Malahide won the toss and, somewhat surprisingly, decided to bat on a track which was slow but which offered the bowlers something interesting at times. They started brightly, with skipper Mike O’Brien in quite aggressive mood, but the wheels started to loosen when his opening partner, Andy Pyne, was run out by a deflection off the bowler. From then on, wickets fell steadily and there was no significant stand in an innings which folded on 102 in the 40th over. O’Brien got 24 and the only others to get into double figures were John Prior (17), Niall Boyne (15), Stevie Smith (11) and Extras (14). Star spinner George Dockrell did it again, with 4-18 off 9 (including 2 wicket-maidens), and with Will Lennon (in front of his Mum and Dad visiting from New Zealand) coming good in his second spell with 2-18 off his allocated 10, again including 2 wicket-maidens.

As they had in their previous game chasing a low total, Leinster’s openers, Jason Molins and Craig Mallon, decided that there was no panic and just went for the bad balls, leaving alone anything potentially dangerous. In the main, Malahide bowled steadily and with good spirit but little penetration and the Jason/Craig partnership never looked in danger. Mr Molins contributed a very fine 65 n.o. and Mr Mallon joined in with a solid 29 n.o. A win by 10 wickets in the 34th over. Stevie Smith bowled with great accuracy and was the most economical of the visitors’ bowlers, conceding a mere 17 runs off his 10 overs.

Great weather, the ground once again a tribute to Guy, Rob and their elves, a match played in excellent spirit and a very handy maximum points tally for Leinster.