PEMBROKE EXTEND THEIR LEAD AT THE TOP - SPRINT COATINGS DIVISION ONE (JULY 25TH)

It was another interesting evening in Sprint Coatings Division One, as Pembroke, Malahide, Balbriggan and The Hills all completed victories.

The evening's featured action came from Anglesea Road, wher Balbriggan lost the toss and saw Merrion invite them to bat first. Two wickets for Niamh MacNulty in the first over of the innings immediately vindicated that decision, before a wicket each for Síbha Bhoja and Maddie Blazely reduced the visitors to 16/4 after 8 overs.

Tess Maritz began the fightback for Balbriggan, with her 40 coming at just better than a run a ball, before a bizarre 17th over saw Isabel Light firstly being taken out of the attack, before a delivery from Annabel Squires was also adjudged a no-ball, however confusion between Maritz and Claudia Green saw the former run out. Green's 31 guided the team to 113 all out from the final ball of the innings.

The chase began with a solid stand between MacNulty and Celeste Raack, however when MacNulty was dismissed, the scoring rate slowed significantly as Anna Gaging and Lara Maritz both bowled quick opening spells, holding Merrion to 46/2 in the first 10 overs.

When Gaging bowled Raack, she rounded out her four overs with 2/6, and Merrion's innings really petered out, with wickets falling to each of Reena Devi, Alexandra Atkinson, Lara Maritz and Erin Knight, as the home side could muster just 73/7 in their 20 overs, resulting in a 40 run win for Balbriggan.

Elsewhere, Pembroke continued their brilliant league form, they bowled first in the Phoenix Park, and the home side made 98/6 from their 20 overs, with Zara Craig making an unbeaten 42. Sarah Forbes took 2/9 as the pick of the bowlers for the away team. Forbes' day got even better then, as she led the chase with 57* from just 40 deliveries, accompanied by Zoe Bell's unbeaten 24 as the away team marched to a 10 wicket victory in just 65 deliveries.

The Village saw Malahide once again getting the better of Clontarf, this time having bowled first. Clontarf's innings was dominated by 55 from Robyn Searle, as she and Lucy Barry (22) saw the side recover from 40/6 to post 105/8 from 20 overs. Arlene Kelly and Christelle van der Schyff the pick of the bowlers taking 3/11 and 2/7 respectively.

Having already provided one of the moments of the first innings, with the brilliant stumping of Christina Coulter-Reilly (above) Amy Hunter made an unbeaten 49 from 40 deliveries, sharing two 53 run stands with Lana Ryan (13) and Christelle van der Schyff (21*) as they won by 9 wickets with nearly 6 overs to spare.

Finally, The Hills won by 45 runs against Leinster in The Vineyard, batting first, Tahlia Dunne made an unbeaten 63, supported by 40 from Rebecca Gough as they put together 145/4 in their 20 overs, before another excellent all-round bowling effort from the home side restricted Leinster to just 100/9 in their 20 overs. Chloe Ericson the pick of the bowlers taking 2/14, whilst there was a wicket for each of Jane and Aimee Maguire, Lara McBride, Aisling Byrne, Gough and Dunne, as they used no fewer than 9 bowlers across their 20 overs.