On a cloudy Sunday afternoon North County welcomed North Kildare to Balrothery for their Division 3 encounter. The home team won the toss and decided to insert the opposition. North Kildare started brightly Sean Dalton and Ian Walshe putting on 76 for the first wicket. Walshe bowled by Owen Graham for 21. Manpreet (Monty) Singh fell lbw to Ankit Gugale for 9 when the score reached 96. Tom Satchwell next in. Opener Sean Dalton had passed fifty and made his way to 73 when he was caught by Craig May off the bowling of Anthony Mooney. Satchwell made an excellent 50 from 56 balls before falling lbw to Anthony Mooney. Robert Neavyn batted well for 21 before being stumped off Anthony Mooney. North Kildare pushed hard for quick late runs. Ankit Rana was caught & bowled by Anthony Mooney for 2. Gulab Singh bowled Ankit Gugale for 7. Harish Dhanarajan not out 13 and Daire O'Neill not out 14 brought North Kildare to 255.
North County's Bowlers were led by Anthony Mooney 4-55 with Ankit Gugale 2-50 and Owen Graham 1-26 the other wicket takers.
North Kildare may have been happy with 255 on a cloudy afternoon, but that didn't last too long as North County put on a batting Masterclass. Sean Rooney opened up with Craig May and the pair went about the bowling with aplomb. May batted beautifully for 48 before falling lbw to Manpreet (Monty) Singh, the score had raced to 136. Rooney continued to bat serenely. He was joined by Manmeet Singh and the pair brought it home. Manmeet Singh 58 not out from 45 balls hitting 8 fours. But innings of the day goes to Sean Rooney, oozing class he hit 122 not out from 106 balls with 21 fours and 1 six.
Obviously the North Kildare Bowlers all suffered. Singh 1-44 the only successful bowler. North County winning by 9 wickets in 39.3 overs.
North County (25 pts)
North Kildare (0 pts)