A magnificent 97* by Leah Paul laid the foundations for a dominant performance by Merrion in the final of the Womens Leinster Senior Cup against Pembroke at Sydney Parade last night [11th July]. Winning the toss captain Celeste Raack had no hesitation in batting on a very sunny, not to say actually hot, summer evening.
Merrion got off to a shaky start losing Rebecca Stokell in the fourth over but a flurry of boundaries by Bella Armstrong [32 off 24 balls] steadied the innings. But when she was out in the 7th over, and Ally Boucher an over later, Merrion were looking at only being able to post a modest total for a strong Pembroke batting.
Isabel Joyce joined Paul at the crease with the score at 54/3 in eight overs. When the partnership was broken, a run out at the end of the 19th over, the score had moved on to 186. The pair had added 132 runs, scored at a rate of 12 per over. With Joyce [35 off 27] providing the steading hand, Paul thrilled the large crowd with a display of scoops, reverse hits, sweeps and more orthodox drives as she hit the ball to all parts of the ground. For any young player watching it was an excellent example of hitting the ball where the fielders weren’t, which on the fast outfield inevitably led to boundaries. Paul ended up on 97* with a scoring rate a touch under 180, including 16 boundaries and a six.
When the innings closed at the end of the 20th over Merrion had posted a very competitive score of 198/4.
Pembroke started their innings in a rush and had reached 40 without loss in four overs. A crucial fifth over, bowled by Paul, saw the departure of both openers and the game took a momentous shift. However, with Orla Prendergast still batting Merrion’s target was anything but out of reach. Perhaps the game’s crucial moment came in the 8th over when Aoife Hayden stepped up and bowled Prendergast for 15. Surely the most important wicket in her career to date.
Thereafter Pembroke never really looked likely to reach the total and quickly fell behind the run rate. When Sibhe Bhoja bowled Irish international Sarah Forbes [20] there was no coming back for Pembroke. In the end they fell well short at 134 for four in their 20 overs.
Notable about the Merrion bowling was that 14 of the overs were bowled by members of the U17 team – Bhoja [4], Aswhi Manoj{4], Hayden [3] and Aisling Lawler [3]. The quartet between them took two wickets at a rate of 6.5 per over. Well below of the asking rate for Pembroke. It should also be said that they were well backed up in the field by some fine ground fielding which gave Pembroke no easy runs.
Niamh MacNulty does the fielding.
Needless to say the player of the match award went to Leah Paul, perhaps the easiest decision ever for the adjudicator.
With this win Merrion now go on to compete in an all-Ireland final at Stormont.
There is a full gallery of pictures available from Cricket Leinster. Go to https://cricketleinsterphotography.pixieset.com/guestlogin/sportshubseniorcuppembrokew1vmerrionw1/?return=%2Fsportshubseniorcuppembrokew1vmerrionw1%2F to download.
