FIRST TEAM LEAGUE WINS FOR ADAMSTOWN, THE HILLS & NORTH KILDARE (SUNDAY 3.5.2026)

The second round games in the IBI First Team League resulted in two home wins (at The Vineyard and The Maws) whilst Adamstown left Terenure with the points to go 2 from 2.

Two of the wins were underpinned by brilliant hundreds as Liam Blackford announced himself in Skerries with an unbeaten 137 to down Knockharley, whilst Dinesh Antony Kidagan David added another 106 to his already impressive record against Terenure as Adamstown went unbeaten after the first two rounds. Meanwhile, North Kildare completed a relatively facile win over Cork Harlequins despite a battling performance with the bat from the visitors.

TERENURE LOST TO ADAMSTOWN BY 37 RUNS

The home side one the toss and elected to chase for the third time in the first three weeks of the season. They may well have regretted this decision as Adamstown made excellent first use of the pitch with solid contributions, first from Sidharth Biju (57 off 52 upfront) and then from Dinesh Antony Kidagan David who partnered very effectively with Shreyas Rajesh (40) in adding 134 for the fifth wicket.

Dinesh Antony was the eighth wicket to fall, dismissed in the final over for 106 off 99 balls – he definitely likes playing against Terenure, in his last three innings at First Team League level, he has taken his D6W opponents for 89*, 111 and now 106! 

Best with the ball for Terenure was Benjamin Dillon who finished with 3/58 off his allotted overs whilst Kripesh Shetty and Naveed Khan benefited from some late wickets as Adamstown pushed towards 300. They ultimately concluded their innings on 277/8 leaving the home side to ponder their decision at the toss.

Dinesh Antony scored 106 as Adamstown made 277/8 in Terenure

In reply, Terenure quickly lost both openers, Gareth Morgan (3 off 19 balls) and Mick Cotter (22 off 35), as the home side struggled for any early momentum in the chase – 35/2 off the first 12 overs. Jaivir Singh Oberoi then picked up the wicket of Zeeshan Mumtaz, Terenure were now 52/3 with the required rate rising to 6.55 runs per over.

Club captain Henry Dall was then joined by Sid Nair as they sought to take the fight back to Adamstown. Having added 40 runs together in just 6 overs, Nair was dismissed with the score on 92 to leave Dall with an even bigger mountain to climb. Donal Lynch followed soon after leaving Terenure 121/5 with half the overs gone.

Dall continued to play a lone hand reaching his 50 off 60 balls with 7 boundaries. Whilst he continued to take keep his team up with the required rate, unfortunately Dall was unable to find anyone with the temperament or technique to stay with him so inevitably, he had to hit the accelerator in an effort to reach the target before running out of partners. With support from Kripesh Shetty, Dall added 55 for the 8th wicket before Aryan Adelkar came into the attack and immediately removed Shetty and Benjamin Dillon in the same over to leave Dall with just Naveen Khan for company and 45 runs still required. Adelkar then dismissed Khan to close out the Terenure innings and secure a 37-run victory for the Airlie Park side.

Huge credit to Henry Dall who finished unbeaten on 118 not out off 108 balls with 12X4s and 3X6s – all he needs is someone to bat with!

Adamstown leave Terenure with 2 wins from 2 games so far and will take great confidence from establishing the winning habit!

NORTH KILDARE BEAT CORK HARLEQUINS BY 5 WKTS

At The Maws, North Kildare won the toss and put Quins in to bat perhaps looking to take advantage of the Cork side’s batting line-up which had been shown to be brittle up in Terenure last week. Their decision to insert Quins was immediately rewarded when Nazmus Monon removed Shivam Kislay off the third ball of the match.

There then followed solid contributions from Callum Stevenson (37), Dineth Sumanasinghe (34) and Adam Hickey (32) as Quins recovered to reach 139/3 at the half-way stage. The introduction of Josh Uddin immediately resulted in a flurry of wickets as the visitors were reduced to 154/8 in the 32nd over.

The returning Ruadhan Jones (batting at 8) showed his experience in marshalling the tail to add a further 68 with Seneth Sumanasinghe (22) and Daniel Filmer (11*). Despite his early success with the ball, Uddin bowled just 5 overs finishing with 3/14. Quins were finally all out in the 47th over setting the home side 223 for victory.

The North Kildare reply was built around a fast-paced partnership between Moize Haider and Yash Kalasannavar who together plundered 151 for the second wicket in just 20 overs to break the back of the chase. Haider was eventually dismissed with the score on 171 but not before he had made a brilliant 95 off just 77 balls which included 10X4s and no less than 7X6s.

Kalasannavar was no slouch either as he contributed 58 off 62 balls before becoming Adam Hickey’s second victim inside two overs. Vikranth Masina also chipped in with a brace of wickets as the North Kildare middle order leaked a couple of points before the experienced Josh Uddin closed out the win  for Kildare, finishing 27 not out.

THE HILLS BEAT KNOCKHARLEY BY 70 RUNS

The Hills won the toss and chose to bat first at The Vineyard. Despite losing his brother early in the innings, Muzamil Sherzad made sure The Hills innings got off to a solid start, contributing a well-made 60 off 65 balls before he was second out with the team score 97/2 off the first 20.

Liam Blackford (batting at 3 in his debut knock for The Hills) showed his class and the value of a strong overseas signing as he accelerated his own scoring and the team total over the middle overs. Blackford’s fire-power was well supported by Joe Fletcher (43 off 67 balls) as the pair amassed an imposing 159 for the fourth wicket in just less than 25 overs together.

Blackford hit the accelerator in the closing overs as the Knockharley attack tired – in all, he plundered 14X4s and 3X6s finishing unbeaten on 137* as The Hills made 286/5 and will have gone in for their legendary tea feeling that order was on its way to being restored!

Liam Blackford scored 137* for The Hills on debut

Facing the daunting task of chasing 287 for victory (at 5.74 runs per over), Knockharley made steady progress despite the early loss of Adnan Shinwari in the first over bowled by The Hills captain, Matthew Weldon. Opener Don Retty combined with Muhammad Nawaz to add 70 for the second wicket however the required run rate continued to rise over this period to the extent that Knockharley required 7 an over from the 20th over onwards.

Scoreboard pressure inevitably began to take its toll with wickets falling at regular intervals in the face of tight bowling from the home side. Nawaz became Stefano Di Bartolomeo second victim with Knockharley 90/4 at that stage. Tomas Rooney-Murphy also chipped in with two wickets (2/28 off 10) including the veteran Shami Ahmed (caught & bowled) for just 3 runs. Febin Manoj then had Mubeen Ali adjudged lbw for a battling 30 as the Knockharley resistance began to subside.

Kashif Ali and Syed Mehdi then batted with some freedom and in doing so extended the innings to ensure Knockharley would head home with at least two points from a challenging day in The Vineyard. To their credit, Ali and Mehdi (30) added 71 for the 9th wicket. The visitors batted the full overs to reach 216/9 to give The Hills a well-deserved and confidence-boosting 70-run win in their quest to dominate at this level. And Blackford looks a good find as part of the rebuild project. Kashif Ali finishing unbeaten on 50*.