Devotees of twenty over a side matches, now referred to as T20, sometimes think of it as a relatively new invention. In fact in Leinster it is now in its sixty-first season. In 1954, Alan Murray, a longstanding member of Pembroke C.C. advocated a 20 over competition to be played on midweek evenings and provided a cup for it. His own club were the first winners - in fact Pembroke also won the then Senior League and Cup that year.
The competition was run by the Pembroke club for the first twenty-five years of its existence but responsibility was then handed over to LCU. In the early years not all clubs chose to enter but its popularity gradually increased. It has had several formats. Originally there were two sections created with an open draw with the winners of each section playing a final. It was then for many years a straight knockout competition but a major revamp occurred in 2005. In that year a system of sections with “round robins” of matches on the same day leading to a “finals day” was introduced and continued for some years.
The single day round robin was then changed back to evening matches but with increased popularity of the T20 game in recent years clubs and players sought a format which guaranteed them more matches of this type. Thus in 2013 the completion moved to two (north and south) sections culminating in a finals day.
This years finals day will be held at Pembroke C.C. on Sunday next, 10th August with proceedings commencing at 11.00 am as follows
Semifinals
Final
5.00 pm Winner A v Winner B
Current holders, The Hills, will be keen to retain the trophy but all the other clubs are previous winners so a competitive and entertaining days cricket is in prospect.