Arriving to Eglinton in light but persistent rainfall, there was always a sense of ‘one of those days’ about the InterProvincial 50-Over Cup match between the Lightning and the Warriors.
Throughout the early morning, the rain continued but eased enough for the toss to take place on time at 10.15am. The Lightning won the toss and George Dockrell had no hesitation in opting to bowl.
Unfortunately, there was uncertainty about when this would actually happen as the rain continued to frustrate.
A period of clarity did arrive around 12pm and with some quick warm-ups and activity from the ground staff, play began at 12.10pm.
Peter Chase struck with just his seventh delivery as Davy Rankin shouldered arms to a straight delivery that demolished his stumps. Eddie Richardson opened in tandem with the Malahide clubman and the pair had the Warriors just 30/1 off 10 overs.
First change bowler, Josh Little, kept the pressure on and picked up a wicket of his own when David Barr knicked through to Lorcan Tucker behind the stumps.
William Porterfield had played assuredly in reaching 37 when he was adjudged LBW attempting a reverse sweep to Simi Singh.
When he departed, Stuart Thompson came to the crease and began to play a more expansive game. The Warriors had been pinned down by the economical bowling of the Lightning.
Thompson’s innings was ended with Dockrell’s first wicket however. Thompson cutting straight to Doheny at short third man who held on to the catch after a quick piece of juggling.
Dockrell picked up two more wickets to leave the Warriors 6 down. The first thanks to a quick piece of keeping from Tucker to stump McBrine, the second when he bowled Gillespie.
All the while Niall O’Brien played a steady hand and comfortably made his way to a half-century. The Nantwich player was untroubled as his 7-boundary, 69-ball 50 provided the backbone of the Warriors innings.
Not long after bringing up his 50 however and with an assault on the last six overs looking on for O’Brien and young Graham Kennedy, the rain intervened.
It had been falling persistently throughout the previous 40 overs but became simply too heavy to continue and the umpires were forced to take the players off the field.
Even at that point, the prospect of the players returning to the field looked bleak, but an element of hope remained through lunch.
There was the briefest flicker of interest when even the Duckworth Lewis sheets were produced and a Lightning target of 117 in 24 overs from 5.30pm arrived at. The forecast rain duly appeared at 5.29 though and once that remained down, play was officially abandoned with the sides sharing the points in the InterProvincial 50-Over Cup table.
The Lightning and the Warriors will renew acquaintances tomorrow at Bready CC for the first day of the Championship fixture with play beginning at 11am.
Wednesday June 20th IPC Bready Cricket Club - 11 am (each day)
North West Warriors v Leinster Lightning
Leinster Lightning Squad
George Dockrell (captain) (Leinster)
Peter Chase (Malahide)
John Anderson (Merrion)
Tom Stanton (Merrion)
Lorcan Tucker (Pembroke)
Josh Little (Pembroke)
Andrew Balbirnie (Pembroke)
Simi Singh (YMCA)
Stephen Doheny (Rush)
Jarred Barnes (YMCA)
Sean Terry (The Hills)
Max Sorenson (The Hills)