Dublin (Cricket news): The teams unexpectedly reached the final stage, the Sunday Cork Harlequins and Brigade Cricket Club were both considered two underdogs in their respective semifinals and will battle out the final of the men’s Clear Currency All Ireland T20 Cup. However, neither side made the final on luck with both sides outclassing their tougher opponents in a nail biting final over run chases.

In the first semi-final, Harlequins faced the might of Merrion Cricket Club at Anglesea Road in Dublin and after Merrion set a competitive 154 to win after batting first, the Cork side successfully chased down the target with Senan Jones hitting a six from the last ball. This will be Cork Harlequins first ever appearance in an all Ireland club cup final.

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In the second semi-final, the northwest based Brigade chased down 145 to beat the star studded Carrickfergus at Carrickfergus home ground, scoring 39 off the death overs to make it through to their first all Ireland club cup final since 1999.

The final will be played at Leinster Cricket Club, Rathmines on Sunday 22 August 2021, starting at 2pm.

The winner of this Clear Currency All Ireland T20 Cup competition will be Ireland’s representative team at the 2022 European Cricket League.

The Teams

Cork Harlequins

Cork Harlequins came into force  in 1967 and currently play in the Munster Cricket Union Premier Division. This will be their first ever appearance in an all Ireland club cup final in any format of the game. Harlequins' senior team have won the MCU Premier league twice in the last ten years and were runners up in 2018.

Match Day squad: Matt Brewster (c), Brandon Kruger, Murtaza Sidiqi, Shivam Kislay, Jack Buss, Mubeen Ali, Zubair Hassan Khan, Senan Jones, Joe Hourihane, Adam Hickey, Luke O'Reilly, Dhawan Mehta.

Brigade

Brigade Cricket Club was founded in 1909 and was originally known as Church Lads Brigade (the club adopted its current name  Brigade Cricket Club  in 1923). The club's first ground was originally at the Brandywell at the location where Derry FC play today, but moved to their current home ground at Beechgrove in 1921  this year is the centenary year at their home ground. Currently playing in the Northwest Senior League 1, they are regular challengers for regional silverware in all competitions, having won fifteen Senior League Titles, twelve time Senior Cup Winners, four time Ulster Cup winners, and most notably two Irish Senior Cups in 1996 and 1999.

Possible XI: Andy Britton (c), David Barr, David Murdock, Adam McDaid, Kyle Magee, Ifti Hussain, Ross Allen, Ryan Macbeth, Simon Olphert, Ryan Barr, Nick Donnell.

Expected Conditions

With plenty of rain around in the leadup, conditions on match day are looking to be cool, overcast, but  with some luck dry. Expecting the outfield to be heavy, but with both sides full of big hitters, raining boundaries won't be a surprise.