Turn to face the strange

Dave Sihra (Substack - Dave Meets Ball)

The 2026 season sees changes to the Inter-Provincial and Super Series competitions among others, but how do all these amendments look when viewed together and are there reasons to be hopeful despite reduced games.

More red ball cricket? Well kind of.

With test cricket back in town, there is of course the customary Emerald Challenge (best vs best) four-day fixture to prepare for the upcoming Stormont test match against New Zealand. The Emerald Challenge was launched in 2024 to prepare for the Zimbabwe test, however no home test in 2025 meant the red ball fixture was skipped in favour of three List A games.

There hasn’t been Inter-Provincial first-class cricket on the island since 2019 when Leinster Lightning won a three-team IP Championship. The competition which originally launched in 2013 was then pulled during Covid and hasn’t been brought back since due to cost. Voices in the Irish cricket community have called for its return, but is that drive for an IP Championship comeback slowly ebbing away?

2024’s Emerald Challenge match in unfortunately only saw two of the four days played due to rain in Malahide but the view from the players was that a best-v-best format generated a higher standard than what was there at the time across Inter-Pro cricket.

Now with the elimination of Munster Reds from IP competition, Cricket Ireland’s High Performance department again looks to be attempting to raise those standards. The merits of this move can be argued and whether there’s even a realistic path for a Reds return, however does this move now also spell the end of an IP Championship revival?

It does feel like Graeme West is now more likely to increase Emerald Challenge fixtures than add red ball fixtures to the IP calendar. Maybe there’s a future where the Strikers and the Raiders end up playing a three or five-match first-class series. Fingers crossed. But as a test-playing full member nation with a World Test Championship spot possibly on the horizon, first-class cricket will certainly have to feature more prominently.

This year we also have the second season of red-ball cricket in the Men’s future series. More of that later in the article.

Then there were three

Well that’s the case with the elimination of Munster Reds from Inter-Pro cricket. Last year it was felt the side weren’t competitive enough without players brought in from Leinster. Now there’s a couple of parts worth considering regarding that, but was it the right time to pull the team which won the 2022 Inter-Pro Cup?

The argument has been made that the region didn’t buy into a side that didn’t feature enough homegrown talent. But by eliminating the Reds out completely are you also cutting out one of the biggest cities on the island and the potential media coverage that could be gained? There always has to be a certain element of build it and they will come for an emerging market.

But who knows, the Reds may have ended up putting in an unacceptable performance in the 2026 IP season. However it’s also important to remember that Munster were still challenging the Leinster for the IP50 Cup right up until the final day of the 2025 comp.

Cork County even seriously pushed Instonians in the All-Ireland T20 Cup final with Cade Carmichael having to take an incredible catch to remove a very dangerous looking Zubair Khan (a former Munster Red) at a crucial point in the final.

There’s also now the challenge of distribution. Where do the Leinster-based players from Munster now go? Some have gone back to Leinster, some to the Northern Knights, some the North West Warriors, while others will miss out.

The Warriors have always featured some non local players. However a team with talent mostly from the region is definitely preferable for North West cricket fans. You can’t imagine the Warriors eventually being forced to take a very large quantity of Leinster players. Head coach Boyd Rankin will be happy to have Liam and Gareth along with Andy Balbirnie at the top of the order but there will be limits.

Now consider John McNally (21) and Philippe Le Roux (21). They didn’t make the squads. Where do they fit? Both played in the 2024 Under-19s World Cup. McNally was the 2024/5 recipient of the Cricket Ireland Randwick Petersham Overseas Scholarship so played with the Sydney club throughout that winter. During a short window in late 2024, Le Roux trained at the SuperSport Park International Cricket Academy (SPICA) with AB de Villiers.

Both then enjoyed decent Inter-Provincial seasons. Le Roux scored 195 runs from four innings with a top score of 87* against the Lightning on the opening day of the IP50 Cup. That day the Railway Union batter even nonchalantly reverse flicked David Delany, and perhaps most remarkably it was only for a single to the sweeper.

McNally’s stats were maybe less impressive at the end of the season, but for those at the grounds, his performances were certainly eye-catching for his age in a Munster team that wasn’t always very consistent. The Clontarf allrounder also featured in 2025’s List A Emerald Challenge matches, so perhaps Heinrich Malan has him in mind.

