SHERWIN O’RIORDAN LEINSTER LIGHTNING SQUAD TO FACE MUNSTER REDS CONFIRMED

The Sherwin O’Riordan sponsored Leinster Lightning face off against Munster Reds this week in a back to back IP50 and IP20 double header of matches in Sydney Parade, with Head Coach Andre Botha confirming his squad for the two fixtures today.

Wednesday 15th May: Leinster Lightning vs Munster Reds (IP50, 10.45am start)
Thursday 16th May: Leinster Lightning vs Munster Reds (IP20, 12noon start)

With Ireland’s series against Pakistan drawing to a close on Tuesday 14^th, none of the players involved in that series will be available to either side for this pair of fixtures, meaning the Lightning will be without several members of the squad who played key roles in this month’s clean sweep of IP20 Festival victories, which also took place in Pembroke CC.

Merrion’s captain Sam Harbinson will skipper the side in the absence of George Dockrell, whilst Lorcan Tucker’s absence along with Adam Rosslee’s continuing injury battles means that Terenure’s Séamus Lynch will deputise behind the stumps. In all, there are 8 different clubs with representation in the selected squad.

The batting unit sees Tim Tector likely to be joined in the line-up by Chris de Freitas who was in the 13-man squad for the last round of fixtures without playing, whilst there’s a first Lightning call-up for both Railway Union’s Philippe le Roux (who is yet to play a game in Ireland as yet this season as he completes the academic year in the UK) and Merrion’s Swapnil Modgil (who kicked off the Premier League campaign with back-to-back half-centuries for Merrion).

There’s a welcome return to the squad for Clontarf all-rounder David Delany, joining a dynamic group of hard-hitting men in the lower-middle order alongside seamer and fellow ‘Bull’ Fionn Hand, and Gavin Hoey whose strong performance at the weekend helped Dublin University through to the second round of the Leinster Senior Cup.

The bowling unit features teenage seamers Olly Riley and Reuben Wilson, who both showed glimpses of their talents on their last appearances, along with Mikey O’Reilly who has recovered from a niggle to return to the squad. Left-arm spinner Amish Sidhu performed well when called upon to deputise for Hoey against the North West Warriors, and as a result retains his place also.

Head Coach Botha is looking forward to seeing how his more experienced players stand up in the absence of some key men this week;

“While it’s not necessarily ideal to play without some of the Irish guys in the squad, it’s a great opportunity for the lads who have been in the team for quite a while to put their hand up and show off their skills.

We have plenty of players in this side with a lot of Inter-Pro experience, and of course it will be important that they lead the way for the players who have come in to the squad to replace the Irish Internationals.

However everyone who has gotten into this squad has had to perform to get their place in the side, so we can be fully confident that the players selected will be able to commit fully to the Lightning brand of cricket, and produce a performance that will give us a great chance of keeping our winning run going this week”.

SHERWIN O’RIORDAN LEINSTER LIGHTNING SQUAD

Wednesday 15th May: Leinster Lightning vs Munster Reds (IP50, 10.45am start)
Thursday 16th May: Leinster Lightning vs Munster Reds (IP20, 12noon start)

Sam Harbinson (Merrion) Captain
Chris de Freitas (Balbriggan)
David Delany (Clontarf)
Fionn Hand (Clontarf)
Gavin Hoey (Dublin University/Pembroke)
Philippe le Roux (Railway Union)
Séamus Lynch (Terenure) WK
Swapnil Modgil (Merrion)
Mikey O’Reilly (Dublin University/Merrion)
Olly Riley (Pembroke)
Amish Sidhu (Phoenix)
Tim Tector (Pembroke)
Reuben Wilson (Clontarf)

Our thanks to Sherwin O'Riordan Solicitors (https://sor-solicitors.ie/) for their ongoing support of the Leinster Lightning & Leinster Bolts.