Irish International opening batsman Jeremy Bray has agreed a deal with North West club Eglinton to play in the North West league for the 2006 season. The Australian-born player, who turns 32 next week, finalised the deal at the Eglinton club's presentation on Friday night.

Bray has been a prolific run scorer in the Leinster league since he made his debut there in 1998 for Phoenix. Indeed, he holds the record for the all-time average in Leinster cricket history, currently 68.00, way ahead of greats such as Alf Masood, Michael Rea, Jack Short and Alan Lewis. In total he has scored 7474 runs in the LCU, which includes 18 centuries.

He forged a prolific opening partnership with Jason Molins at both domestic and International level, before he switched to Clontarf at the start of the 2005 season. There he teamed up with fellow Australian, Trent Johnston, whom he regards as his closest friend in cricket.

Bray has also played for the Australian Under 19 team, and as a professional for Kampong in the Netherlands. He played an instrumental part in Ireland's recent InterContinental Cup win in Namibia. Indeed, he scored a Man of the Match-winning 78 and 190, in their semi final win over UAE.

He showed his versatility during the ICC Trophy, where in addition to opening the batting, he kept a very competent wicket during the absence of Niall O' Brien. He has also enjoyed some success with his medium pacers, although he will be the first to admit that this aspect of his game isn't his strongest.

Speaking about his move to the North West, he said, "I plan to enjoy my time here, and will be concentrating on my batting. I can't give any guarantees, and won't be setting myself targets. I like to test myself against the best, and the professionals up here are without doubt the strongest in Ireland. The overall standard of play may be higher in Leinster, but there's no doubt there are some quality players up here."

A clearly delighted Billy Henderson indicated that there will probably be more high profile signings on the way, "I started talking to Jeremy quite a while ago, and it has taken  a lot of long hard negotiations to finally reach this stage. There is no doubting his exceptional quality. I would be very hopeful that despite his Ireland commitments, he won't miss many games. We hope that he will be able to play for Eglinton even on the Saturdays before the scheduled C&G; fixtures, which are down for decision on Sundays in the first half of the season. This won't be our last signing. We have targetted several other individuals, and we would be hopeful that these will greatly strengthen other departments."

A great coup for Eglinton, but who then will they be adding to their list? It won't be easy to recruit other North West players, as there is great competition from other North West clubs. Des Curry is staying at Limavady, while Stephen Smyth is strongly rumoured to be moving back to his first club, Brigade. Indeed they may well be losing Ireland 'A' player Andrew Riddles, who is on the verge of joining Glendermott.