Paul Stirling returns for North Down in crunch Robinson Services Cup semi-final with Instonians

Stirling, who made two appearances for the Comber club after signing ahead of the 2020 season, has been in England playing for Northants in the Vitality T20 Blast and it was expected he would miss the remainder of the NCU campaign.

He wasn’t present for North Down’s T20 Cup final loss to CIYMS last weekend but with a break in fixtures across the water, the Irish international is back and adds another dimension to a side that will be looking to pick up some silverware on home turf.

While delighted to have him back, captain Alistair Shields says they won’t be relying solely on their star player with others also in great form.

“When we saw the Northants fixtures, we had eyed up that he might be available for this weekend with the way their fixtures fell,” he said. “It’s great to have him back in and hopefully he can get a few runs on Saturday.

“We all know what he is capable of but at the same time, we have a lot of other guys in the squad who have contributed this year and plenty of guys that can step forward.

“If it doesn’t work out and he doesn’t get any and we need to rely on someone else, I think we have enough talent there to win matches.”

They’ll enter as favourites against an Instonians side they have already beaten twice so far this season but given the nature of knockout competition, Shields isn’t taking anything for granted.

“It’s a cup game so that favourites tag doesn’t mean too much,” he added.

“We played them in a cup game last year and they ran through our top order.

“They have plenty of talent in their squad and young guys who on their day can take the game away from you with bat or ball, so we have to be wary.

“What I’ll be saying to my guys is that looking around our changing room we have enough talent to beat anyone on our day, regardless of who is on the other side.

“We will worry about what we can do, how we can impact the game and execute our skills as best as we can.”

Shields will be looking for his men to bounce back from their cup disappointment at the first attempt and to give themselves another chance of winning a competition.

“That’s probably the one blessing we have that we can put it right this weekend and we get an opportunity to bounce right back,” he said. “If we had finished last weekend it would have been a long winter thinking about what we could have done differently.

“It’s a good opportunity to bounce back and finish the season on a high.”

Before that encounter, Waringstown and CIYMS will meet at the same venue (11am) for a chance to qualify for another final.

Both sides are no strangers to the big occasion with their domination of the local cricketing scene in recent years and they are set to meet in the latter stages of a competition for the third time in two seasons after their T20 Cup final and Irish Senior Cup semi-final clashes of 2019.

They shared those one apiece and Waringstown captain Lee Nelson believes his team have more in the tank after finishing fourth in the league phase.

“Hopefully our experience of playing in these games will stand us in good stead,” he said.

“We have done OK this year but we probably haven’t played as well as we could have done.

“We have played to 70-80% of our capabilities if I’m being honest so I’m just hoping the boys will go out and express themselves on Saturday morning and see what we can do.”

This will mark Waringstown’s first game in three weeks after their final two league fixtures were called off, but one man that has been in good form is James McCollum, who scored 79* for the Northern Knights on Tuesday.

The 25-year-old Irish international also looked in good form early against Leinster Lightning in Dublin on Thursday and along with the likes of Greg Thompson will have a huge role to play on the batting front.

McCollum has innovated his game in the shortest format and Nelson is hoping for another big performance from him in club colours.

“He’s a class player,” he added.

“People sometimes think he can’t play in other formats but he has shown at the highest level In this country that he can.

“If we are going to win trophies and you look back at the big games, he has always had a say in them.

“We will be relying on a big performance from him.”

CIYMS could be without bowler Allen Coulter after he pulled up in the latter stages of last weekend’s final and it’ll be a race against time for him to recover from that injury.

The Belmont side have won five of the last six competitions they’ve entered and reached another All-Ireland T20 Finals Day with success on Sunday.

Captain Nigel Jones says that triumph has helped instil even more confidence in his group and they are excited for another big occasion.

“The boys are really looking forward to it,” he said.

“Coming off the final win at the weekend, it was good to get that and we have gained a lot of confidence from that win.

“We can take that forward into this weekend against Waringstown but we know it’ll be a different challenge.”

The two winning sides will return to the same venue tomorrow for the final (2pm) and the right to be crowned Robinson Services Cup champions.

In the Robinson Services Trophy, Derriaghy will be crowned champions if they beat Cliftonville Academy at Shaws Bridge on Saturday.

If they slip up, then the winner of the clash between Muckamore and Cregagh would walk away with the title.