Kane Returns to Lightning Squad for Home Fixtures to Round-Off Victorious IP50 Campaign

Having secured a bonus-point victory away to the North West Warriors on Tuesday, the Leinster Lightning clinched their seventh InterProvincial Cup on the bounce and will round off the season with home matches against the Warriors on Monday, and firstly the Northern Knights on Saturday September 26^th.

The Lightning have today announced a 13-man squad for both matches. Tyrone Kane, who missed Tuesday’s trip to Bready with a muscle strain, returns to the squad and Tim Tector has been retained.

Head Coach Nigel Jones was delighted that the Lightning had secured the Cup but emphasised that the foot wouldn’t be coming off the accelerator this weekend.

“We’re obviously delighted to secure the IP50 again this season, and full credit to the boys,” Jones said. “We’ve played some really good cricket, with plenty of positive intent to produce dominant performances and secure the trophy.

“That’s important of course, but it’s part of the process for us as a squad. It’s important that we continue to build through these last two games and continue to get better. Everyone has been contributing well to our brand of cricket and taken a step forward.

“We’ll be going into Saturday with that mindset, looking to put on another good performance and take the good things that we did in Bready, where the boys played really well in some tough conditions.

“Collectively we’ve been brilliant this season and seen the development of a lot of youngsters even in a short season, however Kevin O’Brien at the top of the order in both competitions has been exemplary for our younger guys.

“The way he has gone about his cricket this season getting us off to great starts and adapting when the conditions have been tough has been fantastic. “Whether it’s the T20 against the Warriors at Pembroke when he got 80-odd in no time at all (82* off 37), or when we needed to chase down a score of just over 200 in really tough conditions at Bready in the IP50 on Tuesday, Kevin’s hunger and desire to perform has been brilliant.

“At Bready he just set about knocking off the runs, making sure he wasn’t putting us under any pressure in doing so and he batted beautifully in partnership with Jack Tector, showing a different side to his game.

“That’s been really pleasing how the guys have been feeding off his professional approach. Hopefully there are two more performances in Kevin, and we’ll see the younger guys stand up again too.”

The Lightning 50-over Cup campaign concludes with home matches against the Northern Knights, Saturday September 26^th, and the North West Warriors, Monday September 28^th. Both matches take place at Malahide CC and begin at 10.15am, the squad for those matches is below.

Leinster Lightning Squad for 50-over Cup vs Northern Knights and North West Warriors, September 26^th and 28^th, Malahide CC, 10.15am

George Dockrell © – Leinster
Rory Anders – YMCA  
Curtis Campher – YMCA
Peter Chase – Malahide
Stephen Doheny – Rush
Greg Ford – Malahide    
Tyrone Kane – Merrion
Josh Little – Pembroke    
Kevin O’Brien – Railway Union
Simi Singh – YMCA
Jack Tector – YMCA
Tim Tector – YMCA
Lorcan Tucker – Pembroke