# Inter-Provincial Championship

The Inter-Provincial Championship is a three-day cricket tournament in Ireland, played between regional teams drawn from three of Ireland's five provincial unions. It parallels 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 (ICC) 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 a giant killer after upsetting teams like Pakistan and Bangladesh (2007 Cricket World Cup), and England (2011 Cricket World Cup). 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 road blocks for Ireland from 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.

## Format

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

### Points summary

Points are 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 has 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.
| Team | First season | Titles | First-class titles | Most recent 2019 |
| Leinster Lightning | 2013 | 6 | 2 | 1st |
| North West Warriors | 2013 | 1 | 1 | 3rd |
| Northern Knights | 2013 | 0 | 0 | 2nd |

## Competition placings
### 2013 to present

| Season | Winner | Second | Third |
| 2013 | Leinster Lightning | Northern Knights | North West Warriors |
| 2014 | Leinster Lightning | Northern Knights | North West Warriors |
| 2015 | Leinster Lightning | North West Warriors | Northern Knights |
| 2016 | Leinster Lightning | Northern Knights | North West Warriors |
| 2017 | Leinster Lightning | North West Warriors | Northern Knights |
| 2018 | North West Warriors | Leinster Lightning | Northern Knights |
| 2019 | Leinster Lightning | Northern Knights | North West Warriors |
| 2020 | Not held due to the COVID-19 pandemic | Not held due to the COVID-19 pandemic | Not held due to the COVID-19 pandemic |
| 2021 | Not held due to the COVID-19 pandemic | Not held due to the COVID-19 pandemic | Not held due to the COVID-19 pandemic |
| 2022 | Not held due to the COVID-19 pandemic | Not held due to the COVID-19 pandemic | Not held due to the COVID-19 pandemic |
| 2023 | Not held | Not held | Not held |

## All-time records

(All records correct to end of 2018 season)

### Team records
#### Highest innings totals

* First Class cricket only
| Score | Team | Opps | Venue | Date |
| 509/9d | North West Warriors | Leinster Lightning | Malahide | 1 May 2018 |
| 460/9 | North West Warriors | Leinster Lightning | Bready CC | 20 June 2018 |
| 448/7 | Leinster Lightning | Northern Knights | Malahide | 4 September 2018 |
| 446 | North West Warriors | Northern Knights | Comber Cricket Ground | 2 July 2018 |
| 440/9d | Northern Knights | Leinster Lightning | Malahide | 4 September 2018 |

### Lowest completed innings totals

| Score | Team | Opps | Venue | Date |
| 105 | North West Warriors | Leinster Lightning | Bready CC | 20–22 May 2014 |
| 116 | North West Warriors | Northern Knights | Eglinton CC | 4–6 June 2013 |
| 119 | Northern Knights | North West Warriors | Eglinton CC | 26–28 August 2014 |
| 123 | Northern Knights | Leinster Lightning | College Park | 25–27 June 2013 |

### Highest scores in the fourth innings of the match

| Score | Team | Opps | Venue | Date | Result |
| 227 | North West Warriors | Leinster Lightning | Malahide | 1–3 July 2014 | Lost by 65 runs |
| 224 | Northern Knights | North West Warriors | Eglinton CC | 26–28 August 2014 | Lost by 44 runs |
| 176 | Northern Knights | Leinster Lightning | College Park | 17–19 June 2014 | Lost by 157 runs |
| 160/7 | Northern Knights | North West Warriors | Eglinton CC | 4–6 June 2013 | Won by 3 wickets |
| 157/2 | Northern Knights | North West Warriors | Stormont | 3–5 June 2014 | Won by 8 wickets |

### Most career runs

* First Class cricket only
| Runs | Innings | Player | Team |
| 674 | 14 | James McCollum | Northern Knights |
| 552 | 11 | James Shannon | Northern Knights |
| 489 | 10 | Niall O'Brien | North West Warriors |
| 452 | 10 | Jack Tector | Leinster Lightning |
| 381 | 7 | Ed Joyce | Leinster Lightning |
| 358 | 8 | Andrew Balbirnie | Leinster Lightning |