Last month, Le Roux scored a very impressive 209 for Loughborough University against the University of Leeds. The Railway Union man will captain his club and should feature in the Future Series.

Le Roux’s academy experience in South Africa was something he sought out himself, and that clearly has helped to progress his game. Hopefully Le Roux and similar players are given the best opportunity to expand and develop their games this summer at home during a crucial period in their development.

Scorched

The same trick of looking to increase standards by reducing teams has been attempted with the Evoke Super Series. But is it again the correct answer for that particular situation?

The Typhoons struggled to be competitive last season, winning just two games from 12 across the Super 50 Cup and the Super 20 Trophy. Why exactly was this the case? It’s hard to say. Jane Maguire captained, then you had Laura Delany, Leah Paul and Rebecca Stokell as the main batters. Leah also found some crucial form with her left arm spin which eventually saw her provide an extra spin option for Ireland in the home internationals that year.

Freya Sargent was part of that Typhoons squad but missed quite a bit of that Super Series season due to a shoulder injury she picked up during the Under-19s World Cup in Malaysia. When Freya did feature for the Typhoons in their last Super 50 game, she removed Gaby Lewis early with an excellent caught and bowled from a brilliant dipping off break.

What became especially apparent though was how dominant the Dragons were throughout last season. Firstly they had two of the big three: Amy Hunter and Orla Prendergast. Then throw in Arlene Kelly, Alana Dalzell, Cara Murray and of course Bella Armstrong the explosive opening batter from New Zealand. Youngsters Jenni Jackson, Abbi Harrison and Rebecca Lowe all had good seasons and then you’ve a very strong team.

Looking at those names together, were the Dragons given too much star power last season? Both Delany and Stokell didn’t exactly have their best seasons for the Typhoons. The absence of Sargent certainly made them weaker in the spin department but Phoenix leg-spinner Arisha Foysal stepped up admirably in her debut Super Series season.

A Scorchers side featuring Gaby Lewis, Louise Little, Ava Canning, Eimear Richardson, the now-retired Sophie McMahon, Lara McBride, Ava Canning, and Christina Coulter Reilly as captain did fine but were never going to seriously challenge the Dragons. Now we have the curious case where the Scorchers have been culled and the Typhoons retained.

With one team so dominant and one team so weak, it’s certainly not a good look for your main women’s competition as a product. Did something need to change? Possibly. Unless you end up getting rid of a team because one of the others were given too much strength in their squad.

The lack of a third team will mean someone is pushed out. However it’s also exciting to note that a spot was found for young leg-spinner Aisling Lawlor of Merrion who’s already highly rated. Super Series standards will certainly rise with just two teams, but hopefully there’s enough space in the revamped system for promising players just outside those squads.

Future Series hope?

One of the more interesting developments last year was the shiny, new two-day competition brought in for the Men’s Future series. It threw up interesting scenarios like off-spinner Febin Manoj bowling the final over of a day at Oak Hill with fielders close in and batters fighting to get through the dying embers of an evening session.

The two-day comp though came at the expense of white ball games which is not what you’d expect given the lack of provincial red ball cricket since 2019. This year however white ball matches have been added along with the two-day competition.

In total last year there were six matches in the Men’s Future Series competition, so 12 days of cricket give or take with rain interruptions. This year they now have 12 two-day games, and 12 fifty-over games.

In the 2025 Women’s Future Series they played six 50 overs games and three T20s. The competition has now been increased to 12 games (six 50 over, six T20s). Given the lack of 50-over matches in Irish Women’s club cricket perhaps a six/six split isn’t ideal and more weight could have been given to the longer format.
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The reduction of Inter-Pro and Super Series teams has the additional effect of less games which never looks good. Cuts have also been implemented across several different areas of Cricket Ireland operations reflecting finances in the organisation.

Cutbacks in Irish cricket is not necessarily something we haven’t seen before. However during these cuts it’s good to see the Future Series competitions expanded and seen now as an operations priority. Hopefully that redistribution isn’t a one-off either.

Even with the developments for this coming season, some things though are unlikely to change. Leinster Lightning will dominate again in this year’s Inter-Pro competitions. Matches will of course be rained off in Bready, and discussion will inevitably follow whether they should host anything next season. The rest perhaps still could be unwritten.

This article was originally published on the Substack: Dave Meets Ball