Photo Credit: Cricket Ireland
The squads have begun to be announced ahead of tomorrow’s first day of the second Inter-Provincial Trophy festival at Bready Cricket Club. After a fascinating first-round festival last weekend, the North West Warriors top the table having two wins and collecting a bonus point along the way. However, with all four sides registering at least one win last week, the competition remains wide open.
The Inter-Provincial Trophy is the hotly-contested – and highly-anticipated – T20 competition in the peak domestic men’s series. With a T20 World Cup scheduled for October this year, pressure is mounting on players to perform on the biggest domestic T20 stage in order to book their places to play on the biggest world T20 stage.
FIXTURE SCHEDULE
The fixture schedule for the first Festival is as follows:
HOW TO FOLLOW THE FESTIVAL
While spectator numbers are capped at 150 due to COVID regulations, there is free entry on a first-come, first-served basis.
But don’t worry, if you don’t get in you can still follow the Festival matches:
1. Livestreaming: watch each match on Cricket Ireland Live
2. Livescoring: visit our Match Centre, which has scorecards, statistics and highlight clips
THE SQUADS
Leinster Lightning
George Dockrell (c), Lorcan Tucker, Rory Anders, Andrew Balbirnie, Jamie Grassi, Gavin Hoey, Josh Little, Barry McCarthy, Kevin O’Brien, David O’Halloran, Simi Singh, Jack Tector, Tim Tector.
The inside word
Head Coach Nigel Jones said:
“We’re excited about getting another opportunity so quickly,” says Jones. “Obviously when things don’t go as well as hoped, you’re always keen to get back to it. While we’ve identified a couple of areas where we really need to sharpen up, we’ve got an appreciation that we’ve come off a strong 50-over competition, where the boys played some really good cricket.
“With the whole restructuring of the squads etc, we don’t have the luxury of batting as deep or having as many bowling options as maybe we once did, to pull us out of trouble at times. That’s the nature of trying to develop the game and ensure we create opportunities for further players as well.
“We just have to make it a focus of ours that the top six deliver with the bat and our bowlers are on song and sharp with their skills. We were off a couple of times over the weekend, and it cost us. That’s going to happen in T20 too, by the nature of the format.”
Speaking of the players coming into the squad, Jones acknowledged Jack Tector’s abilities and the options Gavin Hoey provides.
“Jack’s a quality operator, well known around the group. He may have struggled in the 50-over competition recently, but we genuinely believe he’s one of our strongest players and he will come in as batting cover. We’re looking forward to some contributions from himself if the opportunity presents over the weekend.
“For Gavin, this is an exciting opportunity for him right now. We’ve been fortunate to work with him a lot over the last 12 months or so, as he has made the change to leg-spin. We’ve been really impressed throughout the training sessions and hubs last year alongside the contracted Ireland players. We believe he has a really strong skillset, suited to T20 cricket. His batting’s been impressive, and he moves well in the field too.
“Gavin brings an option with the ball that we feel we need, in terms of a wicket-taking ability, and we’re looking forward to giving him an opportunity, just as we did with Davey O’Halloran in the 50-over competition. It’s the only way we can learn about players sometimes and we’d rather be bold and aggressive with our approach, and I think this selection gives us that mindset going into the weekend.
Munster Reds
PJ Moor (c), Murray Commins, Jack Carty, Greg Ford, Matt Ford, Fionn Hand, Aaron Cawley, Josh Manley, Mike Frost, Theo Dempsey, Seamus Lynch, Mitchell Thompson, Alistair Frost.
The inside word
The Reds coped admirably with the absence of stars Gareth Delany and Curtis Campher in the first IP20 Festival, but when captain Tyrone Kane went down injured in the field during the second match, there was great trepidation that it would be fatal to the Reds chances. In reality, that concern couldn’t be further from reality. Perhaps galvanised by the unfortunate loss of their captain, the Reds went on to record a victory in the game and keep themselves in with a chance in the competition.
Murray Commins has been the batting star for the Reds this season – the third-highest run-scorer in the IP50 competition with 227 runs at 56.75, and the T20 competition’s leading run-scorer with 101 runs at 33.67. Stand-in skipper PJ Moor hit a stylish 49 from 24 balls in the last match, and in the absence of Kane, the Reds will be looking for more contributions like this from Moor.
North West Warriors
Andy McBrine (c), William Porterfield, Stephen Doheny, Shane Getkate, Nathan McGuire, Ross Allen, William McClintock, Graham Kennedy, Craig Young, Varun Chopra, Graham Hume, Kyle Magee, Ryan Macbeth.
The inside word
The North West Warriors release said:
“The North West Warriors will host the second round of IP20 fixtures at Bready this weekend and have named a 13-man squad that they hope will build on last weekend’s impressive start in Dublin.”
“Jared Wilson, who did very well when he got his chance at Pembroke, picked up an injury in training this week and he is forced to sit it out, while Ryan Macbeth comes in to offer options in the seam attack. Elsewhere it’s more of the same for Gary Wilson’s men who know that a similar points return over the weekend would leave them very well placed going into the final round of matches later in the season.”
Northern Knights
Harry Tector (c), Mark Adair, Ross Adair, David Delany, Luke Georgeson, Jeremy Lawlor, John Matchett, Graeme McCarter, James McCollum, Ruhan Pretorius, Neil Rock, Paul Stirling, Ben White.
The inside word
Speaking ahead of the Inter-Provincial Trophy matches, Head Coach Simon Johnston said:
“It was great to leave Dublin with two wins last weekend, having shown so much character after the defeat on Friday. The younger members of the squad stood up when it mattered, contributing with match-winning performances and that was encouraging to see. That being said, we can’t get carried away. We must reset and get ready to again. We’re playing on a different ground with a different pitch, that presents its own challenges and we must adapt – making sure that we’re ready to go for the first ball on Friday morning. It is always great to have Paul Stirling back in the squad. He has that x-factor and the younger members of the squad love having him around to learn and improve their individual games.”