### Highest individual scores

| Score | Player | For | Opps | Venue | Date |
| 247* | Nick Larkin | Northern Knights | Leinster Lightning | Waringstown CC | 27–29 August 2013 |
| 131 | Craig Ervine | Northern Knights | Leinster Lightning | Waringstown CC | 12–14 August 2014 |
| 113 | Andrew Poynter | Leinster Lightning | Northern Knights | Waringstown CC | 27–29 August 2013 |

### Most runs scored in a season

* First Class cricket only
| Runs | Innings | Player | Team | Season |
| 458 | 7 | William Porterfield | North West Warriors | 2018 |
| 446 | 7 | James Shannon | Northern Knights | 2017 |
| 442 | 7 | James McCollum | Northern Knights | 2018 |

### Most career wickets

* First Class cricket only
| Wickets | Matches | Player | Team |
| 31 | 8 | David Scanlon | North West Warriors |
| 30 | 7 | George Dockrell | Leinster Lightning |
| 30 | 7 | Craig Young | North West Warriors |
| 24 | 7 | Peter Chase | Leinster Lightning |

### Best bowling in an innings

| Bowling | Player | Team | Opps | Venue | Date |
| 7/107 | James Cameron-Dow | Northern Knights | North West Warriors | Eglinton CC | 26–28 August 2014 |
| 6/55 | Tabish Khan | North-West Warriors | Northern Knights | Stormont | 3–5 June 2014 |
| 5/37 | Craig Young | North West Warriors | Leinster Lightning | Bready CC | 20–22 May 2014 |
| 5/124 | James Cameron-Dow | Northern Knights | Leinster Lightning | Waringstown CC | 27–29 August 2013 |

### Most wickets in a season

* First Class cricket only
| Wickets | Average | Player | Team | Season |
| 22 | 13.09 | George Dockrell | Leinster Lightning | 2017 |
| 19 | 19.68 | David Scanlon | North West Warriors | 2018 |

### Highest partnerships for each wicket

| Wicket | P/Ship | Player 1 | Player 2 | Team | Opps | Venue | Date |
| 1st | 169 | Chris Dougherty | Nick Larkin | Northern Knights | Leinster Lightning | Waringstown CC | 27–29 August 2013 |
| 2nd | 169 | Chris Dougherty | Craig Ervine | Northern Knights | North West Warriors | Osborne Park | 30 July – 1 August 2013 |
| 3rd | 87* | Craig Ervine | Andrew White | Northern Knights | North West Warriors | Stormont | 3–5 June 2014 |
| 4th | 192 | Craig Ervine | Andrew White | Northern Knights | Leinster Lightning | Waringstown CC | 12–14 August 2013 |
| 5th | 100 | John Anderson | Kevin O'Brien | Leinster Lightning | Northern Knights | College Park | 25–27 June 2013 |
| 6th | 76 | Stuart Thompson | Andrew McBrine | North West Warriors | Northern Knights | Eglinton CC | 26–28 August 2014 |
| 7th | 62 | Andrew McBrine | Jonathan Thompson | North West Warriors | Leinster Lightning | Malahide CC | 1–3 July 2014 |
| 8th | 104 | Andrew Poynter | Tyrone Kane | Leinster Lightning | Northern Knights | Waringstown CC | 27–29 August 2013 |
| 9th | 48* | Tyrone Kane | Max Sorensen | Leinster Lightning | Northern Knights | Waringstown CC | 27–29 August 2013 |
| 10th | 134 | Max Sorensen | Albert van der Merwe | Leinster Lightning | North West Warriors | Malahide CC | 1–3 July 2014 |

## Seasons

* 2013 Inter-Provincial Championship
* 2014 Inter-Provincial Championship
* 2015 Inter-Provincial Championship
* 2016 Inter-Provincial Championship
First Class status granted in 2017
* 2017 Inter-Provincial Championship
* 2018 Inter-Provincial Championship
* 2019 Inter-Provincial Championship