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Ton up for mighty Munster, while flashy Lightning secure first win

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COMBER – The Munster Reds completed a perfect weekend winning three from three as they beat North West Warriors, while Leinster Lightning secured their first of the Inter-Provincial T20 Trophy by defeating hosts Northern Knights.
This is Day Three of the first of three T20 Festivals for 2022 with the weekend’s fixtures being:

• 27/05/2022 Northern Knights v North West Warriors (Warriors won by 7 wickets)
• 27/05/2022 Leinster Lightning v Munster Reds (Reds won by 6 wickets)
• 28/05/2022 North West Warriors v Leinster Lightning (Warriors won by 1 run)
• 28/05/2022 Munster Reds v Northern Knights (Reds won by 3 wickets)
• 29/05/2022 North West Warriors v Munster Reds (Reds won by 100 runs)
• 29/05/2022 Northern Knights v Leinster Lightning (Lightning won by 39 runs)

Game 1: Munster Reds v North West Warriors

Both sides started the day undefeated, and it was Warriors Captain Andy McBrine, whose side was unchanged for a third successive game, who chose to bowl first after winning the toss. The Reds made one change as Murray Commins was replaced at the top of the order by Cormac Hassett.

Periods of dot balls were punctuated by clusters of fours during the early overs – such as Hassett’s three boundaries in four balls off Ryan Macbeth in the third over, but the Warriors were happy to limit the Reds to just 41 runs from the first seven overs.

PJ Moor fell, caught by Conor Olphert off Graham Kennedy, for 29, but his wicket only seemed to spur the Reds batters into action with sixes and fours beginning to rain down around North Down Cricket Club. 165 runs were scored from the next 13 overs, with Hassett (33 from 30 balls) and Gareth Delany putting on 55 from the next four overs. Delany smashed 40 off 18 balls, an innings that included a mix of flowing cover drives, a guided six over point and a towering slog sweep off McBrine that cleared the players tents en route to a car bonnet parked outside the ground.

It took a special catch to end Delany’s stay. Paceman Conor Olphert (2-34) forced a top-edged pull shot from Delany that looked destined to land safely from orbit, but was caught by a back-pedalling Graham Hume at mid-wicket, leaning back with arms outstretched in what appeared to be a vital breakthrough for the Warriors.

But the catch only brought further runs with Kevin O’Brien joining Tyrone Kane for an 85-run partnership from 37 balls, that saw the Reds register their highest-ever Inter-Provincial T20 total.

Kane was the destroyer-in-chief, bringing the growing afternoon crowd to life in completing his second dominant half century in three days, this time off just 25 balls – his unbeaten 53 featured three fours and five sixes in an entertaining display of power hitting. Although O’Brien (25 from 14 balls) fell to a yorker from Hume late on, Curtis Campher struck a six and four in the last over, and the Reds finished on 206-5 from their 20 overs.

For all of the Warriors’ intention to force the pace in response, their innings just never got going. Nathan McGuire fell to David Delany off just the second ball, playing across the line to be well caught by Campher who ran 20 yards from deep backward square to complete a smart catch.

Stephen Doheny (3) couldn’t match his form of the past two days, miscuing a drive to Fionn Hand at mid-off. A needless run out of William McClintock (1), attempting a risky second run, epitomised the Warriors afternoon, and the discipline of the Reds across all three facets of the game.

Kane completed another impressive all-round display by taking 2-6 from two overs, the highlight being a ball that pitched on middle and clipped off stump to dismiss Shane Gatkate.

Wickets were shared across the Warriors bowling unit, including Player of the Match Gareth Delany’s leg spin which returned 2-8 from 3 overs.

That the Warriors reached a miserly 106 was largely down to their number three Jared Wilson, whose undefeated 72 off 46 highlighted what might have been possible had the other Warriors batsmen given themselves a bit more time to get set before going for the jugular.

The 100-run margin of victory meant that the Reds secured a precious bonus point, with the undefeated side sitting atop the table on 14 points – six ahead of the second-placed Warriors on 8.

MATCH SUMMARY

Munster Reds v North West Warriors, Inter-Provincial T20 Trophy, Comber, 29 May 2022

Reds 206-5 (20 overs; T Kane 53*, G Delany 40; C Olphert 2-34)
Warriors 106 (17.4 overs; J Wilson 72*; T Kane 2-6, G Delany 2-8)

Munster Reds won by 100 runs

See full scorecard

Game 2: Northern Knights v Leinster Lightning

In the second game of the day, Leinster Lightning completed a comfortable 39-run win over the Northern Knights to conclude the first IP20 Festival of the summer.

Chasing 177 to win, not one Knights batter surpassed 20 – with their failure to build partnerships largely saw their undoing.

The Lightning spinners did the majority of the damage, with Simi Singh following his 40 off 31 balls with 4-21 to cap off a splendid performance that earned him Player of the Match. His dismissals of Ruhan Pretorius (16) and Mark Adair (11), in particular, took the wind out of the Knights’ sails.

Lightning skipper George Dockrell will also have been delighted by the performance of Gavin Hoey, the 20-year-old leg spinner took a career best of 3-17 from his four overs.

The Knights had earlier won the toss and elected to field, making one change as wicketkeeper Neil Rock returned in place of James McCollum. The Lightning included left-arm pacer Josh Little making his first Inter-Provincial appearance of the season.

Such was Leinster’s start to the innings that 176 may have felt like a slight disappointment at the halfway point. The Lightning flashed hard early on with Singh and Andrew Balbirnie (58 off 34 balls) taking a heavy toll on the Knights’ bowlers. The pair put on 99 for the first wicket in 10.1 overs in a remarkable passage of play that featured a range of innovative stroke-play, including Singh ramping Mark Adair for six straight over the wicketkeeper’s head.

Top-scorer Balbirnie started his innings by playing a series of classical shots, including a flick through midwicket and a cover drive that would have befitted any format. As his innings evolved, so too did the adventurousness of his stroke-play, with the Knights’ spinners Ben White and Matthew Humphreys getting punished by the Irish captain’s sweep shots.

When both Singh and Balbirnie fell in quick succession soon after the halfway stage of the Lightning’s innings, runs seemed to become harder to come by – yet the Lightning were still able score another 77 runs, losing their last wicket from the last ball of the 20th over. While Mark Adair (3-40) took the most wickets, it was Ruhan Pretorius (2-23) who looked the most dangerous, using good variations to challenge the batters on a batting-friendly track.

Ultimately, the Knights never got going in pursuit of the target and were bowled out in the 18th over for 137 – condemning the NCU side to the bottom of the table after a winless weekend. The Lightning, meanwhile, will be delighted to have secured a bonus point for their efforts.

The fixture concluded an action-packed festival of cricket over the past three days, the next of which will take place at Bready in two weeks time.

MATCH SUMMARY

Northern Knights v Leinster Lightning Inter-Provincial T20 Trophy, Comber, 29 May 2022

Lightning 176 (20 overs; A Balbirnie 58, S Singh 40; M Adair 3-40, Pretorius 2-23)
Knights 137 (17.5 overs; J Lawlor 19; S Singh 4-21, G Hoey 3-17)

Leinster Lightning won by 39 runs

See full scorecard

kob-mr-2022.jpg
Rory Knox
Kevin O’Brien hits out in the Reds win over the Warriors
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Connaught

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