Sitting in the Pavilion at Stormont, looking out at the square, even the puddles of water alongside couldn’t fail to get Callum Atkinson excited about the new season. The new chief executive of the Northern Cricket Union knows he won’t have a Test match this summer to oversee but after the success of  last’s year’s inaugural five-day game in Northern Ireland, he can’t wait for the next one.

“We want as much cricket as possible and if we can host another Test match that would be excellent,” says the Lisburn man who has been given responsibility of taking over the NCU at the age of 32.

Atkinson was appointed interim CEO after the resignation of Paddy Grimes last September and he obviously made a big impression with the interview panel as he saw off the challenge of a ‘worldwide selection’ of other candidates to be given the post on a permanent basis in March.

“That first seven months was a huge help in the learning. Reporting to the board was new for me, I was used to reporting to the different directorates. But speaking to the board of directors I felt fairly comfortable in the interim role and wanted to stabilize the union.

So what will be his challenges moving forward?

“We need to collaborate a bit more, we need to work with sponsors and partners and align our goal with their businesses,” says Atkinson. “We announced Carson McDowell as our pathway sponsor in February. We have other partners such as the MCC and we have an MCC foundation in Belfast. We have just announced a partnership with the Lord’s Taverners, working with special education schools and areas of high social needs.

“A big part of my job is managing the staff, making sure they are delivering their programmes effectively but ultimately our biggest stakeholder is Cricket Ireland, that we deliver their strategic plan within the NCU, so it’s building relations with them and the clubs, which are the lifeblood of the NCU.

“I come from a club background, so hope I understand the challenges that clubs face and have a strong enough relationship with them to continue to support them in their growth. And that is another challenge that we face, but it comes from a positive, the growth of cricket here, certainly with the women’s and girls’ game.

“Ten years ago we had just four teams, this year we have four leagues, approaching 30 different teams, seven in the Premier League, 10 in Section One and now there is also Junior 1A and 1B which is more developmental. CIYMS have started up, Dundrum and Instonians are in the Challenge Cup this year.”

But Atkinson is encouraged the state of the men’s game as well here, albeit with plenty more to do.

“We have two new clubs on board this year, Arches, based in Londonderry Park, Newtownards, and the Northern Ireland Malayali Association - NIMA for short. But we have reached a capacity for teams playing on council pitches so it’s a huge opportunity to grow. Myself and Alan Waite, our Domestic Director, are meeting with all the councils to discuss the way forward and create space, cricket specific space. Larne is a great example, it has now one of the best squares in the NCU so we need more artificial pitches.

“Clubs are at all different levels and we have to support them to the get to the level they want to be. Look at Templepatrick CC. We don’t take any credit for that, it's all down to the work of club members, Andy McCrea especially, and it’s now just over a week for them playing their first Premier League match. It’s incredible, they should be hugely proud of what they done and achieved.

“It’s making life as easy as possible for the clubs. We are going through the new national registration system at the minute and that can be difficult for clubs so we need to be accessible for them, that is key.”

The highest level in the NCU is the Northern Knights and Atkinson is rightly proud that a 17-man squad, exclusively playing in the union, has been named.

“The Knights has been a long journey, only recently have they started doing well. But that’s because Simon Johnston knows everyone involved from Under-9 up, and has good relationships with Ian Butler, our pathway manager and Jonathan Waite our girls pathway manager. “Look what Adam Leckey and James West are doing at Ireland U19 level. We are really proud of them, coming through our pathway from U9 to senior cricket,” he adds.

Atkinson, who led Lisburn to Premier League success the Irish Cup final in 2022, has been on a pathway of his own ever since studying sports development at Northumbria University.

"When I came back from Newcastle, I started working for Belfast Community Development Network, a sister company to Sport NI, then the job came up as a sports development officer for the NCU in 2016. I was their first full-time employee, Simon Johnston and Nigel Jones were working as regional development officers for Cricket Ireland. Uel Graham was Operations Pathway Manager, he retired in 2021 and I took over that and became permanent Operations Manager at the end of the season, until last September when Paddy resigned.

Now in the top position, building from the grassroots up is key for Atkinson, who may still find himself in a playing capacity, even for the 1st XI, on the opening Saturday.

“We want to create an opportunity for anyone who wants to play cricket in the NCU and the Lords Taverners coming on board delivering Cricket Connect programmes are aimed at those people who don’t traditionally play cricket - like special needs schools, or going into areas of high social need who don’t understand what cricket is and then working with the clubs to sustain that participation to get new members. That is really key for me. If we can get a pyramid from a base level up to the Northern Knights that anyone who wants to get involved in cricket that is ultimately the goal for us."

More immediately, with his appointment being announced just before the start of the season, his focus is “to deliver a successful season. I will continue learning and when we get to September we will review and maybe slightly alter a few things.

“The big thing for me is facilities, that is still a barrier to the game. We need to work with Cricket Ireland, councils, clubs to ensure we are opening up more facilities. I would say that we are leading the way, the work that our domestic directorate has done with all of our clubs and NIACUS around the ground reports and presenting those reports to the clubs has encouraged clubs to work closely with the NCU and improve their facilities.”

Time will tell how much and how fast progress can be made but at least Atkinson has time on his side.