ANOTHER young Irishman took the first steps on the road to a career in cricket when he made his debut for Glamorgan 2nds last week.

Jack Tector of YMCA turned out against Lancashire at the SWALEC Stadium and made 9 off 18 balls before he was bowled by Bailey.

Ireland U17 and U19 commitments will curtail his opportunities at the county but he expects to return there later this month for another game.

The Irish Universities victory in the Hone-McGregor Series in Fenner’s this week drew attention to the fact that Cambridge University is a minor hotbed of Irish cricket at the moment.

No fewer than three Irishmen are Light Blues at the moment - in fact if you take in Chris Burns of Bangor (a student at University of Dundee), who starred for Scottish Students, there were far more NCU cricketers playing against Irish Universities that for them!

Burns started with a duck against the hosts but made a blistering 89 off 53 balls which briefly gave Scotland hope of beating Ireland.

Ben Wylie (Instonians) played for Cambridge against Scotland only, making 30 and taking 2-29 before a clash of fixtures meant he turned out for the Cambridge MCCU against Southampton Solent University in the British Uni’s championship. He was out 4th ball there but took 5-28 off 10 overs.

Patrick Tice (Merrion) and Michael Taylor (Ballymena) both turned out against Ireland for Cambridge, with Tice making 8 before he was bowled by Patrick Chase, and later catching Hugh Pike of Trinity and stumping Carrickfergus’s Jordan McClurkin.

Taylor took the wicket of Bobbo Forrest (Clontarf) in his 10-0-62-1. Taylor and Wylie are among the 19 Irish-born players who have turned out for CUCC, going back to Nat Hone after whom the Tri-Series is jointly named.

Cambridge has always been more popular than Oxford, where 10 Irishmen have played first-class cricket, although that was where Jason Molins played in the 1990s.

Andy Balbirnie continues his prolific season, making 60 for North Middlesex against Richmond at Crouch End, and then 40 and 3 for Middlesex 2nds in their seven-wicket win over Gloucestershire in the 3-day championship. In the second innings he had a return of 8-0-15-2, including the scalp of county regular David Payne.

Stuart Poynter turned out for Durham 2nds against Warwickshire, making 60 in the first innings before he was out to a catch by Scotland’s Freddie Coleman.