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Inter-Provincial Championship

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Inter-Provincial Championship
Countries Ireland
AdministratorCricket Ireland
FormatFirst-class cricket (from 2017 onwards)
First edition2013
Latest edition2019
Tournament formatDouble round-robin
Number of teams3
Current championNorth West Warriors
Most successfulLeinster Lightning (5 titles)
Most runsJohn Anderson (472)
Most wicketsMax Sorensen (32)
Websitehttp://cricketireland.ie
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.

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

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Background

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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

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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

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Points are scored as follows:

  • Win – 16 points
  • Draw – 3 points
  • Tie – 8 points
  • Batting bonus points – 1 point for scoring 150, 200, 250 and 300 runs
  • Bowling bonus points – 1 points for taking 3, 5, 7 and 9 wickets
  • Bonus points only apply for the first 100 overs of each team's first innings
  • Over rate penalties also apply on a match by match basis for teams who fail to bowl their overs at the required rate

Teams

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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]

Team First season Titles First-class titles Most recent
2019
Leinster Lightning 2013 6 2 1st
North West Warriors 2013 1 1 3rd
Northern Knights 2013 0 0 2nd

Competition placings

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2013 to present

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Season Winner Second Third
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
2023 Not held

All-time records

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(All records correct to end of 2018 season)

Team records

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Highest innings totals

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  • First Class cricket only
Score Team Opps Venue Date
509/9d North West Warriors Leinster Lightning Malahide 1 May 2018
460/9 North West Warriors Leinster Lightning Bready CC 20 June 2018
448/7 Leinster Lightning Northern Knights Malahide 4 September 2018
446 North West Warriors Northern Knights Comber Cricket Ground 2 July 2018
440/9d Northern Knights Leinster Lightning Malahide 4 September 2018

Lowest completed innings totals

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Score Team Opps Venue Date
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

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

Individual records – batting

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Most career runs

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  • First Class cricket only
Runs Innings Player Team
674 14 James McCollum Northern Knights
552 11 James Shannon Northern Knights
489 10 Niall O'Brien North West Warriors
452 10 Jack Tector Leinster Lightning
381 7 Ed Joyce Leinster Lightning
358 8 Andrew Balbirnie Leinster Lightning

Highest individual scores

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Score Player For Opps Venue Date
247* Nick Larkin Northern Knights Leinster Lightning Waringstown CC 27–29 August 2013
131 Craig Ervine Northern Knights Leinster Lightning Waringstown CC 12–14 August 2014
113 Andrew Poynter Leinster Lightning Northern Knights Waringstown CC 27–29 August 2013

Most runs scored in a season

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  • First Class cricket only
Runs Innings Player Team Season
458 7 William Porterfield North West Warriors 2018
446 7 James Shannon Northern Knights 2017
442 7 James McCollum Northern Knights 2018

Individual records – bowling

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Most career wickets

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  • First Class cricket only
Wickets Matches Player Team
31 8 David Scanlon North West Warriors
30 7 George Dockrell Leinster Lightning
30 7 Craig Young North West Warriors
24 7 Peter Chase Leinster Lightning

Best bowling in an innings

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Bowling Player Team Opps Venue Date
7/107 James Cameron-Dow Northern Knights North West Warriors Eglinton CC 26–28 August 2014
6/55 Tabish Khan[14] North-West Warriors Northern Knights Stormont 3–5 June 2014
5/37 Craig Young North West Warriors Leinster Lightning Bready CC 20–22 May 2014
5/124 James Cameron-Dow Northern Knights Leinster Lightning Waringstown CC 27–29 August 2013

Most wickets in a season

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  • First Class cricket only
Wickets Average Player Team Season
22 13.09 George Dockrell Leinster Lightning 2017
19 19.68 David Scanlon North West Warriors 2018

Partnership records

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Highest partnerships for each wicket

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Wicket P/Ship Player 1 Player 2 Team Opps Venue Date
1st 169 Chris Dougherty Nick Larkin Northern Knights Leinster Lightning Waringstown CC 27–29 August 2013
2nd 169 Chris Dougherty Craig Ervine Northern Knights North West Warriors Osborne Park 30 July – 1 August 2013
3rd 87* Craig Ervine Andrew White Northern Knights North West Warriors Stormont 3–5 June 2014
4th 192 Craig Ervine Andrew White Northern Knights Leinster Lightning Waringstown CC 12–14 August 2013
5th 100 John Anderson Kevin O'Brien Leinster Lightning Northern Knights College Park 25–27 June 2013
6th 76 Stuart Thompson Andrew McBrine North West Warriors Northern Knights Eglinton CC 26–28 August 2014
7th 62 Andrew McBrine Jonathan Thompson North West Warriors Leinster Lightning Malahide CC 1–3 July 2014
8th 104 Andrew Poynter Tyrone Kane Leinster Lightning Northern Knights Waringstown CC 27–29 August 2013
9th 48* Tyrone Kane Max Sorensen Leinster Lightning Northern Knights Waringstown CC 27–29 August 2013
10th 134 Max Sorensen Albert van der Merwe Leinster Lightning North West Warriors Malahide CC 1–3 July 2014

Seasons

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First Class status granted in 2017

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Ireland domestic competition awarded first-class status". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
  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.
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