The phrase ‘first-class cricket’ has been bandied about quite a bit this year, but we’ve been playing first-class cricket in Ireland for well over a century.

AMID the flurry of records Ed Joyce has been racking up over the last year or so, one seems to have passed us by.

Mohammed Afzal Masood – known as Alf – broke many Leinster batting records with Phoenix and later with Ireland.

After many years of justifiable complaint about the lack of ODI fixtures there is a sense of irony that when a steady stream of such fixtures has finally arrived Ireland is at its lowest cricketing ebb for the best part of a decade.

Terry was reported by umpires Steve Garratt and Richard Illingworth during Northamptonshire’s match against Glamorgan for a Level One breach of the code (showing dissent at an umpire’s decision by word or action).

With his 206 for the Northern Knights, Adam Dennison surpassed Raman Lamba and Mark Adair as the highest run scorer at the Comber ground. Ger Siggins outlines the record breakers at the senior grounds in Ireland.

IRELAND coach John Bracewell has admitted he is putting Ireland’s ranking in the ODI table on the back burner to bring the next generation of cricketers into the national team.

CRICKET IRELAND has joined forces with Cricket Scotland and La Manga club in a ten-year deal to create a European Cricket Performance Centre at the world-famous Spanish resort.

I did a silly thing last week. I went back and played a GAA game for the first time in a long time.

CRICKET IRELAND have named a squad of 24 for an U13 Development Camp in Bready from Tuesday 19 until Thursday 21 July.

IRELAND captain William Porterfield will be sole Warwickshire player in next week’s one-day international series against Afghanistan after Mark Adair joined pace bowling partner Boyd Rankin on the list of absentees.

IRELAND'S growing fixture list has been given another boost with the news that the West Indies will be travelling to Ireland in September 2017 to play a One-Day International.

TOBY RADFORD has been appointed by Cricket Ireland as National Academy and Performance Manager of the Shapoorji Pallonji CI Academy.

IRELAND must wait at least two more months before they learn if they are to be fast-tracked to Test match status and if an expanded one-day international league is to be set up.

Cricket Ireland Chairman Ross McCollum has been elected by the Associate and Affiliate Members to be one of their representative members to the ICC Board.

BY the end of the week, the future of cricket could be changed forever if the ICC Board back proposals to increase the number of teams at both Test match and one-day international level.

Stuart Thompson is receiving treatment for performance anxiety, hence his current absence from the game.

THE biographer of Sachin Tendulkar is in Northern Ireland next week, to tell the story of how the book came about and how it evolved.

IRELAND have made it to the Holy Grail. They will play a one-day international at Lord’s next May, the second game in a two-match series against England.

The sides will face off for the first time on English soil, with the first ODI at Bristol on Friday May 5 and the second two days later at Lord's.

Sean Terry makes his debut for Northants against Sussex.

Warwickshire County Cricket Club has agreed a new two-year contract extension with seam-bowling all-rounder Mark Adair.

AS a warm-up for Ireland’s most important series of the summer, against Afghanistan in Belfast next month, the 2-0 defeat by Sri Lanka left more questions than answers.

FANS heading north of Dublin to watch The Boys in Green attempting to level their KPC Group ODI series against Sri Lanka at Malahide will be guaranteed at least one top quality performance - from the pitch and outfield at Ireland's new Home of Cricket.

Boyd Rankin looks forward to playing his first ever game at Malahide for Ireland.

This week marked the tenth anniversary of Ireland’s first ODI when on the 13th June 2006 they hosted England in Stormont and put up a credible performance losing by just 38 runs. Only Kevin O’Brien remains from the Ireland side but another man making his ODI debut that day, Ed Joyce, is now in green with the three lions long dispersed.

It is with deep regret that Cricket Ireland has learned of the death of former President Dawson Moreland at the age of 90.

The former Ireland skipper, who retired from international cricket with 199 caps in 2013, is now the respected coach of New South Wales but retains a love affair with Irish cricket, ever since he came here from Australia in 1995.

John Anderson is in the form of his life and what is point of inter-provincial cricket if you cannot get an international call,” said Williamson.

ANDREW POYNTER has confirmed his retirement from international and Inter-Provincial cricket.

IRELAND could be elevated to Test status much sooner than expected if a proposal by cricket’s governing body is accepted this month.

Middlesex County Cricket Club regret to announce that Andrew Balbirnie has left the club having been released from his contract.

Former Cricket Ireland President and Chairman John Caldwell died overnight at the age of 75.

CRAIG Young is out of Ireland’s one-day series against Sri Lanka next month after he was told he will need surgery on his troublesome right elbow.

CRAIG YOUNG has been ruled out of the forthcoming KPC Series against Sri Lanka next month with an elbow injury.

Former international all-rounder Andrew White replaces Kyle McCallan as international selector.

BARRY MCCARTHY announced himself to the word of county cricket with a match-winning five wicket haul as Durham beat Lancashire in one of the few county championship games to beat the elements over the past few weeks.

JUST about the time Barry McCarthy was claiming the fourth of his five wickets last Tuesday morning, an email crept into the in-boxes of the Irish cricket media.

CHRIS ADAMS has reversed his decision to accept the role of Shapoorji Pallonji National Academy Manager.

I suspect we’ll have a five-match test tour of Australia, a ten-wicket win over Pakistan in the World T20 final and the appointment of Niall O’Brien as Irish Ambassador to India before the last part of that sentence.

Chris Adams will become the latest big name to join Cricket Ireland when he takes up the role of National Academy Manager at the start of June.

The Warriors could be playing in La Manga next year with the money from new sponsors expediting Cricket Ireland’s plans to ease the fixture congestion here by playing inter-pro games in early season or as late as September and even October at CI’s new facility in Spain.

