MERRION, PEMBROKE & LEINSTER COMPLETE SOUTHSIDE SWEEP IN NORTH DUBLIN

It was a clean sweep for the southside teams this evening in Sprint Coatings Division One, as there were wins for Merrion, Pembroke and Leinster in the three completed fixtures.

The one game without a result saw Clontarf 10/0 in the second over against Phoenix before their game was cut short by the poor weather.

The first result of the evening saw Pembroke sealing victory against Balbriggan, where the home side batted first and managed 107/9 from their 20 overs after a great start had seen them 58/1 in the 9th over. That however was before Zoe Bell and Sarah Forbes combined, taking 6 wickets for just 32 runs in an excellent spell between them to put the away side on the front foot. Izzy McLean top scored for the home side with 33. The chase was once again something of a facile event, as stands of 46 for the first wicket followed by an unbeaten stand of 62 saw Sarah Forbes (43*) and Robyn Lewis (28*) bring Pembroke to a 9 wicket win.

In The Vineyard, The Hills batted first and thanks to Tahlia Dunne were off to a very good start as she made 37 at the top of the order. However a good fightback from Merrion’s bowlers saw just 43 runs scored in the second 10 overs, the home side finishing 101/4 in their 20 overs. Merrion’s chase was led by the timeless Izzy Joyce who made 43 of the first 88 runs to anchor the innings, before being dismissed by Elise Noble. That brought a fight back as wickets for Lara McBride and Aimee Maguire gave The Hills a chance, before the away side scrambled to a three wicket win with just 5 balls to spare.

Finally, our featured game saw Leinster winning the toss and batting first in Malahide. Their opening pair of Sophie MacMahon and Rebecca Rolfe put on 39 for the first wicket before MacMahon fell for 10, with a 20 run stand between Rolfe and Joanna Loughran taking Leinster to 59/2 after 11 overs, Anna Kerrison bowled Loughran to finish her 4 over spell with figures of 2/21.

That however brought Laura Delany to the crease, and along with Rolfe she added an unbeaten stand of 84 for the third wicket. Rolfe bringing up her 50 in the 18th over before a flurry of twos, as well as a brace of boundaries from Delany in the last two overs brought her to 43* and the score to 143/2.

The chase didn’t start brilliantly, as Lana Ryan was bowled early in the piece by Katie Dillon, before a tandem spell between Delany and captain Jenny Sparrow saw three wickets falling in quick succession with the score in the 40s. There ended any realistic hope of Malahide’s chase being successful, however they continued to plug on. Wickets for each of Rachel Byrne, Clare Webber and Isabella Merriman keeping Leinster well ahead of the game as they were eventually successful by 59 runs giving them maximum points to round off the Match Day 2 fixtures.