Inter-Provincial Championship


The Inter-Provincial Championship was an annual three-day cricket tournament in Ireland, played between regional teams drawn from three of Ireland's five provincial unions. It paralleled first-class cricket tournaments in other countries such as the County Championship of England and the Sheffield Shield of Australia. The tournament was held for the first time in 2013 across venues in Ireland.
Up to and including the 2016 tournament, the matches were not given first-class status. However, at an International Cricket Council meeting in October 2016, first-class status was awarded to all future matches, starting with the 2017 tournament.

History

Background

The Ireland cricket team have had huge success recently on the international level which has boosted the popularity of the game in the country. They had earned the reputation of being giant killers after upsetting teams like Pakistan and Bangladesh, and England. Their good performances in major international tournaments meant that Cricket Ireland openly started bidding for Test match status to the International Cricket Council. Nevertheless, one of the main stumbling roadblocks for Ireland getting to play the pinnacle of the game was a lack of a first-class cricket infrastructure at home, amongst other things. As early as August 2011, Cricket Ireland announced plans of a domestic first-class tournament. In January 2012, Cricket Ireland announced the ambitious 'Vision 2020' plan which announced the establishment of a first-class structure by 2015 and achievement of Test status by 2020. It also began work on a cricket academy to find talented players across the country and improving grass-roots cricket in the country. For the first time professional contacts, with central, A, B, and C were established. Plans for Test status were established partly to stem the flow of their star cricketers moving away to England in hope of playing Test cricket such as Ed Joyce, Eoin Morgan and Boyd Rankin. According to Richard Holdsworth in an interview with Setanta Sports, CI are pleased with the strategic progress that had been made as of November 2012. In December 2012, Ireland got a $1.5m boost as increased funding from the ICC to establish elite domestic competitions in the country.

Hiatus and plans for return of first-class cricket

The Inter-Provincial Championship has not been held since 2019, and as of 2025 there are still no specific plans for its revival in the original 2013-2019 format. The 2020 competition was originally scheduled to have only half of the regular fixtures from previous editions before being indefinitely postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic with Cricket Ireland confirming in February 2021 that there would be no first-class competition in 2021.
In July 2024, Cricket Ireland announced the launch of an interim domestic first-class cricket fixture titled the "Emerald Challenge". The match was to be of four days in duration and was to be contested by two quasi-franchise teams, the Raiders and the Strikers, composed of the top 26 players in Ireland. The match would also serve as preparation for the upcoming test against Zimbabwe that was to be held in Belfast in late July 2024.
Following the conclusion of the Emerald Challenge match, Cricket Ireland launched a new Strategic Plan in August 2024 which listed as one of its desired outcomes the reintroduction of first-class cricket by 2025 and at the provincial level by 2027.

Format

The tournament was played in a double round-robin format, with each team playing each other twice, once at home and once away.

Points summary

Points were scored as follows:
  • Win – 16 points
  • Draw – 3 points
  • Tie – 8 points
  • Batting bonus points – 1 point for scoring 150, 200, 250 and 300 runs
  • Bowling bonus points – 1 points for taking 3, 5, 7 and 9 wickets
  • Bonus points only apply for the first 100 overs of each team's first innings
  • Over rate penalties also apply on a match by match basis for teams who fail to bowl their overs at the required rate

    Teams

Three of Ireland's five cricket unions take part in the Inter-Provincial Series; Munster Cricket Union and Connacht Cricket Union do not participate.
In the six years of its existence, the competition had been dominated by Leinster Lightning, winning the first five titles, including the 2017 competition, the first one treated as a first-class competition. In 2018, North West Warriors finally broke the Leinster stranglehold, winning their first Championship. In July 2020, Danish cricketer Freddie Klokker suggested that a European XI team could play in the competition, to give more experience to European cricketers playing in the longer format of the game.
TeamFirst seasonTitlesFirst-class titlesMost recent
2019
Leinster Lightning2013621st
North West Warriors2013113rd
Northern Knights2013002nd

Competition placings

2013 to present

All-time records

Team records

Highest innings totals

  • First Class cricket only
ScoreTeamOppsVenueDate
509/9dNorth West WarriorsLeinster LightningMalahide1 May 2018
460/9North West WarriorsLeinster LightningBready CC20 June 2018
448/7Leinster LightningNorthern KnightsMalahide4 September 2018
446North West WarriorsNorthern KnightsComber Cricket Ground2 July 2018
440/9dNorthern KnightsLeinster LightningMalahide4 September 2018

Lowest completed innings totals

ScoreTeamOppsVenueDate
105North West WarriorsLeinster LightningBready CC20–22 May 2014
116North West WarriorsNorthern KnightsEglinton CC4–6 June 2013
119Northern KnightsNorth West WarriorsEglinton CC26–28 August 2014
123Northern KnightsLeinster LightningCollege Park25–27 June 2013

Highest scores in the fourth innings of the match

ScoreTeamOppsVenueDateResult
227North West WarriorsLeinster LightningMalahide1–3 July 2014Lost by 65 runs
224Northern KnightsNorth West WarriorsEglinton CC26–28 August 2014Lost by 44 runs
176Northern KnightsLeinster LightningCollege Park17–19 June 2014Lost by 157 runs
160/7Northern KnightsNorth West WarriorsEglinton CC4–6 June 2013Won by 3 wickets
157/2Northern KnightsNorth West WarriorsStormont3–5 June 2014Won by 8 wickets

Individual records – batting

Most career runs

  • First Class cricket only
RunsInningsPlayerTeam
67414James McCollumNorthern Knights
55211James ShannonNorthern Knights
48910Niall O'BrienNorth West Warriors
45210Jack TectorLeinster Lightning
3817Ed JoyceLeinster Lightning
3588Andrew BalbirnieLeinster Lightning

Highest individual scores

ScorePlayerForOppsVenueDate
247*Nick LarkinNorthern KnightsLeinster LightningWaringstown CC27–29 August 2013
131Craig ErvineNorthern KnightsLeinster LightningWaringstown CC12–14 August 2014
113Andrew PoynterLeinster LightningNorthern KnightsWaringstown CC27–29 August 2013

Most runs scored in a season

RunsInningsPlayerTeamSeason
4587William PorterfieldNorth West Warriors2018
4467James ShannonNorthern Knights2017
4427James McCollumNorthern Knights2018

Individual records – bowling

Most career wickets

  • First Class cricket only
WicketsMatchesPlayerTeam
318David ScanlonNorth West Warriors
307George DockrellLeinster Lightning
307Craig YoungNorth West Warriors
247Peter ChaseLeinster Lightning

Best bowling in an innings

BowlingPlayerTeamOppsVenueDate
7/107James Cameron-DowNorthern KnightsNorth West WarriorsEglinton CC26–28 August 2014
6/55Tabish KhanNorth-West WarriorsNorthern KnightsStormont3–5 June 2014
5/37Craig YoungNorth West WarriorsLeinster LightningBready CC20–22 May 2014
5/124James Cameron-DowNorthern KnightsLeinster LightningWaringstown CC27–29 August 2013