Leinster Lightning IP20 Squad for Pembroke
Leinster Lightning has announced their squad for the IP20 Festival Weekend at Pembroke Cricket Club starting on Friday June 18, as 100 fans a day will be permitted to attend.
The Lightning won both the 50-over and 20-over competitions in 2020, and having already retained the 50-over Cup, sights are firmly set on replicating that success in the shortest format starting this Friday morning at 11am against the Munster Reds at Pembroke.
Peter Chase and Jack Tector are the notable absentees from the 12-man squad that will compete in the first IP20 Festival of the season.
Peter Chase has been struggling with his achilles and heel over the last eighteen months and yesterday saw a specialist. It looks like Chase will be out of action for the foreseeable future and the Lightning wish him well.
Tector meanwhile has taken the news of his omission from the squad very well according to Head Coach Nigel Jones.
“As you’d expect with Jack, he understands the situation and he’s very aware that he has to go away, and score runs to put his hand back up for selection. Opportunities are there to be taken but doors are never shut on anyone.
“We’re excited by the squad we’ve named for the first T20 festival,” continued Jones. “We’re confident that we’re doing the work and the mind will be right come that first game on Friday. It’s important after a successful IP50 campaign that we don’t bring that with us in terms of baggage and expectation.
“We’ve a nice mix of young, hungry talent with some senior pros and I’m hoping that we get to see a blend of both performing and stamping their name on a game of cricket this weekend.”
One of those experienced senior players is obviously captain George Dockrell who is excited to see how the young guns perform on the T20 stage.
“Somebody like Davey O’Halloran, has been so impressive with the one-day stuff. Now, with Chaser (Peter Chase) absent, he’ll have an opportunity to take on a little bit more responsibility which I’m really looking forward to seeing.
“Then in the batters, with a couple of the young guys, we’re kind of fighting for spots, it’ll be nice to see how they go and to see them put their hands up.”
Dockrell is also looking forward to playing in the shortest format of the game in front of spectators again at Pembroke Cricket Club.
“The T20 format is always exciting and makes for a great weekend for the guys, playing in the back-to-back games which allows skills to develop from day to day. Everyone’s raring to go and very excited to test ourselves in a different format.
“It’s going to be a great weekend, our first game in front of a crowd, which is fantastic. We’ve been quite waiting a long time for that. It’ll be nice to have a good atmosphere down at the wall in Pembroke, it’s always such a nice place to play cricket anyway.
“We’re raring to go and can’t wait to get into it and hopefully we can start off our campaign with some wins.”
Leinster Lightning play the opening game of the festival at 11am each day at Pembroke, facing the Munster Reds on Friday, the Northern Knights on Saturday and finishing up against the North West Warriors on Sunday June 20th.
George Dockrell (capt) – Phoenix
Lorcan Tucker (v/c) – Pembroke
Rory Anders – YMCA
Andrew Balbirnie – Pembroke
JJ Garth – Pembroke
Jamie Grassi – Phoenix
Josh Little – Pembroke
Barry McCarthy – Pembroke
Kevin O’Brien – Railway Union
David O’Halloran – Malahide
Simi Singh – YMCA
Tim Tector – YMCA