Cricket Ireland acknowledges two errors relating to the all-Ireland Club Cup draws communicated today, and advise of restorative actions that will take place as a result.
Elaine Nolan, Participation Director at Cricket Ireland, said:
“We apologise unreservedly for two mistakes we’ve made in relation to the draws for our premier national club competitions.”
“In relation to the National Cup, we picked up after the draw that an administrative error led to ‘Drummond Cricket Club’ being entered into the draw. This was obviously a mistake, and we apologise for this oversight. As a result the opponent drawn against that team – Knockharley – will receive an automatic bye to the second round.”
In addition, the draw for the first round of the Irish Senior Cup has seen teams from the same Provincial Union drawn against each other, with the recent tradition to avoid this.
Andrew Fleming, Chair of the Cricket Ireland Cricket Committee, explained:
“The purpose of the first-round tradition has been to give an opportunity to clubs from different Unions to play against each other. The fact of teams being drawn from the same Union should have been picked up at the time of the draw – again, we hold our hands up.”
“However, while it is a tradition, it is not part of the fixed rules of the competition and, in that regard, it has been decided that the draw made earlier today should stand this year. Cricket Committee will discuss the rules of the 2021 competition following the conclusion of this year’s competition.”
“Once again, we are sorry for this circumstance, and we shall also be conducting a review of our processes internally to ensure these errors do not reoccur.”
Craig Easdown
No
Connaught
