North West pair shine for Ireland A

Ireland A made it a clean sweep on their short tour of Sri Lanka after winning both their Twenty20 contests against BRC in Colombo, yesterday (Tuesday).

While Eglinton’s Stuart Thompson was also part of the squad, it was Dougherty and McBrine who really showed the potential.

Ireland Assistant Coach Pete Johnston was also delighted with the performances saying: “It was a fantastic way to end a very encouraging tour.

“I was impressed with the way the guys went about everything throughout the training camp and leading into the games - that was more important than the results, although it’s great we won the four matches.

“Andrew Balbirnie and Chris Dougherty were the pick of the batters from the games.

“They were very sure in their methods showling great concentration and fitness in the heat.

“It was good to see Andy Balbirnie push on and get big runs and he impressed in the field too. James Shannon also played with a lot of confidence today in the T20’s.

“The two emerging spinners Andy McBrine and James Cameron-Dow have also bowled very well forming a nice partnership and all our seamers have shown a bit of pace and some good one day skills.

“I’m really pleased to see us hitting the stumps out here too, with plenty of run outs, validating the technical work of Phil and myself.

“Everyone gave their all and can leave proud knowing they have a good base to build on as they work towards the season.”