WE might be in the first week in July but we can probably predict less about the likely destination of the NCU Premier League title now than we could before a ball had been bowled in anger.

Four clubs are level-pegging at the top of the table, and not one of them is North Down, the league champions and just about everyone’s favourites to retain the trophy.

Lisburn, Waringstown, Instonians and Ballymena are the teams on 16 points, though it is the first two clubs that have lost just once in their five matches.

Ballymena have four wins from seven, and irrespective of their fairytale title win in 1998, captain James Kennedy will be thinking he is halfway towards securing Premier League safety rather than entertaining any notions of a realistic challenge.

Of the other front-runners, Waringstown surely don’t have the experience witho ut Kyle McCallan for long periods to sustain a challenge, even if they displayed new-found resilience in snatching victory f rom the jaws of defeat on successive days against Carrickfergus and Civil Service North on Sunday and Monday.

Instonians, who face a tricky assignment at Eaton Park today, wouldn’t have been anyone’s tips at the beginning of the summer either, with Andrew White and James Shannon likely to miss a huge proportion of matches, but with Eugene Moleon firing on all cylinders and Divan van Wyk looking an excellent overseas signing, they cannot be discounted.

Lisburn remain difficult to predict. Beaten soundly at home by Waringstown a fortnight ago, they then thrashed holders Civil Service North in the Challenge Cup last Saturday before self-destructing in spectacular fashion with the bat at Comber in the Ulster Cup the following day.

The smart money remains on North Down. With Peter Connell’s league appearances likely to be sporadic, their bowling attack remains vulnerable, but with New Zealand professional Iain Robertson starting to live up to a formidable reputation, they have the batting power that no-one can match.

They will almost certainly dispose of rock bottom Bangor today, before the prospect of an intriguing Metal Technology Twenty20 finals day tomorrow at Comber, when the host club, Carrickfergus, Waringstown and Instonians make up the semi-finals.

The competition was cursed by poor weather in 2008 and with the weekend forecast again suggesting rain, we should at least be thankful that the competition is taking place at the driest venue in the country.

One of the likeliest batsmen to provide fireworks tomorrow may be Instonians’ opener Rory McCann. Together with van Wyk, he has forged an effective partnership at the top of the order and they compiled a record club record stand in the Ulster Cup win over Strabane last Sunday.

Inst will be without both White and James Shannon today, but McCann remains convinced they have what it takes to beat Waringstow n and reach the final.

“We think we have the game that is suited to Twenty20,” said McCann. “Divan is used to opening the batting at home in South Africa and he’s done really well since he’s gone up the order. We will try and get things off to an aggressive start, and there are other players like Neil Hamilton and Stephen Bunting who can score quickly, and then we have Eugene who is a great Twenty20 bowler.

“Overall, I think we have a good young team and the Twenty20 Cup is certainly a competition we look forward to a lot.”

Inst will look to base much of their batting tactics around White, even in his absence. The Ireland all-rounder is a master of improvising with the bat, as he demonstrated during his excellent cameo against India at Lord’s in the World Twenty20 last month.

“I watched a lot of the World Twenty20 and when you look at someone like Whitey, you can’t fail to learn off him,” McCann said. “You take a few ideas off him, I like playing the reverse sweep in particular, and people say I play it differently because I use one hand. People set normal fields and it’s all about putting the ball in areas where there are no fielders.”

Looking further ahead, McCann believes Inst have what it takes to sustain a challenge in four competitions. They are also semi-finalists in the Ulster Cup and Challenge Cup, where they will meet North Down and Lisburn respectively.

“North Down are usually the team to beat but this season they’ve lost a few matches they would have seen themselves winning,” McCann added. “Lisburn have come good after a few signings, Waringstown are doing well, and we’ve done very well recently, so I think it’s more open this year.

“North Down are still very strong with the batting, but maybe as much on the bowling, and teams are not as intimidated facing them. It’s more open which is good for the NCU.”

Tomorrow’s Twenty20 action starts at 1pm with the two semi-finals taking place simultaneously.