Kerry Seconds beat Cork with 50 runs to spare

FACING Cork Seconds in a Munster Division 1 match at the Oyster Oval on Saturday, Kerry Seconds won the toss and batted first. Jonathan Boulding and Alam Morshed posted 90 before Alam (60) was caught in the deep following a blazing innings which included ten 4s and one 6. Awais added a breezy 24 before Qassim came to the wicket hungry for sixes.

At 226 for 2 in the 34th over Kerry looked on course for a score well over 300, but Talla struck a double blow in his 7th over dismissing Boulding for 77, then after yielding two more consecutive 6s to Qassim, had him caught on 47 (six 6s and one 4). Nevertheless, though that eventful over started a flurry of wickets, eventually Imran Fahar and Sanjid Singh combined to ensure that Kerry finished on a challenging total of exactly 300.

Experienced opener Abdul Younis set about the chase with relish, smacking four 4s and a six before being comprehensively bowled for 37 by Prince Thomas. Prince dismissed Farooq LBW next ball to leave the visitors on 67 for 3 and looking decidedly shaky.

But in his first match for Cork it was Ritesh Sah who took control. First he combined with Noel Cronin who dug in to contribute a useful 24 and then skipper Scott MacNamara joined in, determined to get the run rate towards their challenging target. Kerry looked somewhat ragged as MacNamara in particular regularly found the boundary; for a while, Cork looked like pulling off an unlikely result.

Retish was finally caught for 75 off the bowling of Sean Rutland and when Qassim came on for his second bowling spell he conceded only 3 runs off his next two overs. The momentum had swung back towards the home squad and when the final ball of the day was bowled Cork were left 50 runs short. Nevertheless, 550 runs from 90 overs made for a highly entertaining match and a closer one than the winning margin suggests.

KERRY SECONDS: 300-7; Boulding 77; Morshed 60; Butt 47; Talla 9-0-79-3 beat CORK SECONDS: 250-7; Sah 75; MacNamara 66; Youis 37; Taj 9-1-48-2; Rutland 9-0-49-2, P Thomas 4-0-20-2

SUNDAY’S Munster Division Two match at The Oyster was a low scoring affair between Tipperary Seconds and Kerry’s Thirds. The visitors are known for their strength as a bowling unit and Kerry’s top seven batters only added 45 runs between them, so they were lucky that their bowlers showed some resistance with bat in hand and levered the score up to a defendable but fragile 139.

At the 15th over, Tipperary were 43 for 5 and a home win was looking almost a formality, but Lino (not out 39) struck up match a winning partnership with Tiju George who faced 53 balls for only 5 runs. With Kerry bowlers generously adding extras, this pair put on 63 to take the score to 104, to leave Tipperary needing 35 more runs with 15 overs remaining. Kerry missed too many wicket-taking opportunities and Arun had the thrill of putting the ball high over the square leg boundary for Tipperary’s winning six!

KERRY THIRDS: 139-8; Adil 25; Imran 20; Shiju 6-1-8-2; Thomas 8-0-27-2 lost by 3 wickets to TIPPERARY SECONDS: 141-7; Lino 39; Mourad 4-0-18-2; P Thomas 7-0-35-2

FIXTURES

Saturday, June 2

Munster Division 1

County Kerry 2 v Limerick 2 at the Oyster Oval

Sunday, June 3

Munster Minor Cup Quarter-final

County Kerry 3 v North Kerry at the Oyster Oval

The Kerry team that competed in the 1,200m Cross-Country Mixed Final at the Aldi Community Games May Festival in thbe University of Limerick last weekend. INSET: The Girls 10-13 100m Freestyle Relay winners, from left, Anu Hayes Breheny, Tara Cronin,...