Pembroke, Dublin – The Leinster Lightning secured victory by 2 wickets against the Northern Knights in a thriller to complete a dominant run throughout the 2025 IP20 Trophy across four T20 Festivals in Cork, Stormont, Bready and Sandymount.
Today’s match opened with Leinster Lightning’s captain Lorcan Tucker choosing to bowl first in bright sunshine after winning the toss. The Knights’ opener Paul Stirling immediately hit 4, 6, 6, but was dismissed off the fourth delivery from Barry McCarthy. Reuben Wilson then sent back Ross Adair through a clever catch on the boundary from David Delany.
Morgan Topping (51) and James McCollum (30) began to rebuild the innings, with a late contribution from Tom Mayes (46) to help guide the Knights to 187-9 from their 20 overs. Gavin Hoey proved the pick of the bowlers for the Leinster Lightning with 4-27 from his four overs which included three wickets in a single over.
Left-arm-spinner Matthew Humphreys struck immediately for the Northern Knights in the opening over to remove left-handed batter Chris De Freitas. The next wicket however wasn’t to come until the 11th over as both Tim Tector and Harry Tector put on a partnership of 111 runs.
Regular wickets then made things interesting with Tim Tector still at the other end. The further wicket of Tector (85) seemed to edge things towards the Northern Knights, although the chasing side eventually managed to get across the line by two wickets in the final over with Josh Little hitting a six off his first delivery at the wicket.
The Lightning however had been extremely dominant throughout the competition after losing their very first game against the Northern Knights by 8 wickets in the Mardyke at the Cork festival. The only other game they didn’t win was a rained off match at the festival in Bready. Player of the Match: Tim Tector.
MATCH SUMMARY
Leinster Lightning v Northern Knights, IP20 Trophy Cup, Pembroke Cricket Club – 10 July 2025
Northern Knights 188-7 (20 overs; M Topping 51, T Mayes 46; G Hoey 4-27)
Leinster Lightning 189-8 (19.2 overs; T Tector 85, H Tector 48; T Mayes 3-20)
Leinster Lightning won by 2 wickets
Scorecard here