Cork County travelled to Milverton, home of The Hills Cricket Club, for their third Leinster Division 3 fixture of the season in good form having recorded two victories over Pembroke 2 and Malahide 2, respectably. It was also a sombre occasion following the passing of the Munster Cricket Union President and Club member Leo Durity. To honour his memory, each of the Cork County players wore black armbands and both teams observed a minute’s silence.
With the weather set fair and a good wicket anticipated, it promised to be a fascinating clash and the spectators were certainly not disappointed. Having lost the toss, Cork County were asked to bowl by The Hills Captain Joe Clinton on a very placid looking Milverton wicket. From an early stage it appeared evident that chances must be taken if a big total was to be avoided. The Hills 2 openers Raza and Akhtar attempted to inject some early pace into their sides’ innings despite some tight bowling from Andy Wootton and Morne Bauer. McLoughlin followed at 3 and complied a composed innings of 63 with some nice strokes down the ground. He had some good support from the skipper Clinton while N. Akhter and Hynes also chipped in with valuable contributions. The home side finished on 288-6.
County put down a number of costly opportunities during The Hills innings but in general bowled reasonably well. As any experienced bowler will know, there is very little margin for error on the placid Milverton wickets and so any straying in line or length was punished. Bauer finished with 0-44 and Wotton 1-53 off their 10 while Abubakar Saddique finished with impressive figures of 2-42 and Ahmed Bilal with 2-58. Steve Smith took three excellent catches on the boundary while Tim Clifford took an excellent catch diving low to his left at mid-off.
In response, County needed a solid start from openers Brad Morgan and Steve Smith as they sought to chase down the 289 runs required. Smith was knicked off early by W. Akhtar and was replaced by Duggan who soon departed after misreading the length of a straight delivery from the same bowler. Morne Bauer, after 94 against Malahide, joined Morgan at the crease and both batsmen showed great composure and skill to keep the Leesiders close to the required rate. Morgan’s fine innings finished as he departed for 42 after misjudging a delivery from Moore and was adjudged LBW.
Matt Reed joined the fluent Bauer at the crease and aimed to get his partner on strike as often as possible but some tight bowling from The Hills attack restricted his ability to so during the middle period of the Cork County innings. Both batsmen showed great composure in managing their way through this session and soon got back into their stride with Bauer, in particular, freeing his arms and dispatching the home side’s attack to all sides of the Milverton ground. Bauer treated the spectators to some fantastic clean hitting as he eased County up to the required run rate as the twilight set in. Abubakar Saddique joined Bauer, after Reed was clean bowled, and his speedy 23 off 16 balls took the pressure off Bauer and allowed the South African to really take the game away from the home side.
Andy Wootton replaced Saddique and duly struck the first delivery he faced over the leg-side boundary for 6 With just 21 runs required from 6 overs, Bauer was in complete control and with 3 runs needed he calmly punched a straight drive down the ground to finish on 142 not out and give County the 289 runs required and complete a fabulous run chase. Next up is a double header against YMCA in both the league and the Leinster Senior 2 Cup at the Mardyke.
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Cork County take on YMCA in a double header this weekend, with Saturday’s match being the first round of the Leinster Senior 2 Cup. County should be one of the favourites to lift the trophy but face a tough first round clash against a strong YMCA 2 side which is captained by former Irish international Alan Lewis.
