WOODS SISTERS DRIVE YMCA TO JUNIOR CUP TITLE

It was a day to remember for YMCA sisters Siúin and Kate Woods, as they both put in excellent performances to help their side to victory in the 2022 edition of the Sprint Coatings Junior Cup.

Clontarf skipper Molly Butler won the toss and elected to bowl first in the second final of the day in Kenure. Her opposite number Vanshika Shukla opened the batting alongside Siúin Woods for YMCA and it was the YM skipper who was the first wicket of the game to fall, dismissed off the first ball of the 7^th over with the score on 31.

This brought Kate Woods to the crease and for quite a period of time she had the best seat in the house as Siúin hammered boundaries all around the ground, including two huge sixes over the deep mid-wicket fence. The pair added 69 for the second wicket before Siúin was out for an excellent 72 from just 58 balls, her two maximums complemented by eight boundaries in a dominant and entertaining innings.

Katie O’Reilly came and went for 2, before Lucy Deacon joined Kate Woods, with the latter taking on the “everything must go” approach as the innings neared an end, she struck four boundaries in an unbeaten 36 from 31 balls, but it was the running between the wickets which was most impressive in the last partnership, with the pair turning numerous ones into twos to keep Woods on strike and the scoreboard ticking all the time.

YMCA finished up 137/3 from their 20 overs, Alice Walsh with 1/24 and Alyssa Pasley with 2/26 were the two successful bowlers for Clontarf.

The chase began at a similar enough pace to the first innings, as Clontarf had reached 29/1, however from the last ball of the 6^th over, Katie O’Reilly clean bowled Justine Blake and put the batting side on the back foot.

Hannah Pasley certainly wasn’t deterred by this however, she dominated a partnership with Jenny Wilson before the latter was caught and bowled by Kate Woods for 10, bringing Susan Lawless to the crease. Her and Pasley could manage just 10 between them however before Pasley was bowled by Katie O’Reilly with the score on 80, she was out for a well made 38 from just 28 deliveries.

Siúin Woods took the gloves off and spun two excellent off-breaks through the defences of first Alyssa Pasley and then Molly Butler, before the YMCA skipper Vanshika Shukla came back into the attack and dismissed Lawless for 12, that was the final wicket of the innings with Clontarf eventually finishing up 107/7, 30 runs short of the YMCA total.