Leinster Lightning extended their lead at the top of the table in the Newstalk 106-108 FM Interprovincial Championship when they completed a comprehensive victory by 65 runs over North-West Warriors at Malahide today.
This morning Lightning added a rapid 40 to their overnight lead of 252 and when Fintan McAllister was bowled by Andy McBrine of the penultimate ball of the fifth over John Mooney decided that he had enough runs and declared. McAllister made 71 from 103 balls with 9 fours and Pat Collins was left undefeated on 45 which contained 5 boundaries.
The declaration left a target of 293 in 97 overs for an unlikely win and in truth the only threat to a Lightning success came when a spell of heavy mid- afternoon rain took the players of the field for some forty five minutes. Yet again the Warriors top order failed to survive the new ball and after 10 overs had struggled to 13 for 3.
David Rankin was the first to fall when, on 5, only his pads prevented a sharp Max Sorensen delivery from crashing into his stumps. Two overs later a pacy lifting delivery from Sorensen had Scott Campbell in all sorts of trouble and he could only fend the ball to short-leg where Collins took a good catch. With the score still on thirteen Eddie Richardson got among the wickets when he enticed an edge from Jason Milligan which ended up in the safe gloves of McAllister.
Stuart Thompson was joined at the wicket by Ernest Kemm who had held the first innings together and they advanced the score to 61 when shortly before lunch Kemm was adjudged LBW to Mooney for 14 although he didn’t seem happy with the decision. While everyone were still digesting their lunch Thompson was back in the pavilion when he edged a cut shot off Albert van der Merwe to Andrew Poynter at slip for 34. He had faced 50 deliveries and largely looked in control including hitting the boundary on six occasions.
Warriors skipper Andy McBrine’s new partner was Andy Riddles and they proceeded to re-build the innings and their partnership was untroubled until it had reached 48 when Riddles, on 19, poked a ball from van der Merwe straight into the hands of Collins at short leg. The enigmatic Johnny Thompson was the next man to try and keep McBrine company and together they manufactured Warriors best stand of the match. Indeed when they had added 62 off just 86 deliveries the seemingly unlikely prospect of a Warriors victory began to permeate the minds of Lightning supporters. Thompson was a mixture of studied defence and belligerent hitting but on 42 he misjudged a cut against Mooney and chopped the ball into his stumps. All six of his boundaries were worth watching and he reminded everyone of his undoubted talent that has never achieved its true potential.
Ricky-Lee Dougherty (4) and Craig Young (5) didn’t hang around for long and when Jarrod Barnes came to the wicket it was a question of whether or not Warriors could pass the 200 mark for the first time this season. McBrine ensured that they did and went on to add 29 for the last wicket with Barnes who never opened his account. Those watching would not have begrudged McBrine a century as he played the most mature innings of his representative career. His careful defence was punctuated by both subtle and blistering shots and apart from 8 fours he also struck the only two sixes of the match. However when he was on 87 he failed to control a shot of van der Merwe and Poynter took the catch to end the match.
The best bowling figures came from van der Merwe with 4 for 54 while Mooney took 3 for 71 and Sorensen 2 for 54.
At least Warriors, led by their skippe,r showed a degree of fight today that hasn’t always been apparent this season and for their sake and that of the competition everyone hopes that this was not a one off and it will be a springboard to a better future for the North-West.
RESULT
LEINSTER LIGHTNING 324 (Sorensen 86, Coughlan 61, van der Merwe 54*, Young 4-91, S Thompson 2-45, Kemm 2-56) and 156-2 (McAllister 71, Collins 45*, Coughlan 36, McBrine 2-33)
NORTH-WEST WARRIORS 188 (Kemm 55*, Riddles 29, McBrine 25, Mooney 3-34, van der Merwe 2-24, Sorensen 2-45) and 227 (McBrine 87, J Thompson 42, S Thompson 34, van der Merwe 4-54, Mooney 3-71, Sorensen 2-54)
LEINSTER LIGHTNING WON BY 65 RUNS
