Laois Cricket Club

First II vs. Cork County (Sun 19 April 2009)

In his first match as Captain of Laois Cricket Club’s First team, Johnny Yasin lead by example in the team’s away win to Cork County Cricket Club on Sunday last. After loosing the toss, Laois were put into the field. Fielding on a slow outfield, Laois bowled Cork County out for 127 runs after 39 overs, with Johnny Yasin taking an impressive 4 wickets for 21 runs. Laois batted steadily to chase the required runs with 2 overs to spare. Ali lead the charge early in the innings with some big shots to the boundary before being dismissed for 38. Johnny Yasin then chipped in at the end with a quick 19 runs, including 2 big sixes, before the Matthew Auret finished the innings. Laois won the game by 2 wickets. Next week, the Leinster league begins for the First team, with an away fixture in North County, Dublin.

Match Report – Laois 2 v Trinity 2 – 18 April 2009

Laois won the toss and chose to bat on the mat at College Park in surprisingly sunny conditions for April. The ground was damp, and the pitch slow, which would make scoring difficult and boundaries rare.

An AIL rugby match took place at the same time, which, adding to those soaking up the sun, helped provide a very large crowd of around 500 people – must be a record for a Middle B League game.

Norman Batanda (60) and Philip Blackley (8) opened the innings and gave Laois the perfect start with a partnership of 48 in 11 overs. Shazad (54) and Matthew Auret (34), both making debuts, played some well-timed shots for the conditions and took the score up to 189 for 4 from 33 overs.

Considering that Shazad had not played for 5 years and that Matthew is only 15, this was very encouraging for the rest of the season.

Laois then proceeded to collapse losing 5 wickets for 26 runs. That said, with only a few overs left, everyone was trying to play their shots without playing themselves in.

As Trinity came out to bat, the general feeling was that Laois had scored enough runs. Some good fielding and tight bowling would control the game.

Andrew King started from the Pavilion End, soon finding a good rhythm and taking the early wickets Laois needed. His brief spell of 5 overs saw him take 2 wickets for 5 runs. Usman at the other end bowled straight, conceding 14 runs in 3 overs. Clint Auret stood in as wicketkeeper and produced a very tidy display making it look as though this was his primary role!

Inam and Iain Woodward then took over; Inam’s usual mix of pace and spin bowled from a short run- up did much to confuse the Trinity batsmen, who were finding it very difficult to score.

At this stage, only Trinity’s opener, Ashton (21), was scoring any runs. He was removed by Woodward and, two-balls later, was followed back to the ‘Pav’ by Morrison-Bell. Inam removed Nairn, who was excellently caught by young Matthew Auret, in the next over, which meant Trinity were now 28 for 5 after 12 overs.

When Woodward then took 3 wickets in 4 balls to reduce Trinity to 34 for 8, the game was all but over. Shazad replaced Inam and after a first maiden over he took 2 wickets in two balls to wrap up the innings, both bowled.

Laois’s bowling was a very good example of what happens when a team bowl’s straight and consistently. Trinity did not put up much resistance, the game all over within 17 overs of their innings. Of the 10 wickets to fall, 7 were clean-bowled, which left their game, like the stumps, shattered.