# Northern Knights (cricket team)

Northern Knights is a first-class inter-provincial cricket team in Ireland.
The team participates in the Inter-Provincial Championship, Interprovincial One-Day Trophy & Interprovincial Twenty20 Cup.
The team represents the Northern Cricket Union of Ireland, which in turn covers most of eastern and southern Ulster and parts of western Ulster.

## History

In 2013, Cricket Ireland formed a three-day Championship, 50 over Cup and 20 over Trophy featuring teams from Leinster, the North and the North West. The NCU team would be known as the Northern Knights. On 8 April, they announced Eugene Moleon as their coach and Gavin Rogers as his assistant coach.
The Knights lifted their first trophy, the Inter-Provincial Cup, in that debut season. A surprise final day victory by the North West Warriors over Leinster Lightning ensured the Knights won the title by a single point.
Up to and including the 2016 Inter-Provincial Championship, 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.
In January 2016, Simon Johnston, then head of Waringstown Cricket Club, was appointed head coach of the team, replacing Eugene Moleon.
In would be 2019 before the Knights silverware drought came to an end. The team won 3 of their 6 Inter-Provincial Trophy games in a rain-affected season which was enough for captain Gary Wilson to lift the trophy.
Following Wilson's retirement, Harry Tector took over captaincy duties for the 2021 season. He was succeeded by Mark Adair in 2022.
2023 was the most successful year in the team's history as they completed a List A and T20 double.

## Honours

    Inter-Provincial Cup - (List A) - 2 titles
       Winners: 2013, 2023
    Inter-Provincial Trophy - (T20) - 1 title
       Winners: 2023

## Current squad

* Players with international caps are listed in bold.
* *denotes players qualified to play for Ireland on residency or dual nationality.
| Name | Nationality | Birth date | Batting style | Bowling style | Club | Notes |
| Batsmen |||||||
| Paul Stirling | Ireland | (1990-09-03) 3 September 1990 (age 34) | Right-handed | Right arm off-break | North Down | |
| James McCollum | Ireland | (1995-08-01) 1 August 1995 (age 29) | Right-handed | Right arm medium | Waringstown | Vice-captain |
| Ross Adair | Ireland | (1994-04-21) 21 April 1994 (age 30) | Right-handed | Slow left arm orthodox | CIYMS | |
| Morgan Topping | Ireland | (1999-03-25) 25 March 1999 (age 25) | Right-handed | Right arm off-break | Waringstown | |
| James Hunter | Ireland | (2002-11-01) 1 November 2002 (age 22) | Right-handed | Left arm medium | CIYMS | |
| Cade Carmichael | South Africa* | (2002-08-03) 3 August 2002 (age 22) | Right-handed | Right arm medium | Instonians | |
| Jason van der Merwe | Ireland | (1991-12-28) 28 December 1991 (age 32) | Right-handed | Right arm off-break | CIYMS | |
| Jake Egan | Australia* | (2003-06-20) 20 June 2003 (age 21) | Right-handed | Right arm off-break | Carrickfergus | |
| All-rounders |||||||
| Mark Adair | Ireland | (1996-03-27) 27 March 1996 (age 28) | Right-handed | Right arm fast-medium | CIYMS | Captain |
| Tyron Koen | South Africa | (1997-10-25) 25 October 1997 (age 27) | Left-handed | Right arm medium-fast | CIYMS | |
| Jordan Neill | Ireland | (2006-03-03) 3 March 2006 (age 18) | Right-handed | Right arm medium-fast | CSNI | |
| Ruhan Pretorious | South Africa* | (1991-03-02) 2 March 1991 (age 33) | Right-handed | Right arm medium-fast | Woodvale | |
| Adam Leckey | Ireland | (2006-09-25) 25 September 2006 (age 18) | Right-handed | Right arm medium | CSNI | |
| Wicket-keepers |||||||
| Neil Rock | Ireland | (2000-09-24) 24 September 2000 (age 24) | Left-handed | - | Rush | |
| Sam Topping | Ireland | (2005-05-06) 6 May 2005 (age 19) | Left-handed | - | Sussex | |
| Benjamin Calitz | Canada | (2002-07-06) 6 July 2002 (age 22) | Left-handed | - | CIYMS | |
| Matthew Halliday | Ireland | (2004-11-30) 30 November 2004 (age 20) | Right-handed | - | Waringstown | |
| Bowlers |||||||
| Tom Mayes | South Africa* | (2001-01-04) 4 January 2001 (age 23) | Right-handed | Right arm medium-fast | North Down | |
| Matthew Foster | Ireland | (2000-01-15) 15 January 2000 (age 24) | Right-handed | Right arm fast-medium | CSNI | |
| Matthew Humphreys | Ireland | (2002-09-28) 28 September 2002 (age 22) | Right-handed | Slow left arm orthodox | Lisburn | |
| Adam Kennedy | Ireland | (2003-10-22) 22 October 2003 (age 21) | Right-handed | Right arm fast-medium | CIYMS | |
| Aditya Adey | Ireland | (1997-12-21) 21 December 1997 (age 26) | Right-handed | Right armmedium | CIYMS | |
| Cian Robertson | Ireland | (2002-09-19) 19 September 2002 (age 22) | Right-handed | Slow left arm orthodox | Instonians | |
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