Batters and bowlers combine to spur lively Lightning to first day advantage

Leinster Lightning Skipper Kevin O'Brien says his team will be looking to get among the wickets early tomorrow morning to push on with the advantage his batters, and right at the end his bowlers, have given the Lightning.

Barry Chambers:   Kevin it couldn't have gone much better for Leinster Lightning today?

Kevin O'Brien:   Yeah near perfect, I think. Obviously being put in early on we kind of knew it was going to be a new ball wicket. I think just like the last day it got harder to score on on day 2 and 3. So I suppose we would have batted if we had won the toss. But yeah I think near perfect, as I say. One of us should have went on and got a hundred. It was probably the one thing that TJ and myself will look back on and something that we can improve on. But yeah the seven overs there have put us in a strong position.

Barry Chambers:   Yeah a couple of key wickets there towards the end?

Kevin O'Brien:   Yeah, no two of their bigger players. So it's always great to be able to knock over the oppositions bigger players, for little or no runs. So it gives us a good chance tomorrow morning with a newish ball, if it's overhead conditions like it was this morning, to get two or three more wickets. So yeah I think we're in a great position.

Barry Chambers:   Yeah John Anderson, Stuart Poynter and yourself all half centuries, batted really well.

Kevin O'Brien:   Yeah I think the key was, look I mean we were looking to score all the time, even though it is three day cricket, 104 overs a day, you've still got to be wanting to score runs. And I think to get 364 in 94 overs, I think it's a pretty healthy scoring rate. And I think it puts us in a great position now to push for victory.

Barry Chambers:   Is that a lesson you learned from the last game here, when the scoring rate with you and the North West was sort of two and a half, three, and there was a bit of rain. Did you talk about that, we've got to be more positive maybe this time, or is it just the way it transpired?

Kevin O'Brien:   Yeah I think the wicket helped today. I think with a little bit of grass on it, it gets easier, well it is easier to score on day 1. Obviously you've got the risk of a new ball in fresh conditions, but I think our openers and our number three and four, handled them pretty well, and gave us a solid foundation going into the middle part of the innings.