Brian Walsh was named President Elect of Cricket Ireland at the weekend. He talks with Ian Johnston about his cricket career, as a player, coach and administrator.

IRELAND confirmed further one-day internationals against Full Members with the news that New Zealand and Bangladesh will play a tri-series with Ireland in May 2017.

The Lifetime Service Award was won by Jim Bennett for his dedication to the administration of youth cricket in Ireland.

Ireland will play Hong Kong in two T20I's at Bready in September while Ireland Women will face Bangladesh in six home matches.

ODI fund for Afghanistan and Ireland sees both countries receive $500k for playing more ODI's.

There is still a chance of the next World Twenty20 being in 2018 and the possibility of more than 10 teams taking part in the ICC World Cup the following year.

CRAIG YOUNG will join Hampshire on a short-term loan to ease their current injury crisis.

The Bready speedster is the latest player to feature in our ever popular Player Lines series.

Rush and Ireland U19 batsman Stephen Doheny has impressed Nottinghamshire and is playing in an ongoing three-day game against Warwickshire.

The demise of ICC European tournaments has left countries scrambling for fixtures, with Ireland and Scotland facing each other at various levels.

John Mooney has been honoured by Fingal County Council following his recent retirement.

Ireland have confirmed they will host Afghanistan in a five match ODI Series next July in Belfast. The matches will take place at Stormont on July 10, 12, 14, 17 and 19.

THE son of a former England Test batsman has declared for Ireland and is moving to Dublin to pursue his ambitions. Seán Terry has opted to pass up on the final year of his contract with Hampshire to try to impress the Irish selectors by playing for YMCA in the Leinster league.

New Leinster Lightning captain John Anderson is targetting continued domination for his side in the inter-pro competitions.

Recent media coverage of the trials and tribulations of staff members at SportNI has caused me to reflect on a year or so working in the NICA cricket office in that building that has a roundabout named after it and which features in every evening traffic report on local radio.

Andy Balbirnie is likely to miss the 2016 domestic season in England following the news that he requires surgery on his hip.

The untimely demise of ICC Europe has been a huge set back for the aspirations of local umpires in Ireland.

One of my roles was to do a reality check on the promises made by the various parties in their manifestos. In other words I was attempting to differentiate between spin and reality.

Michael Lowe is a familiar figure around the cricket grounds of Dublin and following the fortunes of Ireland on the international stage.

Doing a lap started in April, with the smell of cut grass and hopes high, and it ended in September, pitches taking turn and the leaves falling. I thought that batting and runs were the thing but I was wrong. Doing the lap was the thing.

We're very much into domestic pre-season mode now as preparations for the 2016 campaign should really be starting to take shape up and down the country.

Paul Stirling scored an unbeaten half century as Middlesex played a pre-season friendly with Surrey at The Oval.

The Bready farmer is next up in the PlayerLines series.

We're bringing back the old classic PlayerLines. First up is Pembroke, Middlesex, Leinster Lightning and Ireland star, Andrew Balbirnie.

Denmark have announced a tie in with The Hills, and have used former Irish international John Mooney.

Former Irish international John Mooney says Ireland need more depth and quality in their squad after a disastrous T20 World Cup campaign.

Recently when Ireland's T20 stats were being reviewed it was discovered that a match had not been recorded.

This is becoming a habit, and not a very nice one. For the third time in four World Twenty20 campaigns - and I have been involved in all of them - Ireland are having to leave the tournament because a game was abandoned by rain.

We have caused upsets numerous times before on the big stage over the last 10 years so we are not scared to front up and hopefully we can perform for the next three games here in India.

Boyd Rankin is starting out on his second Ireland cricket career, just over three years since he turned his back on the country of his birth with the intention of playing Test match cricket for England.

Northern Knights player Mark Adair signs Academy deal with Warwickshire.

A record turnout saw 74 umpires and scorers from all corners of the island. Especially welcome was our guest speaker, Alex Wharf from the ECB First Class Umpire Panel.

As cricketers we are obsessed with statistics both personal and team related. However the one statistic which dominates conversations the length and breadth of the country is that of the batting average.

The former Irish international will work as a fielding coach on a short-term deal ahead of the forthcoming season.

Cricket Ireland have been awarded €355,000 in government funding for 2016, an increase of €2,606, plus an extra €20,000 from the Women in Sport fund.

Peter Chase is off to Australia where he will be playing for Sydney based club Randwick Petersham.

ED JOYCE has cast doubt on his medium-term future by turning down a two-year contract offer from Cricket Ireland in favour of keeping his options open after the 2016 domestic season.

Ten 2-year central contracts and eight 1-year deals announced as Ireland focus on Test status aim.

IRELAND may be the destination for Sean Terry after the 24 year-old ended his county contract with Hampshire one year early.

Cricket Ireland and Ulster University have announced a new partnership which will see Ulster University become the Official Northern Ireland University to Cricket Ireland.

A look at the numbers game in the world of cricket.

In his first interview since redeclaring for Ireland, Boyd Rankin opens up about his unsettled England career and the motivation behind his return.

THOSE of us of a certain age can remember one of the most famous battles in corporate history between Sony and JVC for domination of the emerging video tape market in the late 1970s.

It was certainly a mixed bag of results for Ireland in 2015 with the highs of World Cup wins over West Indies and Zimbabwe tempered with T20 losses to amongst others Papua New Guinea and Hong Kong.

First published in the 1974 Irish Cricket magazine, we reproduce an article on one of Ireland's most famous cricketing families.

CIYMS are on the look-out for another Irish-qualified player after Ireland international Max Sorensen told them “home is where the heart is”.

The Ireland fast bowler was due to move to Belmont for the 2016 season after apparently cutting ties with his long-time club, The Hills.