Limerick Cricket Club clinched the Junior T20 title following a hard fought 4 run victory defending 138 against Cork Harlequins at the Mardyke on Saturday.
In the Semi-Finals, Limerick 2 had a hard fought victory over Cork County 2 by 12 runs defending 150 while Cork Harlequins 2 eased into the final with a 7 wicket win over over Co. Kerry 2 chasing 76.
The final, Cork Harlequins won the toss and elected to insert Limerick. The Shannonsiders dominated the intial 12 overs with Shani Alam and Usman Khan, in particular, getting the better of the bowlers at almost 8 runs an over.
Following the loss of the first wicket, Limerick’s progress was dragged back well by the Harlequins bowlers an as a result finished their innings on 138 having looked like posting a more imposing total.
Inreply, Harlequins were always struggling to get up the required rate due to the loss of wickets at regular intervals. A spirited innings from Joe Hourihanegave the Cork side some hope but they were always behind the rate.
6 penalty runs were awarded to Cork Hatlequins due to the slow over rate of Limerick which made the margin of victory a little tighter than it should have been.
Junior T20 Final
Limerick 2 138-6 off 20 overs (Khan 55, Alam 54) beat Cork Harlequins 2 135-8 off 20 overs (Shahab 2-20, Ramay 2-22) by 3 runs at the Mardyke.
