T20 Festival: Northern Knights and Munster Reds bounce back with wins at Pembroke
- Published
Mark Adair sends the ball high into the air for the Knights against Leinster
Northern Knights defeated Leinster Lightning before Munster Reds overcame North-West Warriors to leave all four sides with one win apiece in the T20 Festival at Pembroke.
The Knights and Reds recovered from seven-wicket losses in Friday's openers to beat their more-fancied opposition.
Luke Georgeson and Ruhan Pretorius both hit 31 as the Knights chalked up a 22-run victory in Dublin.
It was followed by a six-wicket win by the Reds with Murray Commins making 44.
Leinster will meet the Warriors before Munster take on the Knights in the final Inter-Provincial Twenty20 Trophy games of the weekend on Sunday.
Munster lost the toss in the Inter-Provincial Twenty20 Trophy game but soon had the Warriors in trouble at 41-5 in the eighth over.
Captain Andy McBrine (41) and Graham Kennedy (24) then came together to post a 61-run sixth wicket stand in a counter-attacking partnership.
Jared Wilson stepped onto the field at number nine and promptly hit three fours and a six - his 28 from 12 balls gave the Warriors some hope, but they finished on 146-9 from 20 overs.
Warriors batsman William McClintock plays a shots against Munster Reds on Saturday
Manley stood out with 3-34 while Fionn Hand took 2-26 before the Reds got off to a flyer in the run chase - 20 runs coming from the first 11 balls, at which point Jack Carty fell to Andy McBrine for 16 off eight balls.
Commins, who put on a combative 40-run stand for the third wicket with Hand, followed up his 51 on Friday against Leinster Lightning with an equally impressive knock.
With the score on 105-4 in the 14th over the Ford brothers - Matt and Greg - stood at the crease and determined to finish the run chase in style.
They hit two sixes each in a 42-run partnership in 24 balls as the Reds made 147-4 to win with 17 balls to spare.
Knights put Lightning to the sword
Lightning, who recorded a seven-wicket win over Munster Reds on Friday, fell short of the target, managing 152-8.
Having made just 134 runs in their defeat by the Warriors a day earlier, the Knights produced a far more accomplished display with the bat to set a very competitive total of 174-7.
Georgeson's 18-ball 31 set the tone for the innings before the middle order of Mark Adair (17), Neil Rock (15), John Matchett (23) and Ross Adair (21 not out) put the Knights in a strong position at the end of their 20 overs.
Ireland's Josh Little was the pick of the Lightning's bowling attack, taking 3-26 including the crucial wicket of Georgeson, who had threatened to cause further damage.
The Knights found an early breakthrough with Graeme McCarter removing Kevin O'Brien, who announced his retirement from international one-day cricket on Friday, in the second over.
Of the Lightning's top six, only Irish ODI captain Andrew Balbirnie (42) scored more than 10 runs as the Knights bowling attack thrived, with Ross Adair taking the prized wickets of George Dockrell and Lorcan Tucker in the same over.
Barry McCarthy's late flurry - 24 off 12 balls - briefly threatened to make a contest of the game in the final overs but Lightning fell short on 152-8 as the Knights held on for a deserved win.