Warriors suffer heavy defeat

Craig Ervine turned the heads of the Ireland selectors as his unbeaten 72 helped secure the victory for the Knights.

The Lisburn left-hander, who has played Test match cricket for Zimbabwe and holds an Irish passport, has indicated he wants to play for Ireland once he has served a four-year qualification period.

And he underlined his undoubted quality by striking six fours and four sixes in making 72 not out from 124 balls.

Scott Campbell, the Warriors batsman, was the only other player to make a half-century in the match, with the visitors undone by batting collapses in each innings.

The Knights still had some work to do yesterday morning, requiring 69 more runs in the fourth innings on a pitch that had favoured the bowlers throughout.

But Ervine, along with captain Andrew White, took just 15.3 overs to complete formalities in an unbeaten stand of 87 for the third wicket.

White pressed his own claims for an international recall - he is surely still a more effective performer than some of the younger players who have made the squad over the winter - with an unbeaten 31.

Tabish Khan, the Fox Lodge seamer, who extracted extravagant movement in the first innings, was unable to repeat those heroics. The Warriors have now lost both their opening three-day matches.

Result: NORTHERN KNIGHTS 187 (N Larkin 40, N Waller 38, A White 35, Tabish Khan 6-55, J Thompson 2-37) and 157-2 (C Ervine 72*, N Larkin 37, A White 31*)

NW WARRIORS 190 (S Campbell 51, J Thompson 40, S Getkate 4-25) and 150 (RL Dougherty 41, N McDonnell 37, E Kemm 24, G McClintock 23, N Waller 4-24, A Coulter 2-17, S Getkate 2-25, J Cameron-Dow 2-32).