T20 Blitz Ends In Disapointment

This weekend’s Interprovincial T20 tournament at Pembroke saw the trophy remain in Dublin for another year at least after a subdued few days for the North West Warriors.

The Dublin-based outfit have a remarkable record across all three formats in this competition and they were given a real boost at the start of finals weekend as their closest pursuers went down to a surprise opening defeat against Munster Reds.

Having won their first two matches in the T20 Cup earlier in the season it will have been a disappointing result for Ian McGregor’s charges, who, to be fair, have been excellent up until now.

Strabane’s Aaron Gillespie seemed to have given the Warriors a decent chance of winning a tricky contest as he made 80 in a score of 162, but the Reds chased it down to win readily.

Saturday saw another defeat, this time to the reigning champions, as a terrific partnership between John Anderson (76*) and George Dockrell (40*) set Lightning on their way to a huge 182-3 from their 20 overs. David Rankin (36) and Gillespie again (34) battled hard but Andy McBrine’s men couldn’t get close enough.

The North West lads’ disappointing weekend ended with a third successive reverse- Rankin among the runs again here- but even an impressive 67 from the Bready man couldn’t prevent the Northern Knights from recording their first win of the season over the Warriors.

The Belfast -based side posted a daunting 193-6 in their 20 overs with Greg Thompson making 80 and Shane Getkate 41 and although the Warriors started brightly with 50 in the first 6 overs from Rankin and William Porterfield (22), they couldn’t retain their momentum and only managed 144-5 in reply.

Onwards to the Hanley Energy Championship Match against The Northern Knights next week at Bready.

Dont for get Clubs are a running Summer Camps throughout the summer and the North West Will be holding an Under 11 & 13 Camp this year to help selectors of the winter programs.