Richard White (NCU PRO)

Lurgan won the Gallagher Women's Challenge Cup Final in a thrilling encounter at Stormont this afternoon, by two wickets. In a low scoring game CSNI were bowled out for 69, with Rachel Thomas top scoring with 16 runs. The pick of the Lurgan bowling attack was Alex Craig who took three wickets for only three runs.

CSNI fought back strongly in the field as they reduced Lurgan to 30 for 5, before a thirty run partnership between Chloe Neville and Suzie McCollum took the County Armagh side to within ten runs of victory. Still CSNI were not finished, taking another three wickets to take the final into the last over.

Nikhita Gondhia, Abi Leckey, and Jemma Gillan proved the most effective bowlers for CSNI as they shared seven of the Lurgan wickets. Sophie Hinds hit the winning runs with only two balls to spare, to ensure Lurgan retained the trophy.

Suzie McCollum was named player of the match, top scoring with 14, to add to two wickets in the CSNI innings.

Summary
CSNI 69 (R Thomas 16, S McCollum 2-15, J Kilpatrick 2-16, A Craig 3-3)
Lurgan 71-8 (L Breakey 13, S McCollum 14, N Gondhia 2-10, A Leckey 3-14, J Gillan 2-11)
Lurgan beat CSNI by 2 wickets
Player of the Match: Suzie McCollum

Lurgan Captain Hannah Grieve receives the Gallagher Women's Challenge Cup from Shane Matthews, Gallagher Insurance and Clarence Hiles, NCU President

Player of the Match, Suzie McCollum (Lurgan) receives her award from Shane Matthews, Gallagher Insurance

Photo credit – Ian Johnston / Cricket Europe