The halfway point of the Interprovincial Championship was marked by Leinster Lightning's second and final home match, this time against the Northern Knights. The strength in depth of the Leinster Lightning batting was reflected in Albert van der Merwe's elevation to the top of the order, while Max Sorensen, who has been rampant with the bat for The Hills this season, had to settle for the spinner's old position of eleven. The Knights on the other hand were without Craig Ervine, the Zimbabwean Test star, who had bolstered them in their win over the struggling Warriors last time out.

The Lightning batted first, and their top three of van der Merwe, Collins and Cusack were all quickly back in the pavilion thanks to strikes from Eaglestone, Waller and Allen Coulter. When Andrew Poynter also left before reaching 20, the Knights bowlers must have been quite pleased with their work, but the depth of the Leinster batting is formidable. Irish long form regular John Anderson booked in for the long haul, grinding out 86 patient runs while the Leinster skipper O'Brien made an explosive half-century from number six. When he fell, MCC Young Cricketer Stuart Poynter brazenly set about outdoing him and succeeded by clouting a 55-ball 54 that included ten fours.

For most teams, number eight would mark the start of the tail, but for Leinster it just means that there are some more batsmen. John Mooney played nicely for his 36 while McAllister (scorer of pretty regular centuries for his club) failed at the other end. Even ten and eleven (Richardson and Sorensen) are both good all-rounders, as they proved by putting on 60 in seven overs to snatch all momentum in the game. It was brutal hitting, and undid all the good work of the Knights bowlers, in particular Phil Eaglestone.

The incredible first day was far from done for the competition's form team; two quick wickets from the impressive Eddie Richardson meant that the Knights batsmen were reeling already going into the second day. The following morning, Lee Nelson, Greg Thompson and Nikolai Smith all fell quickly, adding just a single run between them, leaving the Northern team at a brutal 21 for five.  Chris Dougherty was sticking to his task and batting impressively, but he was doing to without the support of those around him. The only other to lend a meaningful hand was John Terrett at number eight, and the Knights subsided to the bowling of Mooney and Richardson for 123, with opener Dougherty having carried his bat for an excellent 60.

With James Shannon unavailable to open because of an injury, Terrett was promoted to do so as the Knights followed on, but he could not repeat his earlier application and fell for only two as Richardson got the early breakthrough once again. Lee Nelson also departed cheaply, but the imminent collapse was abated by skipper Andrew White and Greg Thompson, who made respectable contributions from numbers four and five, but whose 20s and 30s were not enough to keep their side in the game. Nikolai Smith then departed before Dougherty was finally dismissed by Eddie Richardson, for 69 this time out, having seen fifteen wickets fall from the other end. From then on, the only question was whether it would be the Lightning or the rain that would end the game first, but early on the third day the home side walked out victorious.

In 2006 in Port of Spain, Bermuda made their first foray into ODI cricket with a thrilling win over the Canadians, thanks completely to an unbeaten eight wicket partnership of 64 between Lionel Cann and Dean Minors. The victory was narrow, but the future was thought to be rather bright; it was a well handled opening foray. Three years later, and after a wretched World Cup and a still worse Qualifier for the next one, the island nation had crumbled to new depths. The fall wasn't done there, and, less than a year after playing their last ODI, Bermuda lost the right to play List A cricket by getting relegated from the WCL Division 2. 

Countless insults have been thrown at the Bermudian players: fat, unfit, lazy, incompetent, arrogant. Some of them may be true, it isn't my place to judge, but certainly it can't always have been this way. Otherwise, how would a land with a population less than a third of the size of the city I live in in the UK have reached the Cricket World Cup?

It would be foolish to expect such a small player pool to be able to compete at such a high level in the long term, but there must still be something wrong for them to plummet so far and fast. One of the problems is the domestic structure on the island; if such a small pool of talent is split between thirteen teams, then there is little scope for these players to challenge themselves. For example, so far this season, Curt Stovell, one of the most talented newcomers to the Bermudian team, has averaged around 80 with the bat and 10 with the ball as captain of his club team. These cheap runs and wickets simply won't be doing him any good at all. If I look at my home city in the UK, there are only really four competitive cricket clubs, and two of them are in decline. Splitting the talent in these clubs between thirteen teams would be a waste of everyone's time.

As a result, young, talented players have to move away from the island if they want to make the tiniest amount of progress in their careers. Terryn Fray, Kamau Leverock and Stefan Kelly have all been playing cricket at varying levels in the UK to try to hone their skills, as opposed to playing against has-beens and fill-ins in the Bermudian competitions. If you look at the alternative, Joshua Gilbert stayed at home to play his cricket, and forced his way into the national team on the back of countless wickets with his off-spin, but has found it very difficult to make a step up that could really use a ladder.

