The Midlands and Southeast Cricket Association cup finals were held yesterday in North Kildare CC and Halverstown CC. In the Wallace Cup Laois 1st XI played Knockharley and won by 5 wickets. Knockharley batting first put on 131 off 40 overs on a very green wicket, S Hughes top scoring with 45. The Laois bowling was dominated by the Auret brothers, Clint with 1 for 11 off 8 including 5 maidens and Matt, 4 for 39 off 5. Laois got off to a shaky start and were 3 for 20 when again the Auret brothers came together and Matt put on 50 and Clint added 36. With steady contributions from A.Khan and B.Hur, Laois won with 5 wickets to spare. Matthew Auret was man of the match.
In the Dick O’Neill Cup, Laois 3rds played Bagnalstown. Laois batted first and put up 147, T.Islam 23 and P Bhrand 32. R.Stapleton 1 for 11 off 8. In reply Bagnalstown were 3 down for 8 after S.Uddin took an early wicket and a direct hit by Jaz Singh ran out A.Saha. Although good contributions from S.Charles 24, D. Purcell 23 and young Shane O’Neill 21, Bagnalstown fell 14 runs short in a tight match. Teriq Islam from Laois was man of the match.
In a separate presentation David Murphy of Laois was awarded the Midlands Cricket Association Youth Player of the Year. David was the only midlands player to gain representitive honours this season when he was selected for the Leinster under 15’s.