Warriors to play Knights in final warm-up match
The North West Warriors will take on the Northern Knights at The Bleachgreen on Thursday (11am) ahead of next week’s start of the 2023 Interprovincial campaign.
Due to exams, injury and Ireland call-ups, the Warriors Selectors have expanded the initial squad and drafted in some new faces for the warm-up game this week.
Head Coach Boyd Rankin last week alluded to the fact that he will have to plan for this year’s series without a number of key personnel and is therefore trying to blend some experience into his young and inexperienced squad.
“It’s unlikely we’ll see much of Craig Young, Andy McBrine, Graham Hume or Conor Olphert for a few months which accounts for much of last year’s attack. Graham Kennedy is another player we’ll be missing while Stephen Doheny is also going to be required for the national squad.
“Stephen’s absence takes out both an opening batsman and our wicketkeeper, so we’ve needed a bit of a re-think. William Porterfield is also missing from last year’s squad.
“As always, we wanted to try to keep the nucleus of the team local North West players, but we also need to stay as competitive as possible.
“With some of the guys doing exams and one or two carrying knocks as well, we are using Thursday to have a few more players in and around the squad. Over the next month or so we expect to us about 20 players so it gives us a good chance now to bring in those extra players.
“We clearly needed a wicket-keeper batsman and I’m delighted that we’ve been able to bring Ani Chore into the squad. His quality and experience will be really valuable alongside what is going to be a very young batting line-up at times.
“We’ve also drafted in Eglinton’s overseas professional Mike Erlank to the panel as well. Everyone in the North West knows how good a player Mike is and he will be a great help to the younger lads.
“The squad will be captained by Jared Wilson and while this is a step up for several of them, we’re confident that they’ll be able to handle it.”
The Warriors squad for Thursday’s game is-
Jared Wilson (capt)
Ani Chore (wk)
Mike Erlank
Scott Macbeth
Robbie Millar
Cameron Melly
Nathan McGuire
Liam Doherty
Harry Zimmerman
Ryan Macbeth
Trent McKeegan
Josh Wilson
Conor Olphert
Gavin Roulston
The North West Warriors are kindly sponsored by – Fleming-Agri Products Ltd
Originally set up in Donegal in the northwest of Ireland by Robert John Fleming in 1860, ownership of the company has remained in the Fleming family to the present, ranking as one of the oldest agricultural machinery companies in the UK and Ireland. The company trades in over 20 countries and employs over 100 people in their modern 6-acre site in Newbuildings. They specialise in agricultural, countryside and ground care machinery with over 100 products on offer: https://www.fleming-agri.com/
