AN IN-FORM Vidarbha skipper Faiz Fazal excelled with both bat and ball to guide his side Lisburn Cricket Club to Irish League final. Playing at home ground Wallace Park, Lisburn thumped Clontarf by 78 runs in their 50-over semi-final. Electing to bat, Lisburn made a reasonable 231-8 in stipulated overs and then shot out the opponents for a paltry 153 in 43.3 overs. Southpaw opener Faiz (51; 58b, 5x4, 3x6) led from the front and scored only fifty of the match batting close to one and half hours.

After early fall of fellow opener Jonathan Waite (3), Faiz added important 65 runs for the second wicket with Neil Whitworth (36). Next bat D Simpson contributed a 66-ball 45. For the bowling side, M Granger (10-2-30-3) returned with the best figures while the duo of R Cronje and L Thomson picked two wickets each.

Clontarf had a poor start to the chase as David Vincent was out without scoring. Wickets continued to fall at regular intervals and when the pair of J McNally (32; 49b, 3x4) and A McGeehan (24; 46b, 1x4, 1x6) looked like doing well, Faiz removed both of them within five runs to turn the tide in home side’s favour. Bowling military medium, Faiz (8-0-29-2) returned with fine figures. Neil Whitworth (3-36) and Matt Humphreys (3-40) took three wickets apiece.