Dundalk 1 Get Back to Winning Ways
Dundalk Cricket Club news
Swords 2: 163/5 (20 ov) Jacob 46, R. Qamar 2-29
Dundalk 1: 167/4 (19.5 ov) Syed 56, Murali 1-19
Dundalk 1 won by 6 wickets
After starting their T20 cup campaign with defeat, Dundalk firsts bounced back to win away from home against Swords seconds with a ball to spare last Sunday.
Winning the toss under grey skies at Newbridge Park, Dundalk opted to bowl first and got off to a great start, running out opener Praveen Chandran in the first over.
A couple more wickets fell and Swords’ middle order eventually recovered to a respectable 163-5 courtesy of 40+ knocks from Justin Jacob and Hemanth Kumar.
Club secretary Raheel Qamar had the best bowling figures for the town, taking two wickets in his 3-over spell.
In the second innings, it was in-form captain Syed who starred with the bat, scoring 56 off 40 balls for back-to-back half centuries.
His 76-run partnership for the second wicket with returning batsman Sakhi Jan saw Dundalk into a promising position halfway through the chase.
Avijot Singh and Subtain Gondal both scored quickly in their partnership and got over the line in time to give the visitors a six-wicket victory.
Now sitting 2nd in their group, Dundalk 1 will hope to keep pushing for top spot as they entertain Rush 3 at home on the 9th.
First Defeat of Season for Seconds
Dundalk 2: 128-5 (20 ov) Uthaman 60*, Z. Iqbal 1-10
Mullingar 3: 129/7 (18.2 ov) Alam 57*, Hegde 2-19
Mullingar 3 won by 3 wickets
Dundalk seconds’ undefeated start to the 2024 season came to an end last Saturday with a narrow defeat at home to Mullingar 3.
One over in, choosing to bat first was looking like a questionable decision by the hosts, as the wickets of opener Jins George and captain Jiwan Jodhani both fell in the first four balls.
The uphill battle for runs got going with Dundalk’s ever-reliable wicket keeper Shibu Uthaman seeing out the rest of the innings from number 4.
He partnered well with Qazi Khan and Prashant Nair to score a steady 60 not out and give the town something to defend with a total of 128.
Needing wickets to give themselves a fighting chance, the hosts made headway early on as Adarsh Hegde trapped Mullingar opener Rohith Vengere LBW for a golden duck.
A couple of middle order batters were picked off well to keep the win in sight, however the visitors’ number 3 Bilal Alam quickly became a thorn in Dundalk’s side as he saw the innings out with an unbeaten half-century.
Mullingar’s 3-wicket victory keeps Dundalk level on points with group leaders Athlone 3, who visit Hiney Park on Saturday the 15th.
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