LEINSTER Lightning won the Twenty20 inter-provincial Trophy for a fourth successive year with a bonus point victory over North West Warriors at Sydney Parade.

An unbeaten stand of 122 between Ireland internationals John Anderson and George Dockrell took the Leinster side to an imposing 182-3 and with two Warriors batsmen absent hurt, in the end Lightning needed to take only eight wickets to win the match and title – which they did with 41 runs to spare.

The game between the holders and the best ever Warriors side was supposed to be the Super Saturday highlight of the T20 Festival in Pembroke, the climax to this year’s tournament when each of the four sides play each other over the three-day weekend.

But Munster Reds’ shock win over the Warriors on Friday scuppered those plans and indeed it is Northern Knights, who defeated the Reds yesterday by 39 runs, who start the final day in second place. The two Ulster teams play in the opening match at 11 o’clock this morning.

Anderson is not even considered for T20 internationals these days – he played his last game for Ireland in 2015 when the county players were not available for the four-match series against Scotland at Bready – but he showed he is as good as anyone on his day, hitting 76 from 41 balls with four fours and five sixes with internationals Craig Young, Stuart Thompson and Andy McBrine (combined figures of 1-100 from 11 overs) on the receiving end.

Admittedly, Warriors were hampered by the absence of Davy Scanlon who was forced off with a back injury after a second consecutive no-ball in his third over forcing McBrine to call on William McClintock to bowl one of his overs; it cost 21 runs. Varun Chopra, with a shoulder injury, was the other ‘absent’ batsman.

Warriors needed to not only win the game but inside 16 overs to prevent Lightning winning the tournament – they will receive the trophy after their game against the Reds this evening – so when top scorer David Rankin and Aaron Gillespie both fell in the 30s, it was mission impossible.

Northern Knights’ batting for the second successive day flattered only to deceive with four batsmen passing 20 but Adam Dennison was top scorer with 35. James McCollum and Graeme McCarter were left out of yesterday’s line-up to allow the North Down pair of Alistair Shields and Peter Eakin – late call-ups for injured skipper James Shannon and Gary Kidd – to see some action.

Yaqoob Ali was the most impressive bowler of the day, taking the wickets of Getkate and Neil Rock without any assistance from fielders, at a cost of just 12 runs from his four overs. Unfortunately, his Reds team-mates were not so economical and Knights finished on 165, bowled out from the last ball of the innings.

The NCU side’s bowling was much more impressive with Shane Getkate and Jacob Mulder both finishing with three wickets as Munster collapsed from 50-0 to 126 all out with 10 balls unused.