Nenagh Cricket Club recorded their fifth win in a row on saturday last in a high-scoring thriller against Limerick at Adare. Top of the league Nenagh had already won a tight contest against rivals Limerick in May at Ballyeighan, and this return fixture promised to be another close-fought context; so much so that Nenagh had taken advantage of the recent good weather to practice nearly every day in the nets in the week leading up to the clash. After winning the toss and deciding to bat, Nenagh then made full use of this extra training by blazing to a club record score of 294 all out, leaving their opponents shellshocked. The pitch was dry and hard, and the boundaries a little on the small side, but it was still a breathtaking display of confident batting from the Minor Cup holders.
Openers Tom Paul and Jojin Mathew set the tone from the off, notching up 23 off the first two overs, and racing to 78 without loss in the first ten overs, before Paul, who had already struck three powerful sixes, holed out attempting to clear the boundary once more for 41 off just 28 balls. This provoked a mini-wobble from Nenagh, as Jojin Mathew followed soon after for 31 and Jomy Joseph missed out on the runfest when he was caught for 4. Mathew Thomas batted in his usual gutsy fashion to steady the ship, however he too departed soon after for 14, with the score now reading 110-4. Ginson Abraham and Kannan Sree then took control, putting on a hundred run partnership for the fifth wicket. Sree in particular was in belligerent mood, crashing 76 runs off just 35 deliveries, as the Limerick bowlers just didn't know where to bowl to him. Having scored 10 fours and 5 sixes, Sree looked well set to record his second century for the club before being well caught on the boundary.
Tiju George then joined his captain at the middle with the score standing at an imposing 211-5, and with 17 overs still remaining, Nenagh were thinking of 300. George struck some handy runs before being bowled for 21, and Abraham made it to 41 before being caught. Naoise Brooke then piled more runs onto the ever-increasing total with a quickfire 28, including a pair of gorgeous straight sixes, and the tail ran hard and slogged merrily in chase of that improbable triple century. It wasn't to be, as Nenagh were bowled out 6 runs short with just 3 balls remaining in the innings, but it was still a phenomenal, match-winning total. Limerick hadn't bowled particularly badly, but this was a batsman's day.
In the return innings, Limerick lost their first two wickets cheaply to Ginson Abraham, which all but killed their slim chances of chasing down the target. They recovered somewhat before Kannan Sree enticed an edge behind, and continued trying to put together partnerships only to lose wickets just as they were looking settled. Joseph Sebastian was rewarded for some hard graft with a strike to leave the hosts at 107-4, and Limerick captain Nigel Aspinall then walked after edging behind shortly after registering his fifty.
Nenagh could possibly have had the match won already, had they held onto their catches; the only negative of what was otherwise a wonderful day. This was evidenced when Brooke dropped a relatively easy chance at mid-off from Limerick batsman Hasir Sultan's first ball, and he then went on to record 56 before misjudging a slower ball from Jomy Joseph. J. Joseph and Sree then combined to clean up the Limerick tail, who to their credit didn't stop attacking and managed to push their score on to 245 all out. The win was never in question, but Nenagh know they could have been heading home a lot earlier than they eventually did.
The result gave Nenagh maximum points, and sees them continue at the top of Division Two, where a two-horse race for the title is starting to develop with Cork Harlequins. Their second game of the weekend, a Junior Cup tie against Thurles, was postponed due to their opponents having a fixtures clash, but it wasn't all bad news for Nenagh, as they were mentioned in a headline article on the growth of cricket in Ireland on espncricinfo, one of the leading cricket websites. Described as one of a number of 'new, thriving clubs', it was welcome acknowledgement for all the hard work of the members.
Nenagh's next match is a home league clash against Kerry at Ballyeighan on the 15th June.
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