CRICKET/Weekly column: Rather like its rugby counterpart in pre-professional days, Irish cricket's interprovincial championship rarely set the sporting scene alight in the past. A certain imposed artificiality didn't help, perhaps (such as teams representing South and North Leinster); now, the Irish Cricket Union hopes, all that will change with the imminent start of the new Inter-Regional Challenge.

Just three teams will compete, drawn from the Northern Cricket Union (NCU), the North West Cricket Union (NWCU) and the South, meaning a Leinster squad which will include some players from Munster Cricket Union (MCU) clubs. Which will hardly go down well with cricket followers in Ireland's Deep South, but it's a situation which is unlikely to change unless and until playing standards improve in Munster.

The Inter-Regional Challenge competition will feature one-day and two-day matches which will add to the appeal and the demands on the players. The co-ordinator is the former Ireland pace bowler and ICU president Roy Torrens, while each region will have its own management team; Brian Buttimer, John Andrews and Matt Dwyer with the South, Ian Johnston, Brian Walsh, Michael Quinn and Garfield Harrison with the NCU and William Wilson, John McMillan and Bobby Rao with the NWCU.

The competition begins on Saturday week, May 11th, when the NCU will take on the South XI at Lurgan. "We are doing our best to build up spectator interest," says John Wright, honorary secretary of the ICU.

"For instance, there will be a man-of-the-match award in all games, there will be a champagne moment in each game to be judged by the media, with a bottle of bubbly going to the winner, another award will be made for the batsman who hits a specially designated sign around the ground and there will also be awards for spectators who hold catches," says Wright.

As yet, there is no over-all commercial sponsor of the competition. And in each case, the host clubs have agreed to underwrite the costs of the minor awards to the players and spectators. "The winning side will get a special trophy with medals for the members of the team. Next season, we are considering introducing coloured clothing for the players, but first time round, for openers, we will not be putting numbers on the players' shirts and the like," says Wright. "With squads of 25, the players will have to fight for their places; no doubt about it, these will be intense and serious matches."

Wright points out that for the first time ever, the regional (formerly interprovincial) players are already in pre-match training. "Already, the new national coach, Adrian Birrell, has been exceptionally busy - he has had sessions in Derry, Cork, Belfast and with numerous primary schools, and last week, he had a session with the national women's squad.

"Last weekend, the ICU had a management meeting in Cork for the first time and subsequently the MCU presented its development plan. Naturally, the question of no Munster team in the new competition was raised, but frankly I think there would have to be a radical change in Munster's playing strength; all the work is left to the dedicated few," says Wright.

"Adrian was with us and he took nets on the Sunday morning at Cork County's Mardyke ground, and also saw the new indoor facility in UCC. It's our intention to get Adrian to make a few visits to Cork in the winter, which will also be a help."

The next national squad session will be in Belfast this coming Sunday. And the team to play Nottinghamshire in the C & G Trophy match at Castle Avenue on May 29th will be selected on Sunday May 18th.

Meanwhile, Castle Avenue will be the venue next Sunday for the gathering of household names from the worlds of sport, broadcasting and the theatre. The occasion is a special celebrity match, between a Sportsmans XI and a Celebrity XI organised by the Clontarf club, to help raise funds for St Francis Hospice in Raheny.

A cricket bat, autographed by all the participants, will be raffled during the action. Admission charges are adults €2, children €1, family €5, and play will begin at 2.30 p.m.

Among the celebrities taking part are Brian Dobson, Philip Greene, Mark Lambert, Garret Keogh, George Hook, Brian O'Driscoll, Fred Cogley, Ollie Campbell, Marty Whelan, Paul Doolin, Fergus Linehan, David Harvey, Eoin Hand, Tom McGurk, Eamonn Morrissey and Jim Dreaper.