THE Senior Interprovincial Championship gets under way this weekend looking a little like Hamlet without the Prince of Denmark. Which is to say that the reigning champions, the Ireland Development XI, are not involved and will not make an appearance in the competition until July 13th.
The reason for the delayed debut, which was also the case last year, is that the majority of the Development side are young and are taken up with examinations and similar youthful pursuits. Their form will be watched with interest, for last summer, in their introductory season, they swept all before them for four successive outright victories.
To complete the picture of excellence, the young developers headed both the batting and bowling averages, courtesy of Declan Moore and Kyle McCallan, respectively. Moore had an average of 40.00, just ahead of Alan Lewis, while McCallan's nine wickets each cost 6.22.
This time around, McCallan has been named in the Northern Cricket Union panel for today's match against Munster at Castle Avenue and tomorrow's engagement with Leinster at Malahide. The team is a strong one, captained by Neil Doak and including other international players in Derek Heasley, Paul McCrum, Andrew Patterson and wicket-keeper Alan Rutherford.
Anthony Hartigan, a promising youngster from the Limerick club, has been named in the Munster panel. Munster fared not well ink this competition last season, though Ted Williamson, Jerry Bramble and Peter Coleman featured in the top batting, bowling and wicket-keeping averages, respectively.
The North West panel includes Charlie McCrum, formerly of North Down but now with Strabane, a selection likely to be observed with some interest by the eagle-eyed men of the Northern Cricket Union, with whom the one-time Ireland player had a disagreement last year. All-rounder McCrum and the NCU men did not see eye-to-eye regarding his batting order in an Interprovincial Championship match, and the player distanced himself from the team. Literally.
So his selection for the North West may be regarded as the first step back on the representative road.
Matt Dwyer will captain Leinster, against North West at Rathmines today and against the NCU at Castle Avenue tomorrow. For tomorrow's game, Michael Donnelly of Rush will take over from Alan Lewis.
The Lewis Traub League is somewhat curtailed this weekend, with only two matches today and one tomorrow. Railway Union will be hoping to improve their bottom-of-the-table Section A rating in their home game against Phoenix this afternoon.
In today's other Senior League match, North County take on Malahide at The Nevitt.
