Photo Credit: Oisin Keniry
Top-class cricket returns to the North-West this weekend, 14-16 of July, as the Rario Inter-Provincial T20 Trophy Festival heads to Bready Cricket Club.
Northern Knights currently top the table, with a 100 percent record, following the first of the three festivals in Cork last month. Local side North West Warriors are hot on their heels in second place, after winning two of their three matches so far, while last season’s winners Leinster Lightning have yet to get off the mark.
With six matches to be played over the three days, a lot can change over the weekend.
Local hopes will rest on the shoulders of batters Shane Getkate, and Stephen Doheny, while bowlers Cian Robertson and Trent McKeegan will be looked upon to take wickets.
With Ireland’s squad for the ICC T20 World Cup Europe Qualifier named last week, it’s the last chance for fans to see those international players in action ahead of the tournament.
Leinster Lightning have a new head coach this week, with Balbriggan’s Andre Botha taking up the reigns from Nigel Jones on an interim basis until the end of the season.
They welcome back all-rounder Simi Singh following injury, while David Delany returns from his stint in Australia. 21 year-old New Zealander Riley Mudford is an exciting addition to the squad after his performances for Railway Union this season.
Botha says he can’t wait to get started:
“I’m really looking forward to my first tournament in charge. We have some very experienced players back in the fold, along with some exciting and talented youngster in the squad that are going to get so much knowledge and hopefully learn a lot in the next phase of their cricket careers.”
North West Warriors welcome back Andy McBrine, Graham Hume, and Craig Young to their squad.
Warriors head coach Boyd Rankin said:
“We’re really looking forward to the festival coming up. We’ve had one festival to date which has gone reasonably well for us, so I feel we’re in a pretty good space leading into this festival. The lads are in pretty good form so hopefully the weather plays ball. I know the forecast doesn’t look great, but hopefully the weather plays ball and we can get some cricket in over the weekend. And hopefully we can get a couple of more results to go our way. It’s always great to play at Bready and hopefully we can get some good local support there to come and watch the games and back the lads over the three days.”
Munster Reds have included the hugely talented CIYMS all-rounder Carson McCullough on-loan from the Northern Cricket Union (NCU) for the first time. Also in the squad is South African Ryan Joyce – who plays with Cork Harlequins.
Reds head coach Jeremy Bray is excited by the challenge this week:
“Like all the teams this week we’re hoping to win, but it’s a struggle to get a settled squad due to the unavailability of contracted and non-contracted players. Our form has been mixed coming into the festival, but I put that down to players coming in and out of the side for various reasons. However it’s a positive in a way, as it gives potential fringe players opportunities to play and show what they can do.
“It’s great to have Carson McCullough and Ryan Joyce in the squad. Obviously we have to manage expectations, but I’m really excited to see how they perform at this level given the opportunity.”
Northern Knights have Ireland international Mark Adair back, but similar to the other squads they will have to manage some squad rotation.
Knights head coach Simon Johnston said:
“We found a good formula for playing in The Mardyke and we’re hoping that we can adjust quickly and do the same at Bready which offers its own different challenges. That’s one of the beauties of the festival format is that each ground we play at offers something unique which makes for exciting cricket.
“We’re delighted to have Sparky (Mark Adair) back for two of the games over the weekend.
We’ll also be rotating Matthew Foster and Tom Mayes over the three days, as they were playing in the academy 2-day game at Oak Hill during the week, so we have to keep an eye on their workloads (they’ll both play two games each).
“Hopefully the weather plays ball and the squad can back up what they did in cork.”
SQUADS
North West Warriors
- Andy McBrine (capt)*, Stephen Doheny (wk), Liam Doheny, Shane Getkate, Graham Hume**, Scott Macbeth, Ryan Macbeth, Trent McKeegan, Cameron Melly, Robbie Miller, Cian Robertson, Gavin Roulston, Jared Wilson, Craig Young, Harry Zimmermann.
*Friday & Saturday only
**Saturday & Sunday only
Munster Reds
- PJ Moor (capt), Tyrone Kane, Murray Commins, Matt Ford, Nathan McGuire, Mike Frost, Ali Frost, Joshua Manley, Ryan Joyce, Matt Welldon, Cian Egerton, Carson McCollough, Curtis Campher, Ben White.
Northern Knights
- Mark Adair, Ross Adair, Ruhan Pretorius, Cade Carmichael, Morgan Topping, Jason van der Merve, Neil Rock, Tyron Koen, Tom Mayes, Matthew Foster, Matthew Humphreys, Theo van Woerkom, John Matchett.
Leinster Lightning
- Simi Singh, Tim Tector, Seamus Lynch ””, Riley Mudford, Sam Harbinson^^, Mark Donegan, Lorcan Tucker*, Harry Tector^, Fionn Hand, Joey Carroll, Gavin Hoey, Mikey O’Reilly, Reuben Wilson, Barry McCarthy**,David Delany^^
* Friday only
** Friday & Saturday only
“” Saturday & Sunday only
^ Sunday only (not selected due to suspension)
^^ Friday & Sunday only
