T20 Festival game swarmed by bees

CORK: A swarm of bees may have forced players to dive for cover mid-game, but the native pollinators could not prevent the North West Warriors and Northern Knights claiming important wins over their respective southern-based opponents on Day 2 of the three-day Rario Inter-Provincial T20 Trophy festival at The Mardyke.

The second match of the day was interrupted after ten overs of the first innings when the bees swarmed across the pitch — sending spectators, players and umpires diving for cover — and then began to make a hive on the fence in front of the pavilion. Eventually, a local beekeeper was found who secured the queen and then waited for her family to join her, before safely removing the bees.

As for the cricket, the North West Warriors won for the second time this week after a comfortable win over the Leinster Lightning, while the Northern Knights also secured their second win of the week by overcoming Munster Reds in the bee-delayed encounter.

North West Warriors v Leinster Lightning

A half-century from captain Shane Getkate saw his North West Warriors cruise to an 81-run victory over Leinster Lightning.

After being sent into bat first, the Warriors got off to a good start with Stephen Doheny and Aaron Gillespie putting on 41 for the first wicket. However, both were removed in the space of six balls, with the Warriors 49-2 after seven overs.

Getkate combined with Jared Wilson for a fourth wicket 65-run partnership, before a double-wicket maiden for Barry McCarthy in the 15th over — removing both Wilson and Cameron Melly — had the Warriors 120-5 with five overs to go.

William McClintock came in at number seven and smashed a quick-fire 34 from 13 balls, in a 46-run partnership with Getkate as the Warriors went on to post a competitive 180-7. McCarthy finished with the most economical four-wicket haul in Inter-Provincial T20 history with 4-12 from his four overs.

In the Lightning’s response, the Warriors’ bowlers dominated as wickets fell with regularity. The Lightning batters struggled to get any rhythm going, except for McCarthy who rounded out a good all-round display scoring 27 — however, the Lightning were bowled out for 99 inside 14 overs, with only three of their batters reaching double-figures.

Match summary

Warriors 180-7 (20 overs; S Getkate 55, W McClintock 34; B McCarthy 4-12). Lightning 99 (13.5 overs; B McCarthy 27, S Harbinson 19; C Robertson 4-20). Result: Warriors won by 81 runs

Munster Reds v Northern Knights

Ruhan Pretorius put in a Player of the Match performance as the Northern Knights beat the Munster Reds in a bee-shortened 12 over game at The Mardyke.

Pretorius scored 44 runs along with 3-31 with the ball as the Knights won by seven wickets (DLS).

The game was interrupted in the 11th over with the Reds 91-2, after partnerships of 31 and 42 between Nicolaj Damgaard and Gareth Delany, then Delany and Murray Commins, had the Reds on pace to post a large total.

Play resumed after a delay of 112 minutes with the game reduced to 12 overs. Connor Fletcher was immediately caught and bowled by Matthew Humpheys as the Reds went on to post 106-5 from their twelve overs.

With a new DLS target of 129 for victory, the Knights opening pair of Pretorius and Ross Adair then combined for a 96-runs, before Pretorius was bowled by Ben White in the eight over.

Despite also losing the wickets of Adair (39) and Neil Rock, the Knights went on to take the win with eight balls to spare.

Match summary

Reds 106-5 (12 overs; G Delany 32, M Commins 28*; R Pretorius 3-31). Knights 131-3 (10.4 overs; R Pretorius 44, R Adair 39; B White 2-22). Result: Knights won by 7 wickets (DLS)