KEVIN O’Brien, comments on his appointment as captain of Leinster Lightning ahead of the start of the revamped interprovincial cricket championship next month. O’Brien leads a strong 22-man squad which includes a dozen who have played for Ireland – even though it excludes all the English-based professionals.
“It’s a good mix of experience and youth”, O’Brien told the CricketLeinster website. “There’s some old heads there and some exciting youngsters like Peter Chase and Tyrone Kane.
“I saw Chase over the winter and although he’s raw he has a lot of potential. He’s 6 foot 7 and if we can get him involved and bring him on he could become our new Boyd Rankin in a year or two.”
The Lightning squad starts training next week and kicks off with a 50 overs game against the Northern Knights at the Hills on May 6th.
“I played in the last interpros back in 2004, but these have great potential to bring the game on”, O’Brien added. “If it’s marketed well we could get decent crowds in, especially for the twenty20 games. They could be the sort of games people bring their families along too, and hopefully they’ll be staged in grounds where you can put in bouncy castles and the like.”
Although the potential audience for three-day games is limited, O’Brien believes that a crowd will come along to Trinity, where the longer games will be staged. “Midweek, we could get a crowd in around lunchtime because it’s so central”, he said.
The Lightning selection, which begins work next week, has a few surprise inclusions. Malahide’s Fintan McAllister, who won six caps before he went Down Under for two years, is back in the running for the keeper slot with Stuart Poynter. Last year's Ireland A springer Alex O'Brien is also included, while Railway Union's Australian professional Patrick Collins – with Irish roots – also gets a chance to show his talent as a batting off-spinner.
Coach Trent Johnston says that the door is open to anyone who makes a case for a place in the early season league games.
“We’ve contacted about ten guys who were close to selection to reassure them”, he said yesterday. “The door is open to anyone, so the ball is in their court.”
Among those likely to be disappointed are Leinster all-rounder Joe Carroll, Clontarf batsman Eoghan Delany and Pembroke bowler Allan Eastwood.
SQUAD: K O'Brien (Railway Union, capt), B Ackland (Merrion & Unicorns), J Anderson (Merrion), A Balbirnie (Pembroke & Cardiff MCCU), P Chase (Malahide & Durham), B Coghlan (Clontarf), P Collins (Railway Union), A Cusack (Clontarf), T Johnston (YMCA), T Kane (Merrion), P Lawson (Pembroke), J Mooney (North County), S Moreton (Leinster) , F McAllister (Malahide), B McCarthy (Pembroke), A O'Brien (Merrion), A Poynter (Clontarf), S Poynter (Clontarf & MCCYC), E Richardson (North County), M Sorensen (The Hills), R Strydom (YMCA), A Van der Merwe (YMCA). Coach: T Johnston; Manager: M Jones