On a beautiful sunny day in Malahide North-West Warriors dominated the first 70 overs of the Newstalk 106-108FM Interprovincial championship match and at that point Leinster Lightning were on the ropes at 190 for 9 wickets.
However not for the first time this season a last wicket partnership changed the course of the match. Max Sorensen was joined at the wicket by Albert van der Merwe and the two Ireland internationals frustrated the Warriors attack by adding an unbeaten 109 which left the close of play score at 299 for 9. Sorensen is not out 68 while his fellow South African is also unbeaten on 49.

Sorensen has so far faced 136 balls and has hit 5 fours while van der Merwe has 6 fours in his 100 deliveries. Earlier Lightning had won the toss and decided to bat first but other than Clontarf batsman Bill Coughlan who made 61 with 12 boundaries, none of the batsmen got going. Indeed Coughlan should have been out in the second over of the game when he nicked a Jarrod Barnes delivery that was initially caught at 3rd slip by Earnest Kemm only for the ball to be dislodged when he hit the ground.

Coughlan and Fintan McAllister had added 38 for the first wicket when the Malahide man edged the final ball of the fifteenth over to Warriors keeper Ricky-Lee Dougherty to give Stuart Thompson a much deserved wicket. McAllister had faced 51 balls and his only three scoring shots were all boundaries. At that stage Thompson had bowled four overs and not conceded a run. The wicket had a tinge of green to it and there was some seam movement but also had a bit of pace in it if the bowlers were prepared to bend their backs.

Wickets fell at regular intervals after that as Lightning were unable to establish a meaningful partnership. Pat Collins fell to a slip catch of Johnny Thompson for six while Simmi Singh can count himself unfortunate to fall to a stunning catch by David Rankin in the gully before he had scored. That catch give Craig Young his first wicket of the day and although he had been somewhat wayward in his opening spell he came back strongly later in the day.
Andrew Poynter has been a veritable run machine this season and was coming of the back of two unbeaten centuries last weekend so the cry of anguish from Stuart Thompson was perfectly understandable when he had Poynter dropped at slip just after lunch. Fortunately for the Warriors peace of mind Young had him plumb LBW shortly afterwards for just 10. Tyrone Kane fell to Thompson for 4 and despite an enterprising knock of 30 by debutant Cormac McLoughlin Lightning failed to get any momentum in their innings.

Cousins John Mooney and Eddie Richardson fell for 16 and 17 respectively which ensured that Warriors captured all four bowling bonus points and the bowlers at that point were contemplating putting their feet up for the rest of the afternoon. However Sorensen and van der Merwe deprived them of that comfort and these two will continue on in the morning hoping to inflict more misery on the tired bowlers.

Craig Young had the best figures with 4 for 74 although Stuart Thompson was the most impressive bowler on view and deserved better than 2 for 45 of 15 overs.

CLOSE OF PLAY DAY 1

LEINSTER LIGHTNING 299-9 (Sorensen 68*, Coughlan 61, van der Merwe 49*, Young 4-74, S Thompson 2-45, Kemm 2-56)