Changes afoot for Interprovincial cricket

Last year’s elite cricket programme was, like all other sports, hit hard by the global pandemic. There was no 3-day (red ball) cricket played at all and CI have already taken the decision that it will be the same again in 2021.

Once again it will be a diet of one-day (white ball) matches with the 50-over cup competition played on a round robin basis, home and away, and featuring the Munster Reds for the first time.

That will mean an extra couple of one day matches for everyone which while not fully compensating for the loss of the longer format, is at least progress of sorts from last summer.

The T20 Trophy will be contested over a series of 3-day festivals - dates for which are still to be finalised.

The governing body has pointed in their statement to the fact that there are three ‘white ball’ World Cups over the next three years and preparations should be gearing towards that even without the current difficulty of staging multi-day cricket.

The announcement of a High Performance Coaching Hub at Bready will also be warmly welcomed in the local Union.

Up until recently, players selected for various Irish representative sides had to travel to Dublin for elite coaching sessions. Now however, international players as well as those on representative and interprovincial squads will have the opportunity to train closer to home.

The other main talking point will be the proposed selection policy for the various Interprovincial squads. Under a new selection process the Chair of National Men’s Selectors (Andrew White) and National Head Coach (Graham Ford) will work closely with the Provincial Head Coaches to select a core squad of 12 players for each Union.

Local selectors will then add four additional players of their choosing to form an initial squad of 16 with flexibility to add in others where necessary. Match day squads will continue to be selected by Union selectors.

It is here however that the North West is likely to notice the biggest change. Throughout their statement this week, CI have repeatedly referred to making the Interprovincial competitions ‘best v best’.

Since the start of the Interpros in 2013, the North West has opted for a policy of only choosing players who played their domestic cricket here in the region. It is a practice that through the years has meant losing out on players who subsequently moved to play club cricket in Belfast.

That meant losing out on the likes of Chris Dougherty, Phil Eaglestone, Trevor Britton, Graeme McCarter and Johnny Thompson. Not only did it mean the Warriors losing those individuals but the double-whammy was that in almost all cases, the NCU Knights then picked them up to play for them.

Of late, the number of players making that transition has steadily increased. In 2021, players such as Graham Hume, Boyd Rankin, Craig Young and Graham Kennedy will be playing their club cricket outside of the North West and it would be no surprise if that number rises again before April.

It’s a catch-22 for the Warriors - how can they align with CI’s ‘best v best’ without losing their identity?

The answer is simple really - the policy has to change to allow those players to play club cricket wherever they want and still qualify for the Warriors.

Even aside of that it is likely that messrs Ford and White will look to strengthen the North West squad. The Warriors already have both Will Smale and Nathan McGuire in their squad and the likelihood is they will get possibly two more this season.

That would mean a total of 4 non-North West men in the 16 and as stated earlier, it is unlikely they could name 12 more that doesn’t include Hume, Young et al, that would still constitute ‘best v best’.

Specialist positions will also come into consideration in all of this and that will influence CI’s thinking as well.

In 2018 the Warriors weren’t just competitive in the Interprovincial Championship but actually went on to win it - breaking Leinster’s almost total dominance in the competition.

A huge factor in that success was the scoring prowess of William Porterfield and Niall O’Brien - the latter the epitome of a genuine wicket-keeper batsman. Since the Dubliner’s successful transition from behind the stumps to international commentator, it has been a huge void for the North West.

It’s fair to expect that Ford will see that as a priority for the Warriors ahead of the new-look series.

Pound for pound this week’s announcement makes very positive reading for North West cricket. A new ‘emerging’ Interprovincial competition is also to be warmly welcomed as it creates a pathway for younger players to break into the senior side

Given that Bready is to become a Coaching Hub it will mean more regular visits from national coaches - not something the North West has enjoyed much of in the past. It will be a chance for local lads to show what they can do.

The final piece of the jigsaw at this point is whether or not the North West will be extending their current Head Coach role to include responsibility for player decelopment below senior level.

It seems the logical move and is thought to be high on their agenda, but the Union are refusing to comment for now.