KNCB Dutch Lions World Cup qualifying plans took further shape  with the confirmation of their squad, who will start their preparation at the ‘North East Cricket Series’ later this month. 

LEINSTER Lightning made it seven bonus point wins on the bounce as they brushed aside the North West Warriors with a 79-run victory on the second day of the T20 Interprovincial series at Bready.

Three of the home team’s current international players, Orla Prendergast , Sarah Forbes and Louise Little ran a fundraiser on behalf of the Irish Heart Foundation.  Following the recent passing of her father, The Irish Heart Foundation carries additional poignancy for Orla.

It appears that Cricket Ireland have thrown Ballyspallen out of the National Cup and they won't be in the draw for the semi-finals.

Leinster Lightning moved a step closer to wrapping up the T20 Trophy title a week early after they trounced an out of sorts Knights.

LEINSTER’S relentless march towards another T20 Interprovincial Trophy continued with a nine-wicket demolition of the Northern Knights at Bready.

Falkland’s long wait for an Eastern Premier win came to an end on Saturday when they overcame a dogged Edinburgh South team at Scroggie Park.

Step by step, Kampong Utrecht are moving towards the club’s first national championship since 1992, recording a nine-wicket victory over Hermes-DVS on Saturday and opening up a five-point gap between the leaders and their nearest challengers.

Almost four months after they were given, Cricket Ireland finally confirmed player contracts with PJ Moor and James McCollum omitted.

Munster produced the shock of the youth interprovincials as Seneth Sumanasinghe put the NCU U17s in a spin with a magnificent seven-wicket haul to clinch a famous three-run win

This was the Orla Prendergast show, another stand-out performance from the Ireland international extending Dragons lead at the top of the SS20 table and ensuring a fourth straight victory.

Woodvale will play Ardmore, while Fox Lodge face Donemana.

Woodvale, Donemana, Ardmore and Fox Lodge are through to the last four.

A long-time Civil Service North follower told me on Saturday, after the Stormont side had been bowled out for 79 by CIYMS, that “I have never seen worse”.

CIYMS confirmed their place in the top six ahead of the split in the NCU Premier League with a crushing eight wickets win over rivals Civil Service North.

Ballyspallen, Counties Kerry and Galway, plus Carrickfergus reach last four of the National Cup.

Wins for Clontarf, Balbriggan, Malahide and Lisburn in Irish Senior Cup.

Strabane got the better of Bonds Glen in the Donegal sunshine at St Johnston.

George Dockrell hits 202, Eshan O'Sullivan takes six wickets, while Pembroke look in ominous form.

There were Premiership wins for CIYMS, Instonians, Waringstown, Cliftonville Academy, and Muckamore.

It hasn’t been the best of seasons so far for Bready, but one bright note has been the emergence of Travis Faulkner, who took four wickets in the loss to Brigade, and also made his debut for the Emerging Warriors.

It was a huge weekend for Strabane as they edged out a crucial win over Eglinton in the Premiership thanks to a century from Ranitha Liyanarachchi. 

A superb batting effort by Bonds Glen saw them beat Coleraine by 9 wickets to clinch the Under 13 Girls Cup at Sandel Lodge.

HARRY Tector’s half century and three wickets for George Dockrell ensured Leinster Lightning remained on course to defend their T20 interprovincial Trophy with a 32-run win over the Northern Knights at Stormont.

After making his debut for Northern Knights, against the Munster Reds at the end of 2023, Egan was a regular for his province last year but was told, in a phone call, that he would be playing for Warriors this season.

Warren Deutrom’s vision brought Irish cricket to unimagined heights but an ill-judged T20 tournament spelt the end

It’s a potentially season-defining weekend looming on the horizon for Donemana, who have a Senior Cup semi-final at Brigade on Saturday, followed by a trip to Balbriggan in the last eight of the Irish Senior Cup.

COLERAINE have been the surprise package of the North-West season to date, with the Bannsiders sitting proudly at the summit of the Premiership and in the semi-final of the Senior Cup.

After two decades, a change at the top and fresh impetus is probably overdue but Irish cricket will always owe a huge debt of gratitude to a man whose drive and diplomacy has achieved so much.

There were wins on the second day by Leinster Lightning and Northern Knights.

Lisburn won the Under-13 Banoge Cup beating hosts CIYMS at Belmont by 16 runs in an exciting game.

Cricket Ireland has today confirmed that Chief Executive Officer, Warren Deutrom, will step down as Chief Executive Officer at the end of August.

Where have all the swing bowlers gone? Simon Corlett asks the question and the reasons for their disappearance from the modern game.

SAM Topping and Jared Wilson were the stars as the Warriors avenged last week’s heavy defeat to the Northern Knights, winning a rain-affect contest at Stormont by 38 runs (DLS).

There were wins on Sunday for The Hills, Leinster, Phoenix, Balbriggan, Clontarf and Pembroke.

There were convincing wins for Lisburn, Waringstown and Instonians, while Woodvale edged out Cliftonville Academy in a last-ball thriller.

Defending champions the Dragons made it two wins from two as they chased down 176 to beat the Scorchers by seven wickets with an over to spare in the T20 Trophy at Bready.

The battle to avoid relegation heated up several more degrees on Saturday, as the bottom four slugged it out in two crucial matches.

