated by the start of the seventh over when Hussein skyed a knee-high full toss on leg stump from Cotter, Rory O’Keeffe taking a good catch after running in from slip.
Siblee Islam joined the Waterford ‘keeper at the crease but Aaron Cawley was bowling at a consistently good pace and had both batsmen in trouble during his spell of 5 overs for 5 runs. The young right-armer was unlucky not to pick up a wicket, something which bowling a fuller length should sort out next time round. Meanwhile, Narsa Renjarla had replaced Oscar Cotter and despite conceding some early wides, his medium-pace was causing problems for Head and Islam.
It took another bowling change and a considerable degree of patience for County to pick up their second wicket, Islam gloving a short ball from James Hunter straight to Rory O’Keeffe at first slip. Dylan McGuire was next to go, bowled by Hunter for a single. The Suir-siders were in trouble at 33-4 after 16 overs and things soon got worse for them when Renjarla had Brendan du Preez lbw first ball. Du Preez felt he had edged it onto his pad but umpire Jack Russell had no hesitation in lifting the finger and he had to go.
Hunter picked up his third wicket soon after when Nithin Padmaprabher drove uppishly to O’Sullivan at mid-off. Some excellent Cork County bowling aswell as a solid fielding performance had the home side on top but with Head still at the crease they were wary of a Waterford backlash.
Thankfully for the Mardyke men, the mainstay of the innings was out just one over later, castled by Hunter for 13 out of 50-6. Following the drinks break, Sean Cawley who had replaced Renjarla at the Tennis Club End enticed Pushkar Nigam to flick to mid-wicket where Kevin Bray took a good low catch. Despite conceding three no balls and several wides, Cawley struck again two overs later, disturbing Glen Egerton’s stumps and leaving Waterford 8 down with just 60 on the board.
Ram Sarkar decided that it was time to counter attack and he flayed Hunter to the mid-wicket fence before lofting him over mid-off for six. Despite a relatively expensive final over, Hunter finished with figures of 9-0-26-4, an outstanding performance by any measure.
Following the completion of his spell, O’Sullivan introduced himself from the University End and had Manish Singh dropped first ball, wicket-keeper Peter Barlow failing to cling on to a tough chance. It mattered little however as Sarkar was plumb lbw two balls later for a swift 23.
The visitors skipper David Latimer was last man in and two balls later last man out when he was bowled around his legs by O’Sullivan to leave W&D 84 all out in 30 overs.
Following the tea interval, Peter Barlow and Paul McDowell set about the task of chasing down what looked like a relatively easy target. That task suffered an early setback however as Barlow was bowled by Nigam with the score on 4. McDowell followed his opening partner back to the pavilion five overs later, bowled by Bilal Hussein for 8.
Meanwhile, Rory O’Keeffe had set about the task of dispatching the Waterford bowlers to all parts of the Mardyke and assisted by a few wides and the odd no ball had succeeded in pushing the score to 43 when he lost his partner Aaron Cawley (1) caught at cover attempting to cut Manish Singh.
James Hunter joined O’Keeffe and both played assertively and with patience, taking what runs were on offer without much risk. Following David Latimer’s excellent, if wicketless spell from the Tennis Club End, Bilal Hussein returned to the fray and had O’Keeffe smartly caught behind for 25.
However, with just 21 runs needed for victory, it was too little too late for the visitors and a flick to fine-leg for three by Kevin Bray ensured that Cork County emerged triumphant. They will now go on to face either Midleton or Limerick in the semi-final to be held at the Mardyke on June 27th.