Nenagh Cricket teams continue good start
Last weekend saw Nenagh first team play Limerick Blasters in the Munster Junior Cup.
The Nenagh team, led by Tom Paul, were given a warm welcome to the brand-new ground developed by Limerick Blasters at Ballyneety.
Limerick decided to bat first after winning the toss, Nenagh opening bowlers Tiju George (23/2) and Cinulal V (27/1) put the batters under pressure early with some tight bowling on the unused pitch, both of them started with maiden overs, Tiju strike first by clean bowling Anunath Gopinath who scored a half century in his previous innings. Cinulal did exactly the same to the other opener Geo Raju who lost his off stump to a perfect inswinger.
Umair Akbar (51/3) came in after the fierce opening spell and rattled stumps of Limerick’s ever reliable Rahul Poulsoe.
Limerick score was at 38/3, even though there were partnerships in the middle overs, Nenagh succeeded in keeping the scoring rate under control throughout the limerick innings. Tony Kurian (17/1) and Naveen George (16/1) are the other wicket takers while skipper Tom Paul effected two run outs. Limerick were all out for 175 runs after 42.3 overs bowled.
Both teams felt confident of winning the game at the break because the new pitch is helping both batters and bowlers. Nenagh opening batters soon found scoring difficult against one of the best bowling attacks in the division.
Nenagh were in a spot of bother after losing four wickets for just 64 runs on broad, we were desperate for a partnership at this stage and allrounder Tony Kurian (37) did exactly that with partnerships with Cinulal (16) and Sreenivas (26).
A reverse sweep to a pace bowler is a T20 era inspired shot in cricket which is seen played only by a handful of cricketers even in international arena, but Tony played that shot to perfection to the admiration of both set of players and the supporters turned up.
His wicket and another two in quick succession led to some worried faces in Nenagh camp as they knew only the winner of this game will progress to next round. All those worries were put to bed by the calm innings of Naveen George (25 not out) who is soon becoming a reliable allrounder in the Nenagh ranks. Tom Paul (8) remained not out when Nenagh reached the target with three overs and three wickets to spare.
In Division 2, Nenagh’s second team registered their second win in as many matches at Midleton Cricket ground.
Batting first Midleton scored 197/9 of the allocated 40 overs. There were even battle between Nenagh bowlers and Midleton batters throughout in a good batting surface on a sunny afternoon. Whenever Midleton threatened to cruise to a big score, Nenagh were able to strike with a wicket or two. Nenagh captain Jomy Joseph was in top form, he clean bowled his Midleton counterpart David Nicol-Currie early in the Midleton innings.
In the chasing innings, Nenagh opener Sreehari Vinobhaji (63) top scored with his second half century of the season. Captain Jomy Joseph (45) joined Sreehari at the fall of third wicket, they both batted with ease and control to take the game away from Midleton in quick time with a century stand scored at a run a ball rate. Both batters hit some handsome shots to clear the boundary along the ground and over.
Midleton came back with wickets of both batters, taken by R Duplessis and Arunraj. The sudden fall of two wickets not only wrecked the idea of a comfortable win but also brought chaos into the Nenagh dressing room, by losing five wickets while adding only twenty runs to the total.
With still twelve runs still needed to win, Naveen George (10 not out) who calmly finished the game for Nenagh first team the day before against the Blasters was batting at one end. At this crucial point Nenagh needed another calm head to support him. Anulal V bought that calmness, ando he hit the winning runs, lofting a boundary over midwicket to seal the victory.
With both Nenagh teams winning their games, completes a successful weekend for the club.