Centuries from the two Scotland stars were the highlights of a busy weekend of league and cup cricket.

Amy Hunter was in the runs yet again as the Dragons started their quest for a cup double with a ten-run win over the Typhoons at Bready in a contest reduced to 15 overs.

Jamie Grassi hit an unbeaten 115 for North County, while there were also wins for Leinster, Railway Union, Clontarf, Malahide, The Hills, Dublin University, and Phoenix.

Ian Callender interviews Stephen Doheny about his 150 for Munster Reds and his international ambitions.

Leinster put in a powerful display to beat Rush by 144 runs at Kenure, while there were victories for Pembroke against Phoenix and Malahide over Clontarf.

Dragons won the SS50 Series with a crushing victory over Scorchers at Wallace Park with Amy Hunter and Orla Prendergast the stars.

An Amy Hunter century and five wickets for Orla Prendergast led the Dragons to the Super 50 title with a record-breaking 274-run win over the Scorchers at Wallace Park.

John Elder pays a personal tribute to CricketEurope founder member and former Scotland Editor David Potter, who died at the weekend.

Matthew Humphreys was the one shining light for Ireland in Co Tyrone as the Boys in Green suffered a 62-run shellacking by the West Indies in a high-octane T20 international at the fast-scoring Bready ground.

There were wins for Pembroke, Clontarf and North County while the other tie had to be postponed.

Josh Little has joined Ireland’s ever-growing injury list and been forced to withdraw from the three-match T20 international series against the West Indies that gets underway in Co Tyrone today.

IRISH Universities participated in the Hone McGregor Trophy in glorious conditions in Fenner’s this week, but left with the wooden spoon after two four-wicket defeats.

Tom Johnson played a starring role for Irish Universities in their opening clash with St Andrew's, but in a losing cause as the Scottish side prevailed by four wickets.

The Quarter-final draws for the Irish Senior and National Cups see eight games go south of the border.

Ireland lost their annual challenge match against their English counterparts by five wickets on Tuesday at High Wycombe.

Seven years after the idea for a European franchise tournament was first floated, the latest iteration has been postponed. We were told unequivocally that this time would be different.

Dragons leapfrogged Scorchers to resume their position at the top of the table with a century from Orla Prendergast the key to their 46 runs win at Oak Hill.

Ireland's injury concerns continue with three changes to the originally named squad for next week's T20I series against the West Indies at Bready.

Jordan Neill says if he faced the same situation when playing for Ireland, he would not hesitate to do it again, even though it ended his first appearance for his adopted country just 21 overs into last Sunday’s one-day international against West Indies.

MCC continued their tour of Ireland with a 36-run win against Munster Heat at Farmers Cross on Tuesday.

After four successive defeats to Ireland, it was no surprise that the West Indians came back hard in the third game of their ODI series in Clontarf. In a game interrupted by showers, the tourists came out on top by a whopping 197 runs to share the series 1-1.

Deryck Vincent pays an emotional tribute to his great friend Peter Prendergast who died earlier this week.

WILLIAM McClintock’s amazing century off 30 balls for Donemana against Killyclooney last night – 10 fours and 9 sixes – could well be the fastest ever scored in Ireland.

Harlequins had just enough in the batting tank to beat fierce rivals Cork County in their Munster Premier League match at Farmers Cross.

Cricket Ireland are receiving more money than ever, yet this summer is the most barren for senior internationals in a generation. Last week's dreadful interpro stream was the latest cutback. Where are they spending their money? Nathan Johns delves in.

Lloyd Tennant will take up the Head Coach role for Ireland Women from June 1st, replacing Ed Joyce.

Bryan O'Donnell will succeed Donna Armstrong as Cricket Ireland President, taking office in 2026.

Surrey has confirmed the signing of Irish international Amy Hunter.

Laura Delany scampered a leg-bye off the final ball of a thriller against Scotland in Lahore last night to give Ed Joyce a winning send off at the end of his six years as Ireland head coach.

Leah Paul hammered 67 not out from 40 balls, and Gaby Lewis and Amy Hunter both scored half-centuries in Lahore yesterday as Ireland worked off some of their World Cup qualifying frustrations with a 46-run victory over Thailand.

Ireland managed to beat Thailand by 46 runs to get their first win of the qualifiers but it was too little, too late.

Ireland threw away a winning position for the third time in five days in Lahore last night and their hopes of qualifying for the 50-overs World Cup are over after another heartbreaking loss to Bangladesh by two wickets.

Ireland Under 19s finished their Zimbabwe tour on a high and denied the hosts a clean sweep in the five-match YODI series in Harare.

There may have been a change of venue but it was a familiar tale of woe for Ireland Under 19's as they lost again to Zimbabwe in the fourth match of their youth ODI series.

Pembroke's Dan Murray led a spirited Irish fightback but it was in vain as Zimbabwe edged the third youth ODI by two wickets to take an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match series.

Zimbabwe Under 19s took a 2-0 lead in the five-match series against Ireland U19 with a ultimately comfortable 12 runs victory.

The countdown to next year’s Under 19 World Cup started for Ireland in one of the two host countries with a four wickets defeat by Zimbabwe at the Harare Sports Club.

Pembroke's Olly Riley will captain a 14-player squad that has been selected for an upcoming tour of Zimbabwe in what will also be a first tour for the side in the southern African country.