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Cricket comes to Adare
Under glorious sunshine, last
Saturday saw the return of cricket to Adare as
the new Adare sports pitches hosted 2 cricket
matches. The first match involved an underage match with players (boys and
girls) from Limerick
City and Adare. This was followed by an exhibition adult
Twenty20 game between Limerick Cricket Club and the recently formed Ennis
Cricket Club.
As a prelude to the matches, a
coaching session was provided by coach Chris Thomas for all underage
players many of whom were playing cricket for the first time. After the
coaching a game was played involving all the kids and despite the lack of
experience fun was had by all.
The adult match between
Limerick and Ennis proved to be a one-sided affair as Limerick put on 165
in their 20 overs with skipper Luke Kirwan,
Morgan Callaghan, Ranvir Singh and Ranjit Singh all making good scores. Ennis lost
wickets at regular intervals before being dismissed for 85 to hand Limerick victory by 80 runs. All-rounder Morgan
Callaghan caused most of the damage for Limerick
taking a hat-trick of wickets in his second over, while Raja Sahota top-scored for Ennis.
Quotes:
Adare is a wonderful location for cricket and the
large turnout of kids (approx 30 kids) shows how much interest there is
for the game in the area among all ages both young and not so young!
Joe O’Flaherty the groundsman for the pitches deserves a huge amount of
credit for the time and effort he put in preparing the cricket wickets
and having the outfield in such wonderful condition. Fintan
Wallis and Martin O’Farrelly should also
be thanked for the hard work they put in arranging the day with a lot of
work having to be put in at short notice.
From a cricketing point of
view, the interest on Saturday just shows how much the game has grown in
Ireland in recent times following on from Irelands success in the 2007
World Cup in the Caribbean and the 2009 Twenty20 World Cup in England.
The television coverage on Sky Sports also means that people are seeing
it on television and are curious to try their hand at it.
Hopefully the success of last
Saturday may lead to a more permanent arrangement for the hosting of
cricket in future as from Limerick Cricket Club’s point of view,
the sports complex has huge potential not just for the development of
cricket but for many sports in the area. I also have no doubt that Adare would also be a popular place for opposing
teams to play.
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