Mark Adair believes representing Belfast Wolves in the inaugural European T20 Premier League carries an extra significance for him as one of the franchise’s home-grown marquee players.

The Ireland international will be among the leading figures in a star-studded Wolves squad as the new competition gets under way, and for the Belfast man there is obvious pride in wearing the name of his home city on his shirt.

“I’m delighted,” said Adair. “It would have been nice to have Ross in here too and make it a real family affair, but he’s been picked up by Edinburgh.

“I’m happy with the squad we have and delighted with the group of lads who are involved. Being a Belfast boy playing for the Belfast franchise is certainly special.”

Adair has plenty of experience of the global franchise circuit and will renew acquaintances with England international Chris Jordan, another of the Wolves’ high-profile recruits. The pair previously played together in the ILT20 and Adair believes Jordan’s early engagement with the Belfast project demonstrates that the overseas stars see this as much more than simply another short-term assignment.

“I had the pleasure of playing with CJ in the ILT20 a few years ago and he’s the model professional,” said Adair. “He’s one of the most organised and diligent players I know. To have him here and engaging with all the kids shows that he has really bought into the franchise. I think the franchise will look after us if we do our part and give everything we can. They definitely have an interest in growing cricket within the NCU and growing Irish cricket, which couldn’t be better.”

Adair is adamant there will be a competitive edge once the tournament begins.

“This is the sort of thing that hopefully hangs around for a long time,” he said. “You want to perform well enough that the franchise wants you back year after year. There’s a real opportunity for someone like Matthew Humphreys as well to kick on and make this his home. We’ll see where it goes, but there’s definitely something exciting being built.”

One ambition for the Wolves and their NCU partners is eventually to bring ETPL cricket to Belfast, with Stormont the obvious venue. For Adair, who grew up watching and playing cricket near there, that would add another dimension.

“It would be unbelievable,” he said. “I’d probably be under a serious amount of pressure organising things for all the overseas lads! But it would be really exciting for the NCU. If the opportunity within the league is there, I think the NCU are in a great place to deliver it.

“We’ve shown with the international games at Stormont this year what can be done. It’s always a great place to play cricket. I love playing there and I loved going there to watch cricket when I was younger, so bringing franchise cricket there would be really exciting.”

There will also be a little dressing-room work required to turn Dubliners such as Tim Tector and Lorcan Tucker into honorary Belfast men. Adair is already embracing the challenge.

“There might be a bit of a culture difference,” he laughed. “They’re only two hours down the road, so we’ll get them used to the Belfast way of doing things. That’ll be the first step anyway.”

The jokes will stop once the cricket begins. For Adair, the Wolves are representing his city, and he intends to make sure the inaugural campaign is treated accordingly.

Their first challenge is beating the Dublin Guardians on Thursday.

Mark Adair was talking to Ally McCalmont of the Irish Cricket Podcast.