Lewis Wins Hopkins Cup to Continue Merrion Dominance

Congratulations to Michael Lewis who has been confirmed as the winner of the Hopkins Cup for the 2020 season. This is the third season in succession in which the award for leading wicket-keeper will be heading to Merrion CC, with Patrick Tice having won the award for each of the past two seasons.

In the curtailed season, Lewis managed an impressive average of 2.4 dismissals per game.

The highlight of the season for Lewis was no doubt the home game against Pembroke, where he claimed four catches and two stumpings, just the third occasion in the last decade where a keeper has claimed 6 or more dismissals in an innings in the Premier League/Championship, and the first wicket-keeping “five-for” since Tice himself snared 5 catches behind the stumps against Leinster for Merrion in May of 2018.

Not only was Lewis the most successful keeper in the LHW Financial Planning Senior League Cup this season, but he was also the joint most successful across all competitions in Leinster, only equalled by Rush and Leinster U15 keeper Finn McGee.

Competition finalists Glenn Querl (Railway Union) and JJ Cassidy (YMCA) were close behind Lewis, having both claimed 10 victims in their nine appearances.

This is only the second occasion on which the Hopkins Cup has returned to the same club three times in consecutive years, the last time being when Dara Armstrong retained the trophy for three consecutive years with Rush from 1995-97.

Armstrong is also the most successful player in the history of the Hopkins Cup, claiming it a total of ten times between 1995 and 2010, including one season with an astounding 54 dismissals, in the year 2000. Other than him, no player has won the award on more than three occasions.

Congratulations from all at Cricket Leinster to Michael on winning the Hopkins Cup for 2020 – we’re sure to keep an eye out for who wins the battle for the gloves in Merrion next season!