Sport

Regional challenge series takes pride of place

CRICKET: With the two-day match between the North West Cricket Union (NWCU) XI and the Southern XI in the Inter-regional Challenge…

By Karl Johnston
Sat Jun 29 2002 - 01:00

CRICKET: With the two-day match between the North West Cricket Union (NWCU) XI and the Southern XI in the Inter-regional Challenge series at Eglinton taking pride of place at Eglinton today and tomorrow, the local club cricket programme will be fairly modest over the weekend.

The Eglinton match depends on the weather, of course, which so far has badly disrupted the new challenge campaign. But assuming the game goes ahead, the NWCU is sure to miss the skills of skipper Peter Gillespie of Strabane, who is ruled out with hamstring trouble, while Boyd Rankin (Bready) has dropped out of the squad for personal reasons.

In the enforced absence of his brother, Mark Gillespie (Ardmore) has taken over the captaincy.

The Southern XI shows one change compared to the side which beat the NCU XI last month as Niall O'Brien comes in for his unavailable Railway Union clubmate Jason Molins. Despite young O'Brien's call-up, North County's vastly experienced Dara Armstrong will continue as wicket-keeper, while Peter Davy takes over the captaincy from Molins.

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With the European Championship - in which Ireland will play England, Scotland, Holland, Denmark and Italy - looming large from July 15th to 25th next, this is a crucial match for national coach Adi Birrell and his co-selectors.

While Birrell is not likely to make major changes from the Ireland teams which played Nottinghamshire and West Indies A recently, there are a few younger players knocking at the senior international door, among them William Porterfield (recently appointed captain of the Ireland Under-18 side for the coming ECC tournament), Andrew Riddles, Niall O'Brien, John Mooney and Emmett Whaley.

Meanwhile, three uncapped players - Tracy Fleming (The Hills), Marianne Herbert and Laura Morgan (both Malahide) - have been named in the Ireland Women's squad for next week's three one-day internationals against world champions New Zealand. Anne Linehan takes over the captaincy from Nikki Squire who has retired from international cricket.

Next week's one-day internationals will be played at Castle Avenue on Monday, Malahide on Wednesday and College Park tomorrow week, July 6th. Play begins at 11.0 a.m. each day.

The Leinster 55 Overs League continues over the weekend, with four matches on offer tomorrow and two more on Monday. It's early days yet, of course, but arguably the most attractive fixture could well be tomorrow's Section A game between Clontarf and Phoenix at Castle Avenue.

SOUTHERN XI: P Davy (Pembroke, capt), B Archer (The Hills), C Armstrong (North County), D Armstrong (North County), R Hastie (Pembroke), Dom Joyce (Merrion), G Molins (Clontarf), J Mooney (North County), P Mooney (North County), N O'Brien (Railway Union), E Whaley (Pembroke).

NWCU (squad): M Gillespie (Ardmore, capt), W Porterfield, A Riddles, J McGonagle (all Donemana), K O'Doherty, R Wylie (both Eglinton), D Heasley, G Neely (both Glendermott), R McDaid (Limavady), B Allen (Fox Lodge), A N Other.

IRELAND WOMEN'S SQUAD (v New Zealand): A Linehan (Downpatrick, capt.), C O'Neill (Rush), T Fleming (The Hills), M Grealey, K Young, C O'Leary (all YMCA), M Herbert, B McDonald, C Metcalfe, L Morgan, D Pratt, C Shillington, C Beggs (all Malahide), I Joyce (Merrion). Coach: Chris Torrisi, Manager: Evelyn Harmon.