And yes, many of the oft-thrown criticisms are true - Gus Logie had problems making the national squad attend training sessions in his tenure, and some of that squad were far from the peak of their fitness. If the murmurings from the Bermudian board are to be believed, though, everything is hunky-dory with shiny sponsors, shiny awards and shiny batting and bowling figures in their shiny competitions. Too bad that for all of these outward appearances, the on-field results are yet to show much improvement, if any. 

Strengths
Despite all of this, there are one or two bright-ish spots to be found in the team. For instance, while Steven Outerbridge struggled with ODIs, he is quite a potent force in WCL3. There are also a number of young players coming through, including Leverock, Jones, Kelly, Fray and Gilbert to name but a few. Hopefully, these players will establish themselves and consolidate a good standing in and around the WCL2 and 3 tiers of cricket.

Weaknesses
I'll keep this section short: the weaknesses are talent and infrastructure. Davd Hemp is now well into his forties and will not last forever, but there isn't any obvious replacement for him. Many senior players who took Bermuda to their dizzying ODI heights retired almost straight away, then un-retired, shutting out younger players, then retired again. Sadly, the last near-decade has been one long story of disarray.

Star Player
Probably still David Hemp. Now 42 and far from the player he once was, he still puts in 100% for Bermudian cricket. In recent months, he hit his way to a match-winning century in a one-dayer against the USA; and still not much older than the rest of his middle order, with an average age of 40. There still isn't anybody who appears ready to replace him, as was the case when Clay Smith retired, and he will leave a huge void when he finally hangs up his boots.

Grass Roots
Crowded. Very crowded. Cricket remains a popular sport, so with the right investment and tweaks to structure, there is little reason that Bermuda can't be a strong (if modest) team. They could still be a force in the Americas. Instead, though, the domestic season seems to be more geared towards exactly how many sponsors logos the BCB can fit on its homepage, rather than how many teenagers can be given good, competitive cricket.

Biggest Threat
Total implosion. Relegation from Division Three yet further into the international wilderness. Slipping out of the top three bracket of cricket in the Americas which would mean no more World Twenty20 Qualifiers. Perhaps if Bermuda marketed itself as a pre-season tour destination for counties who want to give young players in their academies or second-XIs some cricket, there could be something for the young Bermudians to aspire to.

From Bermuda, I will move on next week to the more promising story of Uganda, a cricketing nation brimming with talent who make the most of their limited opportunities.

This week's player of the week had to be a player from the ICC Champions' Trophy winning team, and as a result it was pretty much a straight choice between golden ball winner Ravindra Jadeja and golden bat winner Shikhar Dhawan. It was Dhawan, though, for his sheer audacity, who for me and most of the cricketing world was the star of the tournament.

At the start of the year, the Delhi and SunRisers Hyderabad batsman was something of a has-been at international level. His six internationals had brought him a half-century in a victory over the West Indies, but only 24 more runs besides. His A-team tour to the West Indies had been far from fruitful, but the selectors were looking for replacements for Gambhir and Sehwag at the top of the order. It was Dhawan who they called.

He responded by producing arguably the most shocking and brazen innings in Test cricket's long history. In the third Test against Australia, India (including debutant Dhawan) had spent a day and a half chasing leather in the field while Australia accumulated 408 and put themselves into a comfortable position in the game, a position that, with the first day lost, they should not lose from. Dhawan was the first to fall in the Indian innings, but not before he had made hay. In just 58 overs of Test cricket, he had reached a breathtaking 185 not out at stumps. He fell early the next morning and the opening stand had soared to 289. The Indians eventually won the Test in the final hour of play on the last day.

Fast forward to the opening game of the Champions' Trophy. It is two years since that maiden ODI half-century, and Shikhar, on his return to the ODI fold, marks the occasion with a super-human century that made a good South African score look extremely modest.  Five days later, he was back at it, posting another ton to defeat the West Indies, his third in three innings since his Indian comeback.

Fairytales don't last forever, and scores of 48, 68 and 31 are, while far from modest, distinctly more mortal. Of course, there is the interesting factoid that the 31 was his first innings since his comeback that was not India's top-score. Is this a record? I suppose I'd better post that question to Ask Steven and hope for an answer - I'm no whiz with Statsguru.

Shikhar Dhawan is a reminder that just because you get knocked back, or aren't instantly successful, it doesn't mean you aren't good enough. He also shows that however good your talent is, you still have to work on the damn thing if you want to nurture it to find success. And he has a moustache; soon, so will every man in India.

On Friday at Pembroke CC, Leinster hosted the first of three Interprovincial Twenty20 days. They would play in both matches, the first against North West Warriors and the second against the Northern Knights.

The day started with an excellent maiden over from John Mooney, onto which Ryan Hunter was unable to lay a bat. Immediately, the Lightning had the initiative, and it was firmly theirs when Max Sorensen completely beat David Rankin for pace to claim the first wicket of the day with his first legitimate delivery. After an ungainly swat through mid-wicket for four, Warriors skipper Ifti Hussain snicked off to slip and the second over finished with the score on five for two. Eddie Richardson re-arranged the stumps of Hunter before Sorensen added Brian Allen to his list of victims and the visitors were reeling. Stuart Thompson seemed to be playing a different game to the rest of his team's batsmen, as did Andy McBrine, as the two young Irish prospects knuckled down to rebuild, but they couldn't stop their team getting flattened for 78.

