Greg Thompson believes Waringstown will be the team to beat this season when they start their defence of the NCU Premier League title on Saturday.

The Villagers skipper hopes “to be at the sharp end of most competitions” with the only worry, the unavailability of some of his squad due to international commitments.

They will be without former captain Lee Nelson, who has announced his retirement at the age of 34 but Ross Allen returns from England and they have a new overseas player in Daniel van der Merwe, one of four South African professionals in the NCU’s top flight this season.

Waringstown are instantly involved in the match of the day because their opening game is away to last year’s runners-up, Woodvale, undoubtedly the surprise package of 2024.

A big part of their success was down to having the player of the season and whether Ruhan Pretorius can repeat his heroics – he averaged 69 with the bat and took 35 wickets at an economy rate of less than four - is likely to go a long way to determining the north Belfast side’s fate.

A big blow is the loss of Aditya Adey, last year’s leading wicket-taker, who was set to return to North Down but has ended up extending his winter stay in Australia. Ronan Restieaux, meanwhile, is also staying in New Zealand but has been replaced by his older brother Finn, while Ashwin Shetty, from Carrickfergus, is the other new face at Ballygomartin Road.

Lisburn had to be content with a third place finish but were the cup team of the year, winning the All-Ireland T20 final, on the back of their NCU success and reaching the final of the Challenge Cup.

With Ross Adair joining his brother Mark in the team, they will be tough to be beat when both are available and Lisburn’s first match is not only against their former team, CIYMS, but also a dress rehearsal for the second round of the Challenge Cup in five weeks’ time.

CI have the biggest turnover in players after their disappointing ninth place finish last term. Following Adair out of Belmont were the experienced Allen Coulter and Tyron Koen, with Jack Egan and Alex Armstrong joining from Carrickfergus and Ben Snell from Waringstown. Their new professional, South African Hermann Rolfes, only made his List A debut this year but has a top score of 164 in the first class game.

Captain John Matchett has the support this year of coach Bret Mulder and insists that “on our day we will be able to beat anyone, so we are confident that we will compete on all fronts”.

The other preview of a Challenge Cup tie takes place at Shaw’s Bridge where Instonians face Civil Service North – although the cup game will be at Stormont.

Both teams found themselves in the bottom four last year after the split and apart from new professionals, they will rely on the same squad to make sure they have only five games in the second half of the season instead of six.

For Instonians, a seventh place finish was particularly disappointing – and surprising – after their title success in 2023 but they are boosted this year by the return of South African Shane Dadswell, who led the charge to the title, averaging 45 with the bat and taking 35 wickets at 16. He seems sure to make a big difference again this season and arrives on the back of 168 runs (93 and 75) in his most recent first-class game in March.

CSN were also hoping for the return of a favourite professional but although Luke Georgeson’s signing fell through, they welcome another New Zealander in Sean Davey who has taken 23 List A wickets in just 15 matches at an average of 19. They also had the youngest side in the league last year and not only are they are all a year older but James West, Adam Leckey and Seb Yeates have the experience of an Ireland Under 19 tour to Zimbabwe only this month, while Jordan Neill was with Ireland Wolves.

North Down failed to win a match after the split last year – they won only their first in 2023 – and they have much to prove to their loyal supporters.

Ani Chore is sure to be a big miss at the top of the order, and they have also missed out, at least for the time being, in having the services of Adey, but they have snapped up Koen from CIYMS and also appointed him captain. He is joined by fellow South African Michael Copeland as overseas professional. Although still only 23, Copeland is described by his agent as an “outstanding young all-round talent”. That sometime fickle North Down support will be hoping he lives up to expectations.

The Comber side start at home to Cliftonville Academy who since promotion to the Premier League in 2022 have finished ninth, seventh and, last year, fourth and it will be fascinating to see if they can continue their impressive upward trend. It will certainly not be for want of trying with the signatures of John Glass and Hayden Melly while big things are expected from Dawood Khan, a left handed opening batsman, a student at Ulster University. Significantly, they also have retained Abhishek Raut as their professional for a third successive year.

The new boys, and looking forward to the first ever season in the top flight, are Templepatrick and although they have added only professional Sandun Weerakkody and Charles Swart, an Irish passport holder who played for Carrick 2nd XI last season, to the squad that won the Section One title, they are ready ‘to give it a go’. In Weerakkody, a 31-year-old Sri Lankan, they will have the most experienced professional in the League, having played 96 first class matches and 132 List A games, while in 53 T20s he has a strike rate of 126 and an economy rate of less than seven.

They must wait for the first home match because they are away to Muckamore on opening day. The highlight of last season for the Moylena club was, of course, the Challenge Cup final success, but a top five finish on their return to the Premier League was not to be sniffed at. And they will believe they can improve on that with the signing of the experienced Allen Coulter and the return of Sam Gordon and will hope to have better luck with their overseas professional this year, Randeera Ranasinghe, a 26 year-old Sri Lankan.

Sathish Suresh takes over as captain – although Neil Gill is still in the ranks – and insists “the depth we have in both batting and bowling is unmatched and we are ready to compete at the highest level”.

It is all set up to be one of the competitive seasons in the NCU for many a year. Enjoy.