Solid start should see The Hills retain cup

Cricket/Leinster Senior Cup Final: Defending champions The Hills manoeuvred themselves to arm's length of upsetting the form guide and retaining the Antalis Senior Cup against North County on Saturday as, when bad light stopped play, they needed just 70 runs to win, with eight wickets and 17 overs in which to do it.

A 157-run partnership between Michael Lax and Patrick Byrne has set them up nicely for a run chase that began with the untimely dismissal of captain Bryn Thomas and will reconvene this evening at 6pm in Anglesea Road.

But there is just enough of this cup final left to give North County hope. Removing Lax for 94 not long before the end of play has given them a glimmer, and the first four or five overs tonight will be crucial. If a couple of wickets fall, panic might set in as the pressure builds on the Hills' middle order.

But if Byrne (45 not out) and Barry Archer (9 not out) can put on 20 or 30 runs, the cup will more than likely be staying at Milverton for another year.

Having won the toss, North County decided to bat after morning rain delayed the start until 1.30. It seemed like a pretty good decision with Conor Armstrong, Shaun O'Connor and Andre Botha getting them off to a solid start.

For their part, The Hills' bowlers did not begin well, giving far too much away in the form of leg-stump half-volleys and wide long-hops. But crucially, North County never really dominated and gradually The Hills got themselves into a groove. Luke Clinton (2-24 off 10 overs) and Lax (0-24 off 11) pegged this fine North County batting order down, and then Archer (4-62) and Thomas (3-42) came on to pick up some wickets.

And those wickets fell at important times, with O'Connor (27), Botha (42) and Reinhardt Strydom (17) getting starts but departing before they had really made their mark. Only Armstrong remained firm. His innings-anchoring 96 lasted 216 minutes from the first delivery to the final over (he faced 132 balls and hit 11 fours).

Despite losing Thomas early, The Hills' next two batsmen were the perfect foil for each other as Lax went after the bowling and Byrne played a more watchful second fiddle.

Lax fell just six short of his century not long before the close as he got clean bowled attempting to hit a slower ball from Strydom out of the ground.

LEINSTER SENIOR CUP FINAL

At Anglesea Road

NORTH COUNTY

C Armstrong b Archer 96

S O'Connor b L Clinton 27

A Botha b Thomas 42

J Mooney c Dwyer b Thomas 10

P Mooney c sub (Akhtar) b Archer 14

R Strydom c M O'Herlihy b L Clinton 17

D Armstrong c and b Archer 0

C Garry lbw b Thomas 22

T Richardson c J Clinton b Archer 3

I Bertram not out 1

P Martin not out 1

Extras (1b, 7lb, 7w) 15

Total (for 9, 60 overs) ... 248

Fall of wickets: 38, 108., 125, 164, 199, 201, 234, 239, 247

Bowling: L Clinton 10-3-24-2, J Clinton 6-0-38-0, Lax 11-2-24-0, Thomas 12-2-42-3, Archer 10-0-62-4, de Kock 12-0-50-0.

THE HILLS

B Thomas lbw b P Mooney 3

M Lax b Strydom 94

P Byrne not out 45

B Archer not out 9

Extras (1b, 8lb, 16w, 3nb) 28

Total (for 2, 43 overs) ... 179

Bowling: Strydom 7-1-23-1, P Mooney 9-1-28-1, J Mooney 9-2-40-0, Botha 7-2-27-0, Martin 6-0-34-0, C Armstrong 5-2-18-0.

Fall of wickets: 7, 164.

To bat: S de Kock, I O'Herlihy, M O'Herlihy, R Hoare, M Dwyer, J Clinton, L Clinton.

Umpires: G Black, G Lyons