Competition structures for Men’s domestic Inter-Provincial Series and Women’s Super Series are set to undergo changes in the 2021 season, as announced by Cricket Ireland. The Cricket Board has done so to improve domestic cricket infrastructure and create improved talent pathway programs towards International cricket representation in the coming future, that includes multiple ICC tournaments (World Cup and T20 World Cup) in 2021, 2022 and 2023.
The Men’s Inter-Provincial Series will see Munster Reds becoming the fourth team in the 50-over Cup competition, following with creation of new performance coaching hubs, a revised squad selection process, and the creation of a new emerging team competition. The Women’s Super Series will see increase in fixtures, the re-introduction of the T20 format, creation of new coaching hubs with increased coaching contact hours and two matches set to be played in Northern Ireland to increase exposure and accessibility of the game to fans and aspiring cricketers around Ireland.
The new structure includes the four teams of North West Warriors, Northern Knights, Leinster Lightning and the Munster Reds in both formats competing in the two white-ball competitions as follows:
Inter-Provincial Cup competition (50-over format): a four-team league comprising a two round-robin series, allowing each team a total of six matches each. The tournament will begin on 01st May 2021 and conclude on 15th June 2021.
Inter-Provincial Trophy competition (T20 format): a four-team league comprising a series of three-day festivals. The tournament will begin on 18th June 2021 and conclude on 19th September 2021.
Cricket Ireland and the Provincial Unions have agreed to create a new tournament that will be played out by all four Provincial Union Emerging teams. The tournament will involve the four province’s emerging teams, and will be managed under the auspices of Cricket Ireland’s National Talent Pathway Manager. The Ireland U19 team, which will take part in the ICC U19 World Cup Europe qualifiers, will participate as the fifth team in the Emerging Inter-Pro series.
The Women’s Super Series in the 50-overs format for 2021 has been announced, with a total of eight matches to be played to prepare the players for the ICC Women’s World Cup qualifiers, to be hosted by Sri Lanka in December 2021.
Men’s Inter-Provincial Series Squads
Leinster Lightning: George Dockrell (Captain), Rory Anders, Andrew Balbirnie, Peter Chase, JJ Garth, Josh Little, Barry McCarthy, Kevin O’Brien, Simi Singh, Jack Tector, Tim Tector and Lorcan Tucker
Munster Reds: Curtis Campher, Aaron Cawley, Murray Commins, Gareth Delany, Greg Ford, Matt Ford, Fionn Hand, Tyrone Kane, Seamus Lynch, Cormac McLoughlin-Gavin, PJ Moor and Amish Sidhu
North West Warriors: Andy McBrine (Captain), Ross Allen, Stephen Doheny, Shane Getkate, Graham Hume, Graham Kennedy, Nathan McGuire, Conor Olphert, William Porterfield, Boyd Rankin, Will Smale and Craig Young
Northern Knights: Harry Tector (capt), Mark Adair, James Cameron-Dow, David Delany, Luke Georgeson, Jeremy Lawlor, Graeme McCarter, James McCollum, Ruhan Pretorius, Neil Rock, Paul Stirling and Ben White
Women’s Super Series Squad and Playing XI
Scorchers Playing XI: Gaby Lewis (Captain), Leah Paul, Cara Murray, Shauna Kavanagh, Alana Dalzell, Sophie MacMahon, Lara Maritz, Jenny Sparrow, Christina Coulter Reilly, Ashlee King and Kate McEvoy. (12th) Caoimhe McCann and (13th) Anna Kerrison
Typhoons Playing XI: Laura Delany (Captain), Amy Hunter, Ava Canning, Celeste Raack, Georgina Dempsey, Jane Maguire, Louise Little, Orla Prendergast, Rachel Delaney, Rebecca Stokell and Zara Craig. (12th) Sarah Forbes
