ATLANTIC CHALLENGE SQUADS NAMED 

The first interprovincial match of the season takes place on Thursday at Ardmore with the North West taking on Connacht in the newly formed Atlantic Challenge with Munster the other side in the three-team event.

Donemana have three representatives – Billy Dougherty, Luke Marillier, and Melvin Deveraj. Fox Lodge’s Swarnim Jha and Ali Doherty are also included as well as Strabane’s left-arm spinner Andrew Mullen.

The team is captained by Sam Haslett of Bonds Glen, with Mo Hussain and Gavin Roulston (Brigade), Charlie Gault (Eglinton), Jake Montgomery (Glendermott) and Lewis Campbell (Newbuildings) completing the line-up.

The Connacht squad is dominated by players from National Cup winners Galway, who have five players in the line-up.

There’s a 2007 Ireland World Cup reunion on the cards with Boyd Rankin and Kevin O’Brien coaching the sides, while Ireland's first World Cup centurion Jeremy Bray is at the helm for Munster. 

Hopefully a future World Cup star will emerge from the ranks of the teams.

Action at the Bleachgreen in the 40-overs match gets underway at 11am.

NORTH WEST
Sam Haslett (capt), Billy Dougherty, Luke Marillier, Melvin Deveraj, Ali Doherty, Swarnim Jha, Gavin Roulston, Mo Hussain, Charlie Gault, Jake Montgomery, Lewis Campbell, Andrew Mullan.

CONNACHT
Asad Abbas (WK), Nikhil Bharadwaj, Swaroop Burra, Mohammad Danish, Jayesh Junega, Srajesh Mishra, Shariq Nasim (C), Puskar Saner, Khwaja Murtaza Sidiqi, Mohammad Sufiyan, Iliff Sumit, Sanjeev Kataria.