County Sligo Cricket Club defeat Cavan opponents

COUNTY Sligo Cricket Club travelled to Cavan for a match against newly established Cricket Club in Cavan recently. The match was played at Cavan Rugby ground, Swellan Park. Cavan Skipper won the toss and elected to field first on a very breezy and cloudy day.

Started with the spinners, Cavan bowlers kept Sligo opening batsmen under pressure and did not allow them to score runs freely.

Sligo batters could only manage to get 55 in 10 overs with Yasir Raja 15 and Rashid Waseem 27.

After losing couple of wicket, Sligo Captain Muhammad Asif (19) and Vice-Captain Dr Ahmad Iqbal (22 not out) contributed to rotate the strike and crossed 100 runs.

The middle order did not stay long and four of Sligo batters got out for just 3 runs. Luqman Bashir came to the crease and showed excellent display with his bat and made quick 25 of just 9 balls. Sligo posted 153 for 8 wickets in limited 30 overs.Sligo now took to the field knowing early and quick wickets were required to cross the line before the game is out of their hands but Cavan batsmen came with a different frame of mind to finish the game in no time. They started hitting boundaries and sixes from the very first ball. Cavan lost its first wicket on 15 when Captain Hassan was magnificently caught by Ghulam Nabi on his own bowling. Next three batsmen showed dazzling firework to stun Sligo with Manpreet (36), Waqqas (22) and Brendon (39). At one stage Cavan were 98 for 2 with plenty of overs spare to get the target. From nowhere Sligo bowler Luqman Bashir showed spectacular bowling display and ripped through Cavan strong batting line by taking 5 precious wickets for just 26 runs in his 6 overs. He also took two stunning catches on his own bowling. Now Cavan could see their destination far away which was too close a few minutes ago and the remaining batsmen could not resist against the pace and outstanding fielding of Sligo and all out on 136 in 28.4 overs.

Sligo won the game by 18 runs. Both sides are now 1-1 equal with the decider to play if weather permits in September.