Irish news from the Natwest trophy and domestic leagues
Gerry Byrne - 21 May 1999

Ireland started off well with a win in their first round NatWest game against Northumberland, though not without some scary moments.

Ireland put Northumberland in and they scored 253 for 8 in their 50 overs. This was more than Ireland would have hoped for, and it would probably have been even worse but for a fine performance by debutante Dwayne McGerrigle who took 5-66 in his 10 Overs. This included three wickets in his last over just when it looked as it Ireland could be facing an extremely high total. Dwayne was the first Irish bowler to take 5 wickets on debut since the early 60's.

The Irish openers, Kyle McCallan and Neil Carson got the reply off to a very good start with a partnership of 103. Support came down the line, and the match was finished off to Ireland's satisfaction with an sixth wicket unbroken partnership of 57, primarily due to Ed Joyce with 37*. The Man of the Match award went to McGerrigle.

Ireland then moved on to play Essex County Board XI (not the Essex County team) on Wednesday in Comber. Having now won that, they now have a home fixture against Leicestershire in the third round when the First Class Counties join in. Here is hoping for the best. A first for Ireland here is that a home based umpire, Paddy O'Hara, has been selected to officiate in this match, a highly deserved honour for an excellent umpire. He umpired both the third and fourth placed match and the final in the second last ICC Trophy in Kenya.

The Royal Liver Insurance Irish Senior Cup kicked off on Saturday last with 16 ties. As usual there were wins for some of the fancied teams but also some unexpected defeats. Holders Strabane, and many people's favourites Limavady got through relatively comfortably, but there were perhaps surprise defeats for Clontarf and Leinster, early leaders in Leinster Cricket, and last years Northern Union champions Ballymena.

The draw for the third round has been unusually kind to clubs from the Leinster area with four of their five survivors at home and the fifth traveling across the city to play another Leinster Club. The full draw is (with my forecast in capitals - will I never learn):

Fox Lodge v INSTONIANS
BRIGADE v Downpatrick
Bready v LIMAVADY
PEMBROKE v Glendermott
Old Belvedere v CLIFTONVILLE
The Hills v DONEMANA
Lurgan v STRABANE
MERRION v North County

I will probably have put the kiss of death on my choices but we can but see. Obviously rain could upset everything if the matches have to be played at reverse venues because of rain, and perhaps even decided on the dreaded bowl out. The pick of the matches are probably those between Brigade and Downpatrick and The Hills v Donemana.

None of the provincial leagues have got very far to date but the position in each of them is as follows:

Leinster Cricket Union:
At this stage of the season the shorter of the two Leagues, the Lewis Traub League gets the season off to a start. This is divided into two sections, with the top two in each going on the contest the semi finals. At the moment in Section A Merrion (with four wins out of four) and Clontarf (with three wins out of three) are looking the most likely to reach the semi finals. However, if either slip up Malahide, last year's winners, are lurking in the undergrowth.

In Section B, Leinster, last year's winners of the Main League and the Cup, are leading with three wins out of three. It is fairly congested behind them with a number of sides who have lost one match only. Two of these are Pembroke and YMCA and I fancy the other qualifier is likely to be one of those.

Northern Cricket Union:
Here the perhaps somewhat surprising joint leaders are Instonians and newly promoted North Down, both with three wins out of three. Last year's champion, Ballymena, has only registered one win out of three to date. The first round of the cup went largely accordingly to form though perhaps Waringstown's win over Downpatrick many would see as a surprise. Given the manner in which Waringstown have dominated NCU cricket for many years many will be surprised that such a result would be seen as an upset. However, Waringstown were demoted to Division Two last year, but the odds are short against them returning at first ask.

North West Cricket Union:
Less to report here in that the league in the North West started a week after the others, so there have been only two rounds of matches to date. Also, I misled you somewhat last time when I said there were 10 teams in Division 1. That had been the position but in fact this year they decided to try and improve standards to reduce the number of competing teams to eight. The joint leaders with two out of two are Limavady and Donemana - no surprise to anyone.

We are all looking forward to next Friday and the World Cup match. I know that the Clontarf club have done everything possible to make the occasion a success so all we can hope for now is glorious weather on the day.