DLR Take Jacob’s Ladder to Intermediate Cup Glory
The oldest cup competition in Cricket Leinster served up an absolute thriller as DLR County won the Intermediate Cup by 3-wickets over Pembroke on Sunday.
Player of the Match Vinu Jacob (41) and Naveen George (37*) played the crucial hand for DLR as their partnership of 69 in even overs turned the tide in County’s favour and away from a Pembroke side who had looked on top for long periods of the match.
Both batsmen struck five boundaries and cleared the ropes once as they took DLR from 106/6 to within 20 runs of victory at a run a ball.
This came after Pembroke had reduced DLR to 18/3 chasing 195 as Piyush Sharma (3-44) and Justin Doherty (1-28) bowled well from the outset.
The first sign of a counterattack came from Tony David Kurian who hit 38 runs, which incredibly contained nine boundaries. That kept DLR in the contest and set up Jacob and George for their fireworks later on.
In the first innings, Brendon Ferres (69) top scored with a brilliant ten boundaries as he set about repairing the damage after Pembroke found themselves 2/2 after just eight deliveries of this final.
Ashane Wijesinghe (34) added some valuable middle order runs before getting the finest nick through to the keeper off the bowling of the all-rounder George (2-47).
Both Khoshal Jan Safi (23) and Siawash Safi (13) swung for the ropes late in the innings and took Pembroke towards the 200-mark. Unfortunately for the home side they were to fall just short posting 194/9 off their 40 overs and on the day, DLR County had just enough to chase down the target with 10 balls to spare.
A wonderful day’s cricket at Sydney Parade and a thrilling final played out between two evenly matched sides.
Intermediate Cup Final
Pembroke 4s v DLR County 3s, Sunday September 1st, Sydney Parade, 40 overs
Pembroke 194/9 (B Ferres 69, A Wijesinghe 34; S Shahdeo 3-32, N George 2-22)
DLR County 195/7 38.2 overs (V Jacob 41, T D Kurian 38, N George 37*; P Sharma 3-44)
DLR County 3s win by 3 wickets