Jamie Brown in action for Merrion in the LHK Insurance QF at Rathmines last night.
The teams participating in the Finals of the LHK Insurance [Alan Murray] T20 Finals at Sydney Parade next Saturday will be Clontarf, The Hills, Pembroke and Merrion.
In the Quarter Finals last night Clontarf beat North County by 44 runs mainly thanks to an express opening partnership of 66 between Brad Barnes and Bill Coghlan. Four overs from John Mooney [2/14] later in the match secured the game despite a 50 ball 72 from Jamie Grassi.
60 from Albert van der Merve in 35 balls was the highlight of The Hills’ innings as they set YMCA the highest score of the evening - 184/7. YMCA got within 9 runs thanks to an equally belligerent 77 [43 balls] from Simi Singh, but it was not enough. Five wickets from Hamid Shah [3/9 in 3.2] coming on at fourth change turned the game as the YMCA batting collapsed.
Pembroke defeated Phoenix in another close encounter by 13 runs. Defending 147/9 [the lowest first innings total of the evening] in which there were contributions from Andrew Balbirnie, Lorcan Tucker and Ryan Hopkins [but no big scores] it was left to the slow bowlers to put the squeeze on the Phoenix batting. This they duly did, led by Paul Lawson whose 2/12 in four overs was pivotal [also accounting for Reinhardt Strydom who had made 45 in 29 balls]
In the final game Merrion batting first and posted a healthy score of 165/4 thanks to 76* from Jamie Brown. Although they started well, Leinster began to lose wickets and with the introduction of John Anderson in the tenth over the wickets began to fall too quickly. Anderson ended up with 4/25. Merrion win by 45 runs.