Cork Harlequins 3 were the visitors to the Mardyke on Sunday July 27th. In sunny, humid conditions Cork County won the toss and elected to bat. Paul McDowell and Abdul Younus opened the batting for County but Younus was back in the pavilion inside two overs, skying to Cormac McCarthy at point off the bowling of Chris Morris.

Peter Barlow soon followed, bowled by Zuhair Shah to leave County in a precarious position at 23-2. Aidan Kelleher joined McDowell and immediately upped the run rate, pulling first Chris Morris and then Alex Deane for several boundaries through mid-wicket.
The fluent strokeplay of Kelleher combined with a sizeable amount of extras helped County to 96-2 from 22 overs when Paul McDowell was bowled attempting to cover drive.

County’s momentum faltered slightly as Billy Quinn also fell victim to a fuller delivery, the home side’s captain lobbing one to cover for 5. Kevin O’Sullivan joined Kelleher who continued to take the attack to the away side’s bowlers with a series of off-side boundaries. Three boundaries came from the 30th over, two to O’Sullivan and one to Kelleher before the latter finally fell for a brilliantly made 70 out of 163-5.

James McCarthy joined O’Sullivan with ten overs remaining in the innings but soon fell to the off-spin of Nintini. Chris Van Heerden came to the crease and together with O’Sullivan put on a quickfire partnership of 28 before O’Sullivan was caught and bowled by Nintini for 26 out of 176-7.

Narsa Renjarla and Van Heerden put on 17 before Renjarla was stumped off the final ball of the innings. The hosts had set a daunting target of 194 to win and when Chris Morris was run out off the third ball of the innings it came as no surprise to see ‘Quins come out all guns blazing.

Alex Deane and Greg Higgins took the score to 44-1 from just four overs when Deane pulled straight to Billy Quinn at square-leg. Joe O’Mahony joined Higgins at the crease but could only watch on as his partner holed out to long on off the bowling of Brian Kelleher.

Zuhair Shah cover drove Van Heerden to the rope and rotated the strike well with O’Mahony to put the away side in the ascendancy. ‘Quins were still ahead of the required rate but when Shah was excellently caught by James McCarthy at backward point, the momentum looked to be shifting the home side’s way. So it proved as Aidan Kelleher had Joe O’Mahony caught behind immediately after drinks before Kevin O’Sullivan and Brian Kelleher (2) picked up three wickets for sixteen runs to leave Cork County on the brink of victory.

They did not have long to wait as Chris Van Heerden bowled Nintini round his legs to complete a comprehensive 82 run victory for the home side, a victory which gives Billy Quinn’s side momentum going into the final portion of the season.

Tags: Cork County Cricket Club, Cork Harlequins Cricket Club, cricket in Cork, Mardyke, Munster League Division 3