The hills will rue their three-legged-tortoise runratein their Lewis Traub League semi-final against Merrion at Milverton yesterday. All credit to the winners, who turned in an industrious performance, but the reluctance of the home batsmen to take on the bowling was hard to understand.

A second stoppage for rain meant that the overs were reduced to 48 and The Hills' target was amended from 162 to 155. But by then the writing was on the wall, and only towards the end, when skipper Declan Moore was fighting a rearguard action for a hopeless cause, was there any real excitement.

Moore had won the toss and put Merrion into bat. Stephen King and Adam Thomas were joint top-scorers with 31 apiece, and Robbie Stanton and Gus Joyce made useful contributions of 27 and 23 respectively, but 161 off the 50 overs was hardly an intimidating target for The Hills.

Barry Archer bowled well for his four for 32 off 10 overs, supported by Matt Dwyer and some smart wicketkeeping by Mick Dwyer. But then The Hills dug their own grave with a run-rate that would have offended of any self-respecting snail; a meagre 37 came off the first 20 overs, and after 25 overs the score was just 48 for three.

Moore's defiant 39 was admirable, if a shade too little, too late. And on The Hills' score-card, the second highest scorer was 27, being the extras so generously contributed by Merrion, in particular the 17 wides.