Morgan Topping may have fallen eight runs short of a deserved century but he ensured Northern Knights made it two wins out of two in this year’s inter-provincial Cup, with victory over defending champions Munster Reds at Stormont.

Topping, the 24-year old Waringstown batter, playing only his fourth List A match, showed off all his burgeoning talent to dominate the Knights’ ultimately comfortable chase and while the three wickets margin may look tight, they had 17 balls to spare and three wickets fell within 30 runs of their 270 target.

Cade Carmichael, in superb form for Instonians, took his club form onto the representative stage and scored his first List A 50, sharing a partnership of 87 with Topping who then added 92 with Neil Rock, fresh from his astonishing 142 off 53 balls in the National Cup on Saturday.

The diminutive left hander did not have to score as quickly this time, although his 39 still came off 29 balls with seven fours and with Topping scoring at a run a ball, the Knights were always in control of the chase.

The only worries came early when Ross Adair was caught at second slip for a duck and Ruhan Pretorius holed out to mid-on for just eight, leaving the hosts on 19 for two.

James McCollum, in his last game before joining up with the Ireland squad, looked good for his 38 balls but then found Gareth Delany at deep square but that only let this Knights team show off their depth in batting.

The bowling depth was highlighted in their team selection with Matthew Foster, despite taking three wickets last week, was left out on his home ground.

They still had skipper Mark Adair to share the new ball with Pretorius but neither made a breakthrough as Murray Commins and Ali Frost put on 106 for the first wicket.

 It was Tyron Koen who ended the stand in the 25th over but Commins went on and on, bringing up his second century on the ground from 111 balls with 13 fours and a six. However, he failed to match his previous best of 125, caught at long-on off Theo van Woerkom who, like Tom Mayes before him, then took two wickets in two balls.

The inter-provincial action continues today at Bready when North West Warriors host Leinster Lightning with Cian Robertson, the Instonians slow left armer expected to make his Warriors debut, after playing one match for the Knights last season.

Munster Reds 269-7 (M Commins 114, A Frost 37, M Ford 33 not out, C Campher 26; T Mayes 3-34, T van Woerkom 3-58, T Koen 1-61) Northern Knights 272-7 (47.1 overs, M Topping 92, C Carmichael 62, N Rock 39, J McCollum 30, M Adair 20; L McCarthy 4-67, M Granger 2-30). Knights won by three wickets.