Leinster U17 girls make it two from two

Leinster U17 Girls made it two wins out of two today in Stormont against their Ulster counterparts.

Losing the toss and batting first Leinster made a formidable total of 190-5 in an innings reduced by 1 over (to 39) as heavy rain had swept over the ground regularly and forced 3 brief delays.

The first wicket to fall in the LCU innings was that of Ciara O'Carolyn Murphy - lbw to Holly Rankin - Murphy had contributed 15 (53 balls) in an opening stand of 55 with the games eventual top scorer Clodagh Conway. The Rush all rounder notched up an excellent career best of 79 from 123 balls faced. 

Hannagh Ridgeway came in at 3 and was the first of a trio of Leinster batters to reach exactly 20 runs, each progressively quicker than the last. Ridgeways 20 came in 30 balls, Alison Smith was next with 20 from 23 and finally Pia Diepman notched up hers in 22 balls.

The innings had gathered pace nicely throughout with the first 50 runs coming in 102 balls, the second in 56 and the third in 42. 

Pick of the Ulster bowlers was once again Hannah Grieve who bowled with good pace and was unlucky to finish wicket-less from her 7 overs. Sarah McCallan also bowled well picking up 2 wickets for 39. 

Ulster knew that having elected to field first a run chase of 150 plus was always likely and a solid start would be needed. However, the elder of Rush CC's Conway sisters -Niamh - claimed Bready's Holly Rankin in the 3rd over caught and bowled. 

As Grieve joined McCallan in the middle the next 6 overs offered up some solid defensive batting by the pair as they were pinned down by Laura Hoey (2-16) and Conway (2-4), and it was Conway with another c&b who picked up McCallan in the 9th over with score on 15.

The best period of the game came as LCU and Ulster Skippers went head to head for a period of 3 consecutive Smith overs. She bowled with pace and aggression as Grieve batted and battled solidly to keep her at bay. It was an exciting 20 minutes of play and highlighted the depth of talent in the girls game currently.

It was Aoife McDonnell who eventually claimed the wicket of Grieve however (caught Smith) in the 20th over for 29 runs. For the second day running Hannah had proved herself as a worthy and talented Captain of the Ulster side, and one with hopefully a bright future ahead. 

With the Captains departure the game was wrapped up quickly as none of the remaining batters were able to resist for long against a good leinster attack. Only another 12 runs were added for the last 4 wickets.

Despite two relatively one sided games it was fantastic for all the players to be able to play at such a wonderful venue and plenty lessons were learned by all in both victory and defeat. 

Leinster U17 Girls: 190-5
Clodagh Conway 79, Alison Smith 20, Hannah Ridgeway 20, Pia Diepman 20. Sarah McCallan 8-1-29-2, Holly Rankin 8-0-33-1, Nicola Robinson 7-0-31-1, Stacey Maxwell 5-0-30-1

Ulster U17 Girls: 56 all out.
Hannah Grieve 29, Sarah McCallan 10. Alison Smith 7-3-5-2, Niamh Conway 6-3-4-2. Lauren Hoey 6.1-1-2-16-2, Aoife McDonnell 3-0-11-2.

Leinster win by 134 runs.