DAY 2 REPORT
Leinster Lightning ended day 2 of the Newstalk 106-108 FM Interprovincial Championship match in Malahide in complete control against North-West Warriors. Going into the final day tomorrow they lead by 252 with nine wickets in hand. In just 32 overs in their second knock they have rattled up 116 runs with Fintan McAllister not out on 50 with 7 boundaries while Pat Collins is also undefeated on 29 and he has reached the ropes on four occasions. The only wicket to fall so far is that of Bill Coughlan who made 36 in an opening stand of 64 and he sacrificed himself in the quest for quick runs when he tried to hit Andy McBrine for his ninth boundary in 45 balls but skied a catch to mid-on.
Resuming on 299 for 9 this morning Max Sorensen and Albert van der Merwe extended their last wicket partnership to 134 when Sorensen was run out for 86 by a direct hit by Scott Campbell off the final ball of the 4th over of the day. Van der Merwe finished on 54 not out which was his first representative half century.
Throughout the Championship the Warriors have had a major difficulty scoring runs and that pattern was not altered today as they were bowled out for 188 before tea. They have failed to register 200 runs in any of their five innings this season as their batsmen yet again failed to come to terms with the demands of the three day game. They appear to be locked into permanent one day mode and they would do well to follow the example of the one batsman, Earnest Kemm, who did understand what was required.
Kemm, a South African professional playing for Bready, finished unbeaten on 55 and faced 155 balls which was an astonishing 106 deliveries more any of his colleagues. Without the left handers defiant approach it was probable that Warriors would have not saved the follow on and would be hurtling to an even quicker inevitable defeat than now seems likely.
Less than sixteen overs into their innings Warriors had collapsed to a meagre 36 for 4 brought about by a mixture of misjudgement and accurate bowling. David Rankin fell for 6 to the final ball of the third over when he edged John Mooney to slip where Simmi Singh took the catch at the second attempt. With the score on 21 Jason Milligan played no stroke to a straight ball from Sorensen and lost his off stump while two balls later reprised that dismissal to Eddie Richardson, although he at least attempted a stroke. The possession of wickets continued when with the score advanced to 36 Stuart Thompson also missed a straight ball from Mooney to yet again disturb the stumps.
Warriors skipper Andy McBrine joined Kemm and they exactly doubled the score and appeared on course to drive their team to a respectable total. However five minutes before lunch, McBrine who had crashed 4 fours in a twenty nine ball 25, had a brain freeze and inexplicably charged down the wicket to van der Merwe, bowling the clichéd one over of spin before an interval, and was comprehensively stumped. In the afternoon session Andy Riddles monopolised a stand of 33 but on 29 which contained 5 fours, he attempted a peculiar one handed swipe against Sorensen and became the fourth man to hear the death rattle of stumps.
Johnny Thompson joined Kemm and together they produced the highest partnership of the innings, although 37 is not exactly game changing, before Thompson pulled a short ball from Richardson straight to Tyrone Kane at mid-wicket and departed for 21 which included 3 fours. Ricky-Lee Dougherty quickly fell to Mooney edging to Fintan McAllister for 4 as Kemm looked on bemused from the other end. However Craig Young was determined to show that his batting skills were at least the equal of the designated batsmen and his 18 runs was a major contribution in saving the follow on. He was the unfortunate victim of a mix up with Kemm when the latter needing one for his fifty pushed the ball to cover and set off until realising that Sorensen had made a good stop sent Young back but the big Bready man couldn’t beat the throw and had to keeping running to the pavilion.
Kemm had just enough time to reach his half century before van der Merwe finished the innings when he bowled Jarrod Barnes. There were no demons in the wicket and Warriors have only themselves to blame and they couldn’t cope with steady accurate bowling. Richardson, Sorensen and Mooney again did the damage and between them the trio have taken thirty nine of the fifty wickets to fall to the Lightning attack this season.
Richardson with 2 for 50 today now has 14 wickets at an average of 12.5, Sorensen 2 for 45 brought his total to 13 with an average of 16.6 while Mooney who finished with innings best 3 for 34 has now accounted for 12 wickets at just 10.25 each.
Unless there is bad weather tomorrow the only decision that John Mooney has to make is when to declare. On the evidence of Warriors batting this season he probably has enough runs already but he is likely to leave a target of around three hundred which should be beyond the visitors.
CLOSE OF PLAY DAY 2
LEINSTER LIGHTNING 324 (Sorensen 86, Coughlan 61, van der Merwe 54*, Young 4-91, S Thompson 2-45, Kemm 2-56) and 116-1 (McAllister 50*, Coughlan 36, Collins 29* McBrine 1-23)
NORTH-WEST WARRIORS 188 (Kemm 55*, Riddles 29, McBrine 25, Mooney 3-34, van der Merwe 2-24, Sorensen 2-45)
LEINSTER LIGHTNING lead by 252 runs.
Final day tomorrow starts at 11 AM
