Leinster Lightning plays host tomorrow to the North-West Warriors in the first Newstalk 106-108 FM Interprovincial One Day Trophy match of the season at The Hills picturesque ground in Skerries.
The Lightning will be seeking to revenge their defeat by the Warriors in the final match of last season in Strabane, which prevented the Leinster men from completing a clean sweep of all three formats of the competition. This season the Inter-pros will have an added dimension across all three versions as it will provide the opportunity for home based players to state their case for inclusion in the Ireland side that in 2015 will herald the most critical year in the history of Irish cricket.
The 50 over World Cup in Australasia starts in February, while the qualifying Tournament for the 2016 World T20 Cup takes place next summer in Ireland and Scotland. Most importantly of all is that the Intercontinental Cup commences in 2015 and holds out the prospect of Ireland getting an opportunity of reaching the Holy Grail of Test cricket. While the core of the Ireland team is based around the coterie of English county players, as many as six players plying their trade at home can force their way into the squad.
The current strength of Irish cricket can be gauged by the fact that there are no less than twelve full internationals in the squads for tomorrow’s game, nine of whom are in the Lightning line-up (it was originally ten but Alex Cusack was withdrawn because of a groin injury to ensure he was fit for the Ireland-Sri Lanka ODI on Tuesday). There are a further seven players in the squads who have represented Ireland at A and/or under-age level. Six players on show tomorrow, Kevin O’Brien, George Dockrell, Andrew Poynter and Max Sorensen for Leinster plus Andy McBrine and Stuart Thompson for the Warriors are in the Ireland squad for those two ODI’s next week.
Leinster Lightning will start as favourites because they have a much more experienced group of players which apart from those named above also include Middlesex batsman Andrew Balbirnie, Eddie Richardson, top run scorer and second best wicket taker in Leinster club cricket last year and their Australian born Irish passport holder Pat Collins who impressed with over 800 runs last season. There is also Vice-captain John Anderson who made over 800 runs at an average of 75 while adding another 268 runs for Ireland in the I Cup including a century. The team is skippered by John Mooney, star of Ireland’s Intercontinental Cup triumph in Dubai last December, who is welcomed back after his stress related illness and will be determined to reclaim his place in the Ireland team once he has some game time under his belt. The North County man has already shown that he has lost none of his prowess when on his season’s competitive debut last weekend made a typically belligerent 86 and also snared two wickets.
The NW Warriors team which beat Leinster Lightning by 71 runs in 2013 ©INPHO/Presseye/Barry Chambers
Tyrone Kane is regarded as one of the hottest prospects on the island and the Merrion all-rounder will be doing his utmost to make the Ireland selectors take notice of his talents. The wicket keeper is Fintan McAllister who in last season’s opener against the Northern Knights came to the wicket with Lightning on 189 for 8 in pursuit of 260 and kept Kevin O’Brien company while the Railway Union man blitzed an unbeaten hundred to see the Leinster men home with an over to spare. Fintan finished the season on a high when his not out 163 ensured that Malahide overcame Derriaghy in the final of the National Cup. Lightning have shown their intent this season by flying in Ireland’s premier spinner George Dockrell from Somerset and while George is unable to force himself into his county side yet this season he will look to ensure that he is still regarded as his country’s number one twirler especially as his main competitor, Andy McBrine, is captaining the Warriors.
Although the Warriors have only three full internationals in their ranks they cannot be underestimated particularly as in that final match last season an inspired all round display by Andrew Riddles saw the North-West men romp home by 71 runs. They have a young squad who will be much the better for last season’s experience and while the twenty year old McBrine is still developing his captaincy skills, his breakthrough into the Ireland team will undoubtedly bring added value to his side. Stuart Thompson convinced the Ireland selectors that he could cut it at the highest level and at times in the West Indies batted as well as anyone, although his pace bowling was underused. Niall McDonnell got 1230 runs for Coleraine last season which included five centuries and will hope that if he can maintain that form he will be pushing for a full cap to go with his ten A team appearances. All of the batsmen passed the 500 run mark last season and they were supplemented by the flamboyant wicket keeper Ricky-Lee Dougherty who also passed the five hundred mark. The combative Johnny Thompson is always worth watching as the all-rounder always gives 100% to add to his undoubted skills with bat and ball as thirty six wickets and 492 runs last season will testify. Johnny still yearns for a full cap and although he is no longer a youngster, having made his A team debut back in 2001 will still believe he has something to offer.
If Andy McBrine needs advice tomorrow he need look no further that the evergreen Iftikhar Hussain who captained the team last year. The vastly experienced Pakistani has contributed much to North-West cricket over many years and his canny bowling and his ability to still eke out runs warrants his place in the team.
Given Ireland’s struggles to adequately replace new ball bowlers Trent Johnston and Boyd Rankin there will be a lot of attention on Craig Young tomorrow. The big Bready man looked like a real prospect in his teens and he got a contract with the Sussex academy but his time there was severely hampered by a series of back injuries which prevented him from fulfilling his potential. He is back playing for his home club again and also won his first full cap last year in the I Cup match against Scotland. He took six wickets in that game and at times he was very sharp and also produced late swing which included one of the balls of the season which ripped out Richie Berrington’s off stump as he played down the line of leg. Craig spent part of the winter in Australia, alongside Graeme McCarter and Peter Chase, playing Grade cricket and getting coaching from Craig McDermott which he acknowledges as the highlight of his career to date. He made the squad for West Indies and Bangladesh and although he got little game time he is all the better for the experience. Having just turned twenty four he has a lot of cricket left in him and if he can stay fit he could play a pivotal role in the Ireland pace attack in the not too distant future. Although he didn’t make the final squad for next week’s ODI’s, tomorrow he will be anxious to show that he is every bit as competitive as his opposite number Max Sorensen who did make the squad.
The Milverton wicket is usually full of runs, but the early season conditions may well benefit the side bowling first. Leinster to win but it will not be plain sailing. The match gets underway at 10.45.
