Holywood brothers facing off in European T20 Premier League 'really special' moment for family
Ricky Adair says watching his two sons Mark and Ross playing against each other in the inaugural European T20 Premier League (ETPL) on Wednesday was “something really special for me”.
The Adair brothers have long been team-mates at club and international level with both progressing through the ranks at local side Holywood.
They’ve also spent time together at CIYMS where the siblings enjoyed significant silverware success and are now on the books of Lisburn, but this week they temporarily turned from colleagues to rivals.
Mark was chosen by the Belfast Wolves as a pre-draft signing before older brother Ross was picked up in the auction by Edinburgh Castle Rockers.
The Adair brothers come from a sporting family – father Ricky played Irish League football for Glentoran and Ballymena United.
Ross enjoyed a career as a professional rugby player before turning his attention to cricket and Mark has established himself as one of Ireland’s most important players, collecting more than 200 wickets across formats.
It was Mark who enjoyed early success on Wednesday after he dismissed Ross for nine, but his older brother got some revenge in the second innings as he caught Mark off the bowling of Tom Curran.
While father Ricky is used to cheering both sons on, he remained firmly on the fence – and will do so again on September 17 when they clash once again at Malahide.
"As a father of two competitive sons, I’m not picking one!” laughed Ricky on the ETPL’s social media channels. “That’s up to them out there.
"It was great (when they got picked). We’ve known about Mark, he was a pre-signing, but we were waiting for the draft and Ross got picked up.
"We immediately got a text from Mark when the draft concluded to say ‘dad, you’re going to have to pick a side, who’s it going to be?’.
“I refused then and I’m holding onto that. I’ll back them both always.
"It has been super from the start. We watched from home for a couple of days before we travelled out, it has been really good to see it all kick off.”
Ricky told the Belfast Wolves’ social media channels: "They’ve been sporty all their lives, competitive all their lives, but to see them reach this sort of level and play with great cricketers from around the world is just something really special for me.”
He travelled to the Netherlands with wife Joanne, who is also watching her sons play alongside and against some of the world’s best.
Mark is sharing a Wolves changing room with Australian superstar Glenn Maxwell, South Africa’s David Miller and Chris Jordan of England, while Ross’ Edinburgh team is captained by Mitchell Santner and Trent Boult is leading from the front with the ball for the Scottish franchise.
"It’s such an amazing thing for the Cricket Ireland boys generally to have the chance to play with some of the world’s best players.” said Joanne. “It’s amazing for them.
"We’re very grateful and thankful for that.”