EY TAKE HOME HBBL 2025!

It was a sublime performance from Swapnil Modgill, in the back-end of what looked at first to be a nail-biting run chase, that sealed the HBBL for 2025 for EY in Terenure this evening.

EY, underpinned by several Merrion members including current interprovincial player Modgill, and former Irish international Hannah de Burgh-Whyte, took on an Ericsson side which featured many players who feature prominently with Athlone.

The Ericsson skipper, George Jebaraj, won the toss and elected to bat first, and was initially pleased by his decision, as both openers, Amal Sevaraj and Rohit Naveen, passed 30, moving them to 83 at the halfway stage in their innings. A good fightback from EY saw just 69 runs coming from the latter half of the innings, as Ericsson finished 152/8 from their allocation.

When EY set about their chase, it did initially look as though they were in trouble, and one could be forgiven for thinking that the Midlands outfit had one hand on the trophy when they reduced their counterparts to 69/4 after 40 deliveries. Skanda Rao steadied the ship for the Dublin-based side, retiring on 37.

He shared an excellent stand of 40 with Hannah de Burgh-Whyte, who, in spite of some aggressive bowling from Ericsson, showed plenty of class with the bat, adding an unbeaten 26 before retiring with the winning line in sight. Modgill then showed everyone some excellent stroke-making ability, piling on an unbeaten 41 of his own in just 10 balls, guiding EY to their victory target with 20 balls to spare.

The post-match presentation was conducted by CL President for 2025, Meena Baskarasubramaniam, who complemented both sides on an excellent game.

Congratulations to EY on winning the HBBL for 2025, an excellent achievement for all players, supporters and staff in the company associated with the team.

This concludes the HBBL for the 2025 season, and Cricket Leinster would like to extend it's thanks to all clubs who provided ground availability for the tournament, as well as the many people who acted as match managers throughout the 46 games which took place.