Inter-Provincial Championship

Last updated

Inter-Provincial Championship
CountriesCricket Ireland flag.svg  Ireland
Administrator Cricket Ireland
Format First-class cricket (from 2017 onwards)
First edition 2013
Latest edition 2019
Tournament format Double round-robin
Number of teams3
Current champion North West Warriors
Most successful Leinster Lightning (5 titles)
Most runs John Anderson (472)
Most wickets Max Sorensen (32)
Website http://cricketireland.ie
Cricket current event.svg 2020 Inter-Provincial Championship

The Inter-Provincial Championship is a three-day cricket tournament in Ireland, played between regional teams drawn from three of Ireland's five provincial unions. It parallels first-class cricket tournaments in other countries such as the County Championship of England and the Sheffield Shield of Australia. The tournament was held for the first time in 2013 across venues in Ireland.

Contents

Up to and including the 2016 tournament, the matches were not given first-class status. However, at an International Cricket Council (ICC) meeting in October 2016, first-class status was awarded to all future matches, starting with the 2017 tournament. [1] [2]

History

Background

The Ireland cricket team have had huge success recently on the international level which has boosted the popularity of the game in the country. They had earned the reputation of a giant killer after upsetting teams like Pakistan and Bangladesh (2007 Cricket World Cup), and England (2011 Cricket World Cup). Their good performances in major international tournaments meant that Cricket Ireland openly started bidding for Test match status to the International Cricket Council. [3] Nevertheless, one of the main stumbling road blocks for Ireland from getting to play the pinnacle of the game was a lack of a first-class cricket infrastructure at home, amongst other things. As early as August 2011, Cricket Ireland announced plans of a domestic first-class tournament. [4] In January 2012, Cricket Ireland announced the ambitious 'Vision 2020' plan which announced the establishment of a first-class structure by 2015 and achievement of Test status by 2020. It also began work on a cricket academy to find talented players across the country and improving grass-roots cricket in the country. For the first time professional contacts, with central, A, B, and C were established. Plans for Test status were established partly to stem the flow of their star cricketers moving away to England in hope of playing Test cricket such as Ed Joyce, Eoin Morgan and Boyd Rankin. [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] According to Richard Holdsworth in an interview with Setanta Sports, CI are pleased with the strategic progress that had been made as of November 2012. [11] In December 2012, Ireland got a $1.5m boost as increased funding from the ICC to establish elite domestic competitions in the country. [12]

Format

The tournament is played in a double round-robin format, with each team playing each other twice, once at home and once away.

Points summary

Points are scored as follows:

Teams

Three of Ireland's five cricket unions take part in the Inter-Provincial Series; Munster Cricket Union and Connacht Cricket Union do not participate.

In the six years of its existence, the competition has been dominated by Leinster Lightning, winning the first five titles, including the 2017 competition, the first one treated as a first-class competition. In 2018, North West Warriors finally broke the Leinster stranglehold, winning their first Championship. In July 2020, Danish cricketer Freddie Klokker suggested that a European XI team could play in the competition, to give more experience to European cricketers playing in the longer format of the game. [13]

TeamFirst seasonTitlesFirst-class titlesMost recent
2019
Leinster Lightning 2013 621st
North West Warriors 2013 113rd
Northern Knights 2013 002nd

Competition placings

2013 to present

SeasonWinnerSecondThird
2013 Leinster Lightning Northern Knights North West Warriors
2014 Leinster Lightning Northern Knights North West Warriors
2015 Leinster Lightning North West Warriors Northern Knights
2016 Leinster Lightning Northern Knights North West Warriors
2017 Leinster Lightning North West Warriors Northern Knights
2018 North West Warriors Leinster Lightning Northern Knights
2019 Leinster Lightning Northern Knights North West Warriors
2020 Not held due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2021
2022
2023Not held

All-time records

(All records correct to end of 2018 season)

Team records

Highest innings totals

  • First Class cricket only
ScoreTeamOppsVenueDate
509/9d North West Warriors Leinster Lightning Malahide 1 May 2018
460/9 North West Warriors Leinster Lightning Bready CC20 June 2018
448/7 Leinster Lightning Northern Knights Malahide 4 September 2018
446 North West Warriors Northern Knights Comber Cricket Ground2 July 2018
440/9d Northern Knights Leinster Lightning Malahide 4 September 2018

Lowest completed innings totals

ScoreTeamOppsVenueDate
105 North West Warriors Leinster Lightning Bready CC 20–22 May 2014
116 North West Warriors Northern Knights Eglinton CC 4–6 June 2013
119 Northern Knights North West Warriors Eglinton CC 26–28 August 2014
123 Northern Knights Leinster Lightning College Park 25–27 June 2013

Highest scores in the fourth innings of the match

ScoreTeamOppsVenueDateResult
227 North West Warriors Leinster Lightning Malahide 1–3 July 2014Lost by 65 runs
224 Northern Knights North West Warriors Eglinton CC 26–28 August 2014Lost by 44 runs
176 Northern Knights Leinster Lightning College Park 17–19 June 2014Lost by 157 runs
160/7 Northern Knights North West Warriors Eglinton CC 4–6 June 2013Won by 3 wickets
157/2 Northern Knights North West Warriors Stormont 3–5 June 2014Won by 8 wickets

