NEW ORDER FTL

The CL First Team League is only in its second season however it is already evident that this league will be competitive and a pathway for expanded participation at the higher levels.

Adamstown beat The Hills at The Vineyard whilst Knockharley overcame North Kildare in The Maws. That’s not a sentence we would have often written in previous years and shows the level of emerging talent at the top-end. Meanwhile, Terenure were successful against Cork Harlequins, and finish Round 1 top of the table.

TERENURE BEAT CORK HARLEQUINS BY 7 WICKETS

In Terenure, the away side won the toss and elected to bat first, however the home side were on top from the outset, as the wickets of Callum Stevenson and Sidarth Pushp began a minor wobble, reducing 'Quins to 44/3. Following a period of belligerence between Devon Joyce and Adam Hickey, the fourth wicket saw them falling from 87/3 to 90/8, with a quick pair of wickets for Aamir Bafanda supplemented by three for Kripesh Shetty, who finished the pick of the hosts' bowlers with 4/34. Benjamin Dillon with 2/29 and debutant Bafanda's 2/46 were the other strong contributors. It took until the score had reached 164 however before Bhavic Tukrel could dismiss Umer Hassan Khan, as the Quins number 10 bludgeoned 59 from just 33 balls, including three fours and six maximums.

Terenure's chase was professional, as Gareth Morgan set the tone with 6 boundaries in his 25 before being dismissed by Khan who was having a good day among plenty of carnage for the away side. However from 2 down for 50, the hosts saw Henry Dall (52) and Sid Nair (53*) added 90 for the third wicket, before the skipper was dismissed, however Nair and Dónal Lynch had no issues knocking off the final 25 runs, with a 7 wicket-victory secured inside 22 overs, with the hosts securing 24 points to begin the season.

In The Maws, Knockharley piled up 246 all out in 46.2 overs, with Daneyaal Janjua once again top scoring, as his 59 included 5 maximums, earlier in the innings Brandon Kruger had got them off to a good start, making 42, however in spite of several players making starts, nobody else could pass 24 in the innings. There were two wickets apiece for each of Nurulain Boda, Akilesh Sharma, Ali Elahi and Asadullah Ahmadzai as the hosts will also have been kicking themselves at the concession of 37 extras.

Moize Haider got North Kildare off to a good start making 40 of the first 73 runs, however his wicket was the first of three to Kashif Ali that put the breaks on their innings, as they faltered from 73/3 to 76/6. North Kildare wouldn't roll over however as Boda added a stand of 49 with Sayed Shah, before he himself fell for 37. Brandon Kruger mopped up the tail, also taking three wickets, as he and Ali finished with 3/36 and 3/42 respectively.

Finally in The Vineyard, Adamstown batted first and were indebted to 53 for Sid Biju, supported by 39 for Prashanth Damodaran and 27 for Nithin Namburu, as they were eventually bowled out for 184 inside 36 overs. Cian Nulty was the pick for the home side, as he excavated much of the middle order, with the Airlie Park outfit falling from a promising start at 119/2. Nulty's 5/39 the stand out effort and was supported by two apiece for Italian international Stefano di Bartolomeo and Yaseen Sherzad.

The chase also saw a flying start for an opener, as Muzamil Sherzad notched a run-a-ball 43 to put his side well ahead of the run-rate, however wickets for Shravon Biju and Aditya Singh stalled the Milverton men's charge. Di Bartolomeo marshalled affairs from 104/6, however when he fell for 32, off the bowling of Arvind Olaganathan, they were still 33 runs away from victory. Cian Nulty and Killian McGrane managed to add a further 24 for the last wicket, however when Aditya Singh dismissed McGrane, the hosts were still 8 runs short, seeing Adamstown claim a prized early-season scalp and strike an early blow to The Hills' title hopes.