North Kerry beaten by Quins

NORTH Kerry had the honour of being first to take match-day advantage of the new pavilion at The Oyster Oval, but it was visiting squad Cork Harlequins Thirds who went home with the win. Dave Peet, batting at number 4 for the visitors, top scored with 30 including 4 boundaries. North Kerry reduced them to 66 for 6 in the 20th over but Harlequins fought back and stubborn resistance from the tail added a further 60 runs before losing their final wicket in the 38th over. Best bowling figures for North Kerry, 3 for 34, were returned by Eddie Garczynski.

In reply, North Kerry were looking well on course to comfortably reach their target, with father and son John and Jonathan Boulding putting on 37 in 7 overs before the first change of bowling for Quins. John Russell broke the opening partnership with his second ball, Boulding, the younger, caught behind the stumps for 13. North Kerry struggled to build partnerships with Quins consistently picking up wickets just when batsmen seemed to be settling in. In the end, North Kerry capitulated for 85 to hand Harlequins a decisive 51 run victory. Cork Harlequins 136 a.o. beat North Kerry 85 a.o. by 51runs. Peet 30; Garczynski 3-34; Boulding (Jnr) 13; Russell 6-11.

Meanwhile, in the Premier Division County Kerry seniors travelled to The Lydican to face Galway on Sunday, a season opener for both squads. Batting first Kerry made 172 runs, Alam Morshed rapidly finding form and top scoring for Kerry with 85 runs. Usman (26) and Mohsin (20) were unable to build on solid starts and some fine bowling from Tabish, who took 5 wickets for 25 runs, restricted Kerry to well below 200. Galway chased the target down in 39 overs for the loss of 6 wickets. Yaqoob Ali made a welcome return to the Kerry senior squad, but was only able to pick up a single wicket for 37 runs as Galway crossed the winning line with a degree of comfort. Galway 173 for 6, beat Kerry 172 a.o. by 4 wickets. Morshed 85; Tabish 5-25; Nasim 85.

Meanwhile, on Saturday Kerry Thirds got off to a winning start to the season with a 39-run victory over Limerick 2 at Adare. Awais Saghir was into his stride from the off, top scoring with a commanding 47, captain John Roux was also in good form adding a useful 23. Sean Rutland finished 10 not out as Kerry batted out the full 40 overs for 159 runs losing 9 wickets in the process.

Arslan Khalid returned the best figure for Limerick taking 2 wickets for just 9 runs. In reply, Limerick miss-timed their chase leaving too much to do in the later overs. Dominic Broadhurst top scored with 34, but it was Murad Shah who took control of the match for Kerry taking 4 wickets for 25 off 7 overs. John Roux, Dave Ramsay and Shahzaib Saghir all chipped in with wickets to dismiss the home side for 120. Kerry 3: 159 for 9, beat Limerick 3: 120 a.o. Awais Saghir 47, Khalid 2-9; Broadhurst 34; Shah 4-25 Fixtures Saturday - Division 1: County Kerry 2 v Cork County 2 in Oyster Oval Sunday - Premier Division: County Kerry 1 v Cork County 1 in Oyster Oval Monday - Division 2: Limerick 3 v North Kerry 1 in Adare Monday - Division 2: County Kerry 3 v Tipperary County 2 in Oyster Oval