The Mardyke in Cork has been chosen by Cricket Ireland as the venue for the first Interprovincial clash of the season, when it will play host to the North v South clash on Sunday June 3rd.
It will be the first high profile clash at the picturesque ground in almost 10 years, since Ireland beat MCC by 5 wickets. The Irish team in that fixture included a youthful Niall O’Brien, who scored his maiden international hundred, and also Andrew White who made 76. It was also to be David Kennedy’s only senior international appearance.
You have to go back even further to find the last inter-pro game in Cork – the 4th of July 1999 to be precise, when Leinster beat Munster by 98 runs in a game reduced to 32 overs.
A 20 year old Ed Joyce top scored with 51 for Leinster, with Paul Mooney (43), Barry Archer (39), Mark Jones (33) and Peter Davy (25) all chipping in to make 212 for 6.
John Davy then took 3 for 14 as Munster were dismissed for 114, with the other wicket takers being Matt Dwyer (2-15), Paul Mooney (2-31), Greg Molins (1-14), and current Leinster Cricket Development Manager Brian O’Rourke (1-10).
The other inter-provincial fixtures scheduled this season see the sides meet in the NCU region on July 22, while Strabane host the teams on Sunday August 12. There will also be a T20 blitz in the LCU region on Sunday August 26.
These games are seen as a pre-runner for the introduction of a first-class cricket structure, a pre-requisite for being accepted as a Test country.
Courtesy of CricketEurope