TIM TECTOR TO CAPTAIN LIGHTNING IN BREADY

The Sherwin O’Riordan sponsored Leinster Lightning take the field again tomorrow in IP50 action against the North West Warriors, in a game to be played in Bready. The team will be looking to bounce back after two comprehensive ‘home’ defeats last week against the Northern Knights and Munster Reds.

The squad sees a number of changes from last week’s pair of fixtures, as there’s a rest period in place for some of the Irish internationals in the squad, whilst unfortunately the Lightning are also without Simi Singh due to the injury he picked up on Thursday against Munster.

Coach Nigel Jones has offered his view on how last week went, and despite the two comprehensive defeats, has seen plenty of positives in the two games leading in to this week’s clash;

“Undoubtably last week didn’t go our way in the results column, our batting wasn’t where we needed it to be, losing regular wickets early and being 5 down inside 20/25 overs didn’t give us the platform to be able to control the back end of either batting innings, which has been a strength of ours in the past and is crucial at a ground like Pembroke in particular, given the nature of its surface and dimensions.

There were some individual pluses in Tim Tector, Mark Donegan and Gavin Hoey with the bat, all three continuing to show their potential and development over the past 12-18 months for club and at emerging/senior IP levels. I thought Mark in particular was impressive on Thursday (vs Reds), especially given it was only his second senior IP game, we were up against it when he came into bat, to then play a rebuild knock like that showed a lot of character and skill. In fairness to him, he’s worked hard in our environment this winter/ spring period and it’s pleasing to see him now getting some reward for that.

We had our challenges with the ball, managing bowling loads, directives from CI, and losing Simi completely on Thursday, was always going to stretch us a little tactically and probably even more so in defending a total… equally that’s all part and parcel at this level, being able to adapt and find a way is what will ultimately stand players in good stead!”

There was a five-wicket haul on just his second start for Reuben Wilson, and Jones is also quick to praise the teenager on an excellent all-round bowling performance on Thursday afternoon.

“I’ve been impressed by young Roobs (Reuben Wilson) as well in just his two outings for us so far, he was unlucky on debut not to be in the game early against the Knights with a couple of missed chances and I thought he learnt/adjusted his line and lengths brilliantly against Munster, looking for lateral movement off the pitch early and then attacking the stumps in his second spell when they started to “check” after their opening partnership.”

Looking ahead to tomorrow’s fixture, the head coach is happy to offer some insight into the composition of his squad for this game. Nigel has selected 20-year old Tim Tector to captain the side for the first time in what will be just his 12th List A game.

“We now have a short turn around before heading north to take on the Warriors at Bready on Tuesday, which is ideal for us after a couple of misfires this past week. Equally credit to both the Knights and Reds for their performances.

In team news, George, Lorcan and Harry will be missing on Tuesday due to CI tour logistics/directives and Simi will be out with his thumb injury. This sees a change in captain as well, with Tim Tector being given the arm band for the first time.

As the landscape changes with our Ireland internationals likely to be missing more often from IP Cricket it’s important that we manage this and look strategically at players of interest and those who we believe can carry the team forward over the next 2-3 seasons. We believe Tim’s playing abilities and captaincy experiences at Irish youth levels, plus the previous U19 World Cup, Leinster Bolts captaincy last season and his position with YM as 1st XI captain this season gives us the opportunity to continue his development in this space for when George is away on International duty.

We welcome Sam Harbinson into the playing squad (12) for the first time, an exciting all-rounder currently playing for Merrion, Greg Ford returns from injury whilst Jack Tector and Cormac McLoughlin-Gavin are no strangers to our environment, their experience and quality will be a great addition to the playing group.”

LEINSTER LIGHTNING SQUAD TO PLAY NORTH WEST WARRIORS

Tuesday 23.5.2023 (10.45am, Bready)

Tim Tector* (YMCA)
Mark Donegan (The Hills)
Greg Ford (Balbriggan)
Fionn Hand (Clontarf)
Sam Harbinson (Merrion)
Gavin Hoey (Pembroke/Dublin University)
Barry McCarthy (Pembroke)
Cormac McLoughlin-Gavin (The Hills)
Mikey O’Reilly (YMCA/Dublin University)
Adam Rosslee (YMCA)
Jack Tector (YMCA)
Reuben Wilson (YMCA)