Individual records – batting

Most career runs

RunsInningsPlayerTeam
67414 James McCollum Northern Knights
55211 James Shannon Northern Knights
48910 Niall O'Brien North West Warriors
45210 Jack Tector Leinster Lightning
3817 Ed Joyce Leinster Lightning
3588 Andrew Balbirnie Leinster Lightning

Highest individual scores

ScorePlayerForOppsVenueDate
247*Nick LarkinNorthern KnightsLeinster LightningWaringstown CC27–29 August 2013
131 Craig Ervine Northern KnightsLeinster LightningWaringstown CC12–14 August 2014
113 Andrew Poynter Leinster LightningNorthern KnightsWaringstown CC27–29 August 2013

Most runs scored in a season

RunsInningsPlayerTeamSeason
4587 William Porterfield North West Warriors2018
4467 James Shannon Northern Knights2017
4427 James McCollum Northern Knights2018

Individual records – bowling

Most career wickets

WicketsMatchesPlayerTeam
318 David Scanlon North West Warriors
307 George Dockrell Leinster Lightning
307 Craig Young North West Warriors
247 Peter Chase Leinster Lightning

Best bowling in an innings

BowlingPlayerTeamOppsVenueDate
7/107James Cameron-DowNorthern KnightsNorth West WarriorsEglinton CC26–28 August 2014
6/55 Tabish Khan [14] North-West WarriorsNorthern KnightsStormont3–5 June 2014
5/37 Craig Young North West WarriorsLeinster LightningBready CC20–22 May 2014
5/124James Cameron-DowNorthern KnightsLeinster LightningWaringstown CC27–29 August 2013

Most wickets in a season

WicketsAveragePlayerTeamSeason
2213.09 George Dockrell Leinster Lightning2017
1919.68 David Scanlon North West Warriors2018

Partnership records

Highest partnerships for each wicket

WicketP/ShipPlayer 1Player 2TeamOppsVenueDate
1st169Chris DoughertyNick LarkinNorthern KnightsLeinster LightningWaringstown CC27–29 August 2013
2nd169Chris Dougherty Craig Ervine Northern KnightsNorth West WarriorsOsborne Park30 July – 1 August 2013
3rd87* Craig Ervine Andrew White Northern KnightsNorth West WarriorsStormont3–5 June 2014
4th192 Craig Ervine Andrew White Northern KnightsLeinster LightningWaringstown CC12–14 August 2013
5th100 John Anderson Kevin O'Brien Leinster LightningNorthern KnightsCollege Park25–27 June 2013
6th76 Stuart Thompson Andrew McBrine North West WarriorsNorthern KnightsEglinton CC26–28 August 2014
7th62 Andrew McBrine Jonathan ThompsonNorth West WarriorsLeinster LightningMalahide CC1–3 July 2014
8th104 Andrew Poynter Tyrone KaneLeinster LightningNorthern KnightsWaringstown CC27–29 August 2013
9th48*Tyrone Kane Max Sorensen Leinster LightningNorthern KnightsWaringstown CC27–29 August 2013
10th134 Max Sorensen Albert van der Merwe Leinster LightningNorth West WarriorsMalahide CC1–3 July 2014

Seasons

First Class status granted in 2017

See also

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References

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  2. "Ireland's Inter-Provincial Championship awarded first-class status". BBC Sport. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
  3. ICC to consider Ireland's bid for Test status [ permanent dead link ] ESPN.co.uk. Retrieved 9 March 2013
  4. Ireland plan first-class structure ESPNCricinfo. Retrieved 9 March 2013
  5. Ireland unveil Test cricket vision Archived 17 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine CricketEurope4.net. Retrieved 9 March 2013
  6. CI reveals ambitious plans aimed at receiving Test status Sky Sports. Retrieved 9 March 2013
  7. Ireland map out path to Tests ESPNCricinfo. Retrieved 9 March 2013
  8. Ireland's Boyd Rankin retires to play Test cricket for England Archived 10 April 2013 at archive.today Cricket Country. Retrieved 9 March 2013
  9. Ireland calls for Test status to 'halt exodus' ESPNCricinfo. Retrieved 9 March 2013
  10. Rankin retires, Holdsworth calls for Test status Archived 12 April 2013 at archive.today irelandcricketwebbly.com. Retrieved 9 March 2013
  11. Cricket Ireland happy with progress of strategic plan Archived 9 January 2013 at the Wayback Machine Setanta Sports. Retrieved 9 March 2013
  12. Ireland receive $1.5 m boost from ICC ESPNCricinfo. Retrieved 9 March 2013
  13. "Denmark's Klokker calls for greater European opportunities in Irish First-Class cricket". Emerging Cricket. 6 July 2020. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  14. "Tabish Khan". CricX. 14 September 2016. Retrieved 4 May 2017.