I have thoroughly enjoyed putting all of these county teams together. What struck me is the number of cricketers who deserve an opportunity to showcase their talents at a higher level. The demise of the Inter-Pros is sad but it is increasingly difficult to find where they could be slotted into a busy summer schedule. However it is clear that their loss has been very bad news for Ulster as a whole. The preferred route into the Ireland team now is through the youth teams. This means that for many good club cricketers and late developers there is virtually no chance of selection. The lack of interest in the Irish Senior Cup north of the border has allowed some in Leinster to take the view that there are no good cricketers ‘up there'. Thus in recent times the minority of cricketers who are picked from club cricket are picked from LCU cricket.

I do believe that a tournament like this would be much more appealing to watch if everyone committed to playing and the sides tried their best to ensure the best players played. Indeed reaching Inter-Pro or County level means so much more if you are selected on merit not just on availability. I also think that local county rivalry would mean the matches would be competitive. There are also no obvious winners which to me makes it much more appealing than a Club Turf or an Ulster League which would be dominated by the same sides that dominate it now. The gap between club cricket and International cricket needs to be bridged and players do need to feel recognised for their performances by selection to a higher level and whether it is a County Championship or an Inter-Pro those opportunities should be available.

Here is my Tyrone selection.

Chris Dougherty (Bready, shown right): Chris is starting to make a real name for himself. He is very much ‘in the loop' with his performances for Ireland U19s and if he continues to work hard and not get complacent he could be capped in the not too distant future.

David Rankin (Bready): I have kept these two together at the top of the order. Despite getting a really big hundred he was disappointing this year. He is a good young cricketer but a batsman's currency is runs and he needs to score more.

Mark Gillespie (Strabane): Probably the best bat, certainly the most consistent in the North West over the last couple of years and he's not a bad bowler either!

Peter Gillespie (Strabane): He's been a fabulous servant of Strabane, North West and Irish cricket. Young cricketers could learn so much from just being in the same dressing room.

Alex (Junior) McBrine (Donemana): True legend of the NW. His first few Ireland wickets included Allan Border and Imran Khan and incredibly was once dropped after scoring a hundred for Ireland.

Dwayne McGerrigle (Donemana): When he gets a hundred it is usually a big one so purely because he can be a match winner he gets the nod. He's still only 27 and I for one would love to see him injury free, fit and steaming into bowl again.

Paul McNamee (Strabane): He has shown he is an excellent gloveman and scores runs often when they are needed.

Boyd Rankin (Bready): I said two years ago Ireland needed to bring him to the Caribbean and he hasn't looked back since the World Cup. If he stays fit he has the potential to be one of Ireland's greatest ever bowlers.

Gary Neely (Fox Lodge): Seems like he has been around forever but only in his early thirties. I would love to see him get really fit and sustain the pressure on batsmen for more than a few overs because he can still be genuinely quick. When he's in the mood he is a handful.

Trevor Britton (Bready): He's probably the best off spinner in the North West but will need to improve his overall game to be given a look in at a higher level.

Phil Eaglestone (Strabane): Left arm over the wicket bowler. Like many lefties he swings it in and cuts it away from right-handers. But he is sharp through the air and causes lots of problems for batsmen.

Picking a side with Junior and no James is like bacon with no eggs but I found it really difficult to fill that last slot. Everyone should know by now I like bowlers with pace. Eaglestone, Neely and Rankin (they sound like a firm of solicitors) would cause a lot of problems for opening batsmen as they all pose different questions. I went for Dwayne McGerrigle as a batsman in the end up but there was little to choose between Dwayne, Brian Allen, Johnny Heywood Jnr and Richard Kee. Incredibly I haven't picked Jordan McGonigle and I'm still not sure why myself. He flights the ball beautifully for a tall man and I suspect he would take a lot of wickets in the NCU where batsmen cannot get away with mis-hits on the bigger grounds. Boyd Rankin is selected for the same reasons that Gary Kidd and Gary Wilson are in other teams.