The opening pair of Andrew Britton and Stuart Thompson bowled well and made small inroads into the home side, but Bill Coghlan and Andrew Poynter proved that there was nothing wrong with the pitch by both hitting attractive, stroke-filled twenties. Ifti Hussain completed a miserable match by bowling just one over for eighteen, and the young North West side simply weren't at the races. I do not know who lurks in the Long's Supervalu Premier League, but I would hope that the NWCU look to bring in one or two old hands.

Shortly after steamrollering the Warriors, Leinster took on the Knights. This time, the home side were batting first, and set purposefully about assembling an imposing total. The opening pair of Coghlan and Collins wasted no time in dumping the opening bowlers out of the attack, rocketing along at over ten per over until Coghlan fell for 27 with his team on 65. The innings stalled somewhat, with Andrew White and medium pacer David Simpson conceding less than a run a ball. However, once Cusack and Poynter's scratchy innings were both cut short, the Leinster skipper made his second unbeaten contribution of the day. This one, a scorching 15-ball 32, showed again why he was picked up for the Caribbean Premier League, and was matched only by John Mooney, who like his skipper hit two sixes in his seven ball stay.

With so many runs to chase, the visiting Knights were far from favourites. When Barry McCarthy dismissed the entire top three in a classic spell of bowling, they were almost completely out of the game, despite the best efforts of Greg Thompson to rectify things. He couldn't find the support he needed, and Alex Cusack worked with van der Merwe to tidy up the scraps.

The same two teams will be competing in the next Interprovincial Championship match, once again at the picturesque College Park, on Tuesday. The Knights will hope to be boosted once again by Nathan Waller, who hopes for an Irish call-up some time soon, and fellow Zimbabwean Craig Ervine, who does not. My exams will be done by then, so hopefully the report will be more punctual.

One of the recurring problems with Kiwi cricket is that the jump from the Plunket Shield, Ford Trophy and HRV Cup is a huge one. Whenever national prospects like Luke Ronchi prosper in domestic cricket, it attracts great optimism about their future international careers, but invariably the step is a hard one to make.  Some, like Peter Fulton, have looked something less than the force they were in domestic cricket, while others find domestic runs and wickets to be easy pickings without really pushing for the national side. Just look at Carl Cachopa's purple patch.

There are six first class teams in New Zealand, the same number as in Australia and South Africa, but unlike in Super Rugby, they are not of the same standard. It is the opinion of many that there aren't enough good cricketers to fill six line-ups, but in my opinion that is completely irrelevant; the problem is a lack of a proper pyramid.

The six teams have a clear north-south split. Auckland Aces, Northern Districts Knights and Wellington Firebirds are from the north, while Canterbury Wizards, Central Districts Stags and Otago Volts are from the south. I believe that this north-south split could be used to achieve a concentrated pool of talent at the top of the pyramid in the style of India's Duleep Trophy. The first question is how I would propose accommodating such a competition. Cricket can viably be played in New Zealand from October to April, with some distinctly English temperatures between times which have no right to host antipodean cricket.  Once quite an un-condensed Plunket Trophy takes a break in early December, there opens the perfect slot for such a tournament; the only problem is that the HRV Cup has moved into town over the Christmas and New Year holidays. Theoretically, this time would be perfect for such an elite first-class competition, but money rules all, and Twenty20 nets rather a lot of it.

Once the Plunket Shield concludes in late February, we are into Ford Trophy season. My recommendation would be that the Plunket Shield and Ford Trophy are condensed slightly, each into a two-week shorter time frame. This way, the new competition could fit onto the end of the Plunket Shield season. There could then be a two match series between the North Island and the South Island. I would also recommend that these two matches are five days long, like Test matches, and take place at the Basin Reserve and University Oval respectively.

A prospective schedule of the tournament I'm thinking of (including hypothetical team nicknames) would be something along the lines of:

Last week of February
North Island Kiwis vs South Island Ferns
1st match at The Basin Reserve

First week of March
South Island Ferns vs North Island Kiwis
2nd match at University Oval

The national selectors should directly select which players they want playing in the series. That way, they could pick players who are in or close to the Test side, as well as those who might want to be blooded at a slightly higher standard before they are thrown in at the deep end of the Test XI. Thus, the squads for such a competition this year might have looked like:

In these teams, I have not included such inked-in members of the Test side as Ross Taylor or Brendon McCullum, to name but two. These teams could also play the warm-up matches against touring teams. Rather than two matches against a slightly random New Zealand XI, might England have been better warming up for the Twenty20 series with a game each against the North and South Islands?

Finally, the name of the competition. I think it should be named after a great of New Zealand cricket. The Turner Trophy has a nice ring to it.