Dragons retained the Super Series T20 trophy in sunny Oak Hill with an eight runs victory over the Typhoons in the winner-take-all deciding game of the series. Dragons won the toss and chose to bat and Sophie Reid and Alana Dalzell gave them another solid start with 51 for the first wicket. Captain Orla Prendergast didn’t last long, caught off Aimee Maguire who was the pick of the Typhoons bowlers, conceding just 15 runs in her four overs. But Leah Paul stayed to the end of the innings, bringing up her 50 in the last over and hitting nine fours in her 36-ball innings. Although the Dragons bowlers all conceded at least six runs an over, the Typhoons were always just behind the clock with Alice Tector getting them close. They needed 17 off the last over from Prendergast but managed only eight.

Dragons levelled the SS20 series with a scrambling three wickets win over Typhoons at Oak Hill. The series will be decided in the final game on Monday at the same venue. The damage was done early as the defending champions reduced Typhoons to 47 for six but a seventh wicket stand of 52 between Ellie McGee and Aimee Maguire gave their bowlers something to bowl at. Although both were dismissed, Kia McCartney and Darcy Dalwood, in her first match of the season, saw the innings through to finish on 119 for eight. It looked plain sailing for Dragons when they were 79 for one in only the eighth over, but a horrible collapse saw them slump to 99 for five. Maguire and McGee each took one more wicket before Cara Murray and Lara McBride ran a wide to get their side over the line.

Typhoons go into the last double header of the SS20 next weekend with a 2-1 lead after beating Dragons by five runs in an exciting finish at Pembroke. It looked a lost cause for the defending champions, set 148 in 16 overs after rain delayed the start of their innings, when they still needed 37 from the last two overs. But Arlene Kelly had other ideas. The Ireland all-rounder took 11 off the penultimate over and with Leah Paul picking up a couple of singles, it left Dragons needing 24 off the last over. It was still 21 off four balls but Kelly was back in strike and a six followed by two fours left another maximum required from the last ball for a Super Over. By now it was pouring with rain again but Georgina Dempsey found a full length and Kelly could only drive it along the ground to the edge of the ring. Game set and match to the Typhoons which was no more than Lara Maritz deserved after scoring 90 from 63 balls. Promoted to opener, she hit 12 fours and a six and dominated a second wicket stand of 105 with Alice Tector. Laura Delany missed out for the Typhoons in this match, joining an all-star cast of Ireland players recovering from injury or still having ‘niggles’. Also watching on were Gaby Lewis, Orla Prendergast, Rebecca Stokell and Jane Maguire while Amy Hunter was also absent.The last two games are at Oak Hill next Sunday and Monday afternoons.

Sophie Reid was denied a century when the first match of the day at Pembroke was abandoned, just one ball into the 19th over. Reid was 93 not out from just 56 balls, having hit nine fours and five sixes, when rain halted the Dragons innings. A restart time of 1.35pm had been confirmed but another heavy shower returned and the umpires abandoned the game as time ran out. Reid and Leah Paul had put on 153 for the third wicket, from just 89 balls. Both played almost identical innings; both reached their half century off 35 balls and both were dropped on 51. Paul eventually holed out to mid-on after making 63 from 43 balls to give Rebecca Lowe her second catch. Typhoons used seven bowlers but all conceded at least eight runs an over.

What a contrast. The players had curry for lunch but the runs still dried up in the second match of the day with many poor strokes contributing to a low-scoring two wickets win for Typhoons. Both teams made one change from the morning game with Ava Canning coming in for the Typhoons, in place of Jane Maguire and Genevieve Morrissey the new addition to the Dragons team. And it was Canning who proved the main destroyer of the Dragons batting, after Orla Prendergast had elected to again bat first. Canning had figures of four for eight from her four overs, ripping through the powerful middle order of Prendergast, Leah Paul and Sarah Forbes. Only openers Alana Dalzell and Sophie Reid reached 15 and it was the same again in the second innings as Typhoons stumbled over the line. Georgina Dempsey finally broke the 15 runs barrier but she was run out just short of the finish line. Arlene Kelly sneaked a five-wicket haul, but the Dragons had too few runs to play with. So it’s 1-1 heading to the next two games in Pembroke next Sunday.

Dragons made an impressive start to the defence of their SS20 title with a 41 runs victory over their only opponents this year, Typhoons. The result was never in doubt once the champions had totalled 189 for five, topped by 61 from Sophie Reid. The Aussie, who has played in the Women’s Big Bash and in the Men’s Irish Cup here on Saturday for Terenure, hit eight fours and a six in her 40-ball innings. She was well supported by Alana Dalzell in an opening stand of 82, in just 8.2 overs, and captain Orla Prendergast then chipped in with 40 off just 26 balls. Rebecca Stokell and Louise Little gave the Typhoons a solid start with an opening stand of 87 in 10.2 overs but the innings lost its way after that with accurate bowling from spinners Freya Sargent and Lara McBride, the only bowler to take more than one wicket in the match.