On a scorching hot day in College Park Leinster Lightning turned the balance of the game in their favour by taking a first innings lead of 146 against Northern Knights. By the close of play they had increased that advantage to 312 and with the weather again set fair for tomorrow they will be very disappointed not to wrap up a comfortable win and move clear at the top of the table. They almost certainly have enough runs already and unless skipper John Mooney wants to give SimmI Singh the opportunity to get the two runs he needs to reach 50 there is no reason to bat on in the morning.
The Knights having started the day at 11 without loss quickly lost a wicket when off the second ball of the day Mooney ripped out Chris Dougherty’s leg stump. There then followed a second wicket partnership of 50 between Nick Larkin and Pakistani professional Imad Wasim and it appeared likely that the Knights would put together a total that would keep the sides relatively even.
However an unnecessary run out ended the stand when Larkin set off for a single and having been sent back by Wasim failed to beat Mooney’s throw. Larkin had looked the most likely to post a meaningful score and his 26 runs were highlighted by three classy fours. His dismissal precipitated a collapse as the much vaunted Knights batting line-up lost eight wickets for just 39 runs from 99 deliveries and this effectively changed the course of the match.
A fine spell of accurate seam bowling by Eddie Richardson demolished the middle order when he convinced the umpire that Wasim, Nelson and Shannon were all in front of their wicket when the ball crashed into their pads. The demolition job was carried on by Max Sorensen who, in the space of eleven balls either side of lunch, removed four batsmen while the total staggered to 100.
First off he had Nathan Waller snapped up by a sharp catch by Singh and then removed Knights captain Andrew White who was adjudged LBW for 19 to send Knights into lunch on 100 for 7 and still 41 runs short of saving the follow-on. With the first two balls after lunch Sorensen removed Simpson and Adair, both for ducks and missed his hat-trick by a whisker when his delivery to Cameron-Dow just missed the edge of the bat.
However a gutsy last wicket stand of 44 between Cameron-Dow and Shane Getkate saved the follow on and showed that the wicket was not as difficult to bat on as the higher rated batsmen had made it appear. Getkate in particular will have enjoyed his 34 runs, which was top score in the innings, as he only moved to play in Belfast last month when he was not selected in the Lightning squad.
Sorensen with 4 for 34, Richardson 3 for 28 and Mooney 2 for 17 were the bowlers who did the damage.
When they batted again Lightning Adair took two quick wickets when he dismissed Ackland with the second ball of the innings and then trapped McAllister LBW, the tenth such dismissal in the match.
Anderson and Collins added 47 until the former was caught off the left arm spin of Wasim for 16 and then when the score had moved on to 77 a smart stumping by Dougherty give Wasim his second wicket with Collins his victim. Collins had accumulated an assured 41 with 4 fours and was visibly annoyed at giving his wicket away.
Any lingering hope that the Knights had of containing Lightning to a manageable total were dashed by the most fluent partnership of the match between Andrew Poynter and Simmi Singh. In the final 21 overs of the day they added 89 runs and both scored runs with finesse and when the opportunity arose bludgeoned the ball to the fence. Poynter reached his second half century of the match just before the close and as well as 3 fours cleared the boundary on two occasions, the second of which was a slog sweep over midwicket that would have been six on any ground in the world.
Singh kept pace with Poynter and indeed outscored him in the partnership but could not get the strike in the final over and is now dependent on the generosity of his skipper if he is to reach a landmark. His 48 included 4 fours and a thunderous skimming leg side six behind square.
The question for tomorrow is whether or not Knights can make a better fist of their second innings and indeed make a bid for victory or attempt to bat out the day for a draw.
All will be revealed when the match resumes at 11am in the morning.
NEWSTALK INTER-PROVINCIAL CHAMPIONSHIP
At College Park, Trinity, Day 2 close
LEINSTER LIGHTNING 290/9 dec and 166/4 (53 overs, A Poynter 51*, Simmi Singh 48*, Pat Collins 41, Imad Wasim 2-21, M Adair 2-31)
NORTHERN KNIGHTS 144 all out (51.2 overs, S Getkate 34, Imad Wasim 26, Nick Larkin 26, M Sorensen 4-34, E Richardson 3-28, J Mooney 2-17)
Leinster Lightning lead by 312 runs
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