Leinster Lightning confirmed their dominance in the inter-provincial Cup with another devastating batting performance and crushing victory over North West Warriors in the final at Sydney Parade.

It was fitting that the strongest team in the tournament chose the biggest ever stage – the first final in the competition’s 13-year history – to post the highest ever total (446-6) and, indeed, the 10th highest in any List A match.

Tim Tector and Stephen Doheny set the ball rolling with an opening partnership of 235, Lightning’s highest for any wicket and the third highest in the competition. It was also the first time two openers have scored a century in the same innings, Tector from 96 balls, and Doheny from 105 balls.

Both were out in the space of four overs, Doheny for 124, including 13 fours and four sixes, and then Tector for 122, his maiden List A century, with 11 fours and three sixes. But the latter’s wicket proved to be only the start of the carnage as Lightning added 170 in the remaining 10 overs!

Harry Tector was the best of the rest, with 86 from 35 balls (nine fours, five sixes) but his strike rate was dwarfed by his captain, Lorcan Tucker, who hit an 18-ball 50, with five fours and four sixes. He was out immediately afterwards but there was still time for Curtis Campher, George Dockrell and David Delany to plunder another five boundaries, three of them sixes, as the Warriors bowling wilted.

None more so than Liam McCarthy who has entered the record books for the most expensive analysis in List A Cricket, both in terms of runs conceded and economy, with figures of one for 128. Trent McKeegan also went at double figures economy with McBrine’s two for 63 from his 10 overs, the painful best.

As the skipper said afterwards: “Today wasn’t our day, but the effort and fight were there until the end. That’s all you can ask from the boys. We played a lot of good cricket leading up to the final (with victories in both games against Northern Knights) but today just wasn’t our day.”

Any team that McBrine captains will always fight and although set a world record chase and then losing openers Andrew Balbirnie and Gavin Roulston in the first 19 balls – the first boundary didn’t come until the seventh over – McBrine came in at second wicket down and scored his third century of the competition.

But even partnerships of 85 with Ben Calitz and 89 with Scott Macbeth – they were both dismissed for 41 – and 30s from Jared Wilson and McCarthy were never going to be enough.

Still without the injured Matthew Hollard, Lightning can still call in Byron McDonagh, on his home ground to do a job, and he had the most economical figures of the day as well as the wicket of Roulston.

Jai Moondra claimed the big wicket of Balbirnie, Curtis Campher chipped in with the wickets of debutant Luke Marillier and Calitz but Gavin Hoey, who finished as the leading wicket-taker in the competition, had to be satisfied with the wicket of Gareth Delany, caught second ball, in his expensive 10 overs.

But it is not just batting depth that the champions boast. Enter as the sixth bowler, George Dockrell and 5.4 overs later he had taken four of the last five wickets.

“George has been a big part of our success this year, no doubt, just as he has been every year. The old faithful guys can still do the job,” said Tucker after picking up his second trophy, following on from the three that Dockrell received as skipper.

It needs only a a quick glance at the Cup statistics to show why Lightning completed a hat-trick of 50-over titles so emphatically. Tucker guessed that his top four batters were the leading run-scorers in the competition – he was one out! McBrine actually nipped into second place after his century but Chris de Freitas and the Tector brothers were all less than 50 runs behind him, filling the top five places.

Out on his own at the top is Doheny with his second century of the season taking him to 409 runs, 130 more than McBrine at an average of 81. All four Lightning batters had strike rates of over 100 as well – Harry Tector at an astonishing 159, well astonishing if you don’t include Tucker back in seventh place with 184 runs from 106 balls.

The positive for new Ireland head Gary Wilson is that they are his current internationals and all are in form heading into the Afghanistan series which starts in less than two weeks.

On that basis, the inter-pros are, perhaps, an unfair contest and the results should be expected   - so kudos to Warriors for beating Lightning in the opening match, at Bready.

It proved to be their only defeat because after that there was only one team in it. The famous chase of Northern Knights’ 414 was their first win and they followed up with bonus point pursuits of 260 and 289. It really has been that easy.

The campaign was perfectly summed up by coach Andre Botha

“It has been another great season. There was a little setback at the start but the guys are so professional. It is a group that has been together for a couple of years and there have not been many changes. You can see that in the way they play as a team. They are unbelievable I the professional way they go about their business.”

Leinster Lightning have set the bar, it is up to the other teams to catch them.