Ireland squad members will miss a day of inter-provincial action after all this summer. The 14 players involved in Sunday’s T20 international against West Indies at Bready will sit out the first day of this week’s T20 festival in Cork.
With the squad only checking out of their hotel on Monday morning, and then facing a five+ hours drive, they have been given the day off on Tuesday but will be back in action on Wednesday and Thursday.
It means some unfamiliar names and debutants for the first round of games, especially for holders Leinster Lightning who must do without captain Lorcan Tucker, Harry Tector, Tim Tector, George Dockrell, Gavin Hoey and Barry McCarthy.
Chris De Freitas will skipper the side against Northern Knights in the second match on Tuesday and he is joined by Balbriggan team-mates Dylan Lues and uncapped Matt and Jordan Hollard. The other players in line for an inter-provincial debut are Pembroke’s Dan Murray and Macdara Cosgrave, Mark Tonge from Leinster and the Afghan duo of Younas Ahmadzai, also of Leinster and Rush’s Abidullah Taniwal.
With Josh Little on the injury list, there are actually just three players who concluded last year’s T20 campaign available for selection.
The Knights will have will have four players absent for the opener with Harry Dyer, Matthew Halliday and Adam Kennedy called in to replace Ross Adair, Matthew Humphreys and Paul Stirling who will all be available for the game against the hosts on Wednesday afternoon.
But missing at least the first three festivals is Mark Adair who left on Monday for California where he has been awarded a contract with Washington Freedom in Major League Cricket which continues until July 6.
As a result, called into the squad for the first time is Civil Service North’s New Zealander professional Sean Davey.
Munster Reds are the other team badly affected by unavailability and injuries. Stephen Doheny, Ben White and Liam McCarthy all made the long trek south on Monday and Gareth Delany and Curtis Campher are injured but last year’s captain PJ Moor is welcomed back from Zimbabwe and available for his first representative action of the summer.
Promoted from the Heat squad as replacements are Matt Brewster, Zubair Hasan Khan, Sunil Gautum and Awais Saghir, along with Cork County’s Bakhtyar Nabi, while Safi Suliman who played all three Cup matches last month is set for his Reds T20 debut.
North West Warriors will be without sidelined Craig Young and Ryan Macbeth who is unavailable for all three days but, apart from Graham Hume on Tuesday, they have a full strength squad and will be hoping to take advantage of the Reds absentees in the opening game. Ballyspallen’s Issac Bird travels as Hume’s cover and gets his first taste of the senior Warriors squad.
Leinster Lightning
Chris De Freitas (capt, Tuesday)
Seamus Lynch
Younas Ahmadzai
Macdara Cosgrave
Dan Murray
Dylan Lues
Matt Hollard
Abidullah Taniwal
Jordan Hollard
Melvin Deveraj
Reuben Wilson
Mark Tonge
Lorcan Tucker (capt, Wednesday, Thursday)
Tim Tector
Harry Tector
George Dockrell
Gavin Hoey
Barry McCarthy
Munster Reds
Philippe Le Roux (capt, Tuesday)
Matthew Brewster
Mike Frost
Sunil Gautam
Zubair Hasan Khan
Kian Hilton
Josh Manley
John McNally
Swapnil Modgill
PJ Moor
Bakhtyar Nabi
Olly Riley
Awais Saghir
Sami Suliman
Stephen Doheny (capt, Wednesday, Thursday)
Liam McCarthy
Ben White
Northern Knights
Neil Rock (capt)
Ben Calitz
Cade Carmichael
Sean Davey
Harry Dyer
Matthew Foster
Matthew Halliday
Adam Kennedy
Tom Mayes
James McCollum
Carson McCullough
Cian Robertson
Morgan Topping
Ross Adair
Matthew Humphreys
Paul Stirling
North West Warriors
Andy McBrine (capt)
Andrew Balbirnie
Issac Bird
Jake Egan
Scott Macbeth
Cameron Melly
Robbie Millar
David O’Sullivan
Gavin Roulston
Sam Topping
Jared Wilson
Josh Wilson
Harry Zimmermann
Graham Hume
