MUNSTER CRICKET UNION
Harlequins V Limerick Senior Cup Semi Final
Brief report on Cork Harlequins 1 v Limerick 1 in Senior Cup Semi-Final
Saturday 26th July 2008
Cork Harlequins 302 – 7 (M Bauer 101, R Russell 83, G Lawlor 3 – 41) in 50 overs defeated
Limerick 136 all out (S Ur-Rehmann 3 – 30; M Reid 3-48) in 30.2 overs by 166 runs.
On a day blessed by good weather, on winning the toss Cork Harlequins, fielding their strongest side had little hesitation in electing to bat, opened with skipper David Gash and Robin Russell. Limerick, who were missing some of their leading bowlers, started well with Shanni and Gay Lawlor; Shanni taking the wicket of David Gash in the fourth over with the score on 25. First change bowler Faroukh bowled Ted Williamson in the thirteenth over, to leave the score 50 for 2. This brought in Morne Bauer, who edged his first ball between wicket-keeper and first slip for four. Having had this little piece of good fortunr, he never looked back and slowly at first and then with increasing tempo began to put Harlequins in control. He played many delightful shots from both good and short deliveries all round the wicket, a notable feature being a number of delicate dab sweeps for four. The 100 was posted in the 23rd over and shortly thereafter Bauer reached his 50.
The tempo increased and Robin Russell, playing the ideal steady supporting role reached his half-century. Gogi and Azeem both bowled well but by then even the good balls were being clobbered for fours and sixes. Bauer reached his century in the 34th over, bringing the team total to 199. Going for another big hit off his next delivery he skied the ball to deep mid-on and was out for an excellent 101. Simon Wills joined Russell and they brought the score to 236 in the 41st over before Willis was out. James Burchill replaced him and following some big hits he was out lbw in the 47th over with the score on 278. Robin Russell followed shortly afterwards bowled for a very well constructed 83 playing the anchor role for his side. It was now only a matter of whether Harlequins would reach 300 for the second match in a row, having made an even higher score against WIT on Sunday 20th July, and indeed they did, reaching 302 for 7 in their allotted 50 overs.
The total was always likely to be too much for Limerick, given the strength of the Harlequins attack of Shakeel Ur-Rehmann, James Burchill, Simon Willis, Mike Reid, Morne Bauer and David Gash. With Gay Lawlor unklikely to bat due to a hamstring injury incurred while fielding towards the end of the harlequins innings, when James Burchill bowled David Lynch in the fourth over with the score on 6 the augurs were not good for them. Faroukh and Shanni started to hit out but Faroukh’s innings was ended by a stunning catch in the slips by Morne Bauer in the 11th over with the score on 39. Shanni was out in the 17th over caught behind off Mike Reid. This was followed by two wickets in two balls, when Gogi and Abassi were out lbw to the bowling of Simon Willis in the 20th over with the score on 78, with Azeem out in the next over from Mike Reid, followed soon after by that of Mark Nestor, Limerick were in all kinds of strife with 7 wickets down for less than 100 runs. Some resistance came from Moshe and Pradeep which brought the score to 136 at the end of the 30th over. However, Shakeel, who had now returned to bowl took the last two wickets with the first 2 balls of his 9th over, with Moshe caught by Cory Atkinson and their No. 10 clean bowled off successive deliveries. With Gay Lawlor unable to bat, Limerick were all out for 136. Harlequins thus were through to their 2nd successive Senior Cup Final where, if their opponents Cork County are at full strength, a good final should be anticipated on Saturday 23rd August – weather permitting.