The Irish interest in the 2nd XI county season petered out when it emerged that neither Paul Stirling not Andy Balbirnie would be in action for Middlesex in the championship final at Radlett.
Two uncapped Irishmen, Barry McCarthy and Mark Adair, were fished out of the final Hanley Energy Interprovincial at Rathmines by their counties. But as the 2nd XI season is over and both Durham and Warwickshire are safe in Division 1 of the championship, perhaps the pair are in line for a first-class debut in the closing games of the season.
McCarthy was also in action for his English club, Gateshead Fell last weekend, and bowled 6-1-16-0 as Blaydon were bowled out for 156. The Pembroke man then made 8, bowled by Durham off-spinner Ryan Buckley.
Bobby Gamble is also still going, making 27 not out, the second highest score as Plumtree totalled 168 against Farnsfield. That was far too much for the oppo, who were all out for 48.
Gamble wasn't needed to bowl on Saturday, but as he has already bowled 755 overs already this summer that's probably excusable.
Altogether, 16 Irishmen have played for the second XIs of English counties, while we have also covered a half-dozen others who played top level club cricket in the UK, and five more who played for universities sides.
Below are tables for the Irish players in the three county competitions (which includes Irishmen who are no longer available to Ireland, such as Morgan, Moor and Rankin).
Stirling was top of the averages in the 2nd XI championship for batters that had played four or more innings.
Second XI Championship batting averages| M | I | NO | R | HS | Avge | 100 | 50 | |||
| PR Stirling | Mx | 4 | 6 | 2 | 640 | 254 | 160.00 | 2 | 3 | |
| PJ Moor | Sy | 2 | 4 | 1 | 148 | 62 | 49.33 | - | 1 | |
| WTS Porterfield | Wa | 2 | 4 | 0 | 180 | 81 | 45.00 | - | 2 | |
| G H Dockrell | Sm | 5 | 5 | 1 | 169 | 95 | 42.25 | - | 2 | |
| A Balbirnie | Mx | 4 | 6 | 0 | 242 | 205 | 40.33 | 1 | - | |
| W J Gorvin | Ha | 1 | 1 | 0 | 36 | 36 | 36.00 | - | - | |
| S W Poynter | Du | 7 | 12 | 1 | 333 | 119 | 30.27 | 1 | 2 | |
| S R Thompson | Sy | 2 | 3 | 0 | 81 | 61 | 27.00 | - | 1 | |
| R N Gamble | Sm | 6 | 5 | 1 | 84 | 22 | 21.00 | - | - | |
| J B Tector | Gm | 1 | 2 | 0 | 37 | 35 | 18.50 | - | - | |
| B J McCarthy | Du | 8 | 9 | 3 | 99 | 25* | 16.50 | - | - | |
| T J Murtagh | Mx | 2 | 3 | 1 | 33 | 16 | 16.50 | - | - | |
| M R Adair | Wa | 8 | 7 | 2 | 68 | 24* | 13.60 | - | - | |
| A W Gorvin | Ha | 4 | 5 | 0 | 54 | 22 | 10.80 | - | - |
| O | M | R | W | Avge | Best | 5wi | |||||
| T J Murtagh | Mx | 55 | 18 | 159 | 12 | 13.25 | 5-23 | 1 | |||
| R N Gamble | Sm | 170.1 | 54 | 486 | 28 | 17.35 | 5-54 | 1 | |||
| G H Dockrell | Sm | 120.1 | 32 | 329 | 11 | 29.90 | 3-24 | - | |||
| B J McCarthy | Du | 167.4 | 31 | 660 | 20 | 33.00 | 5-34 | 1 | |||
| M R Adair | Wa | 166 | 28 | 624 | 16 | 39.00 | 4-63 | - | |||
| W J Gorvin | Ha | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | - | |||||
| PR Stirling | Mx | 4 | 0 | 25 | 0 | - | |||||
| A Balbirnie | Mx | 10 | 2 | 33 | 0 | - | |||||
| S R Thompson | Sy | 25 | 6 | 101 | 0 | - |
| M | I | NO | R | HS | Avge | 100 | 50 | |||
| EJG Morgan | Mx | 1 | 1 | 0 | 116 | 116 | 116.00 | 1 | - | |
| SW Poynter | Du | 6 | 5 | 2 | 152 | 67 | 50.66 | - | 1 | |
| A W Gorvin | Ha | 3 | 3 | 1 | 99 | 40 | 49.50 | - | - | |
| J B Tector | Gm | 2 | 2 | 0 | 91 | 91 | 45.50 | - | 1 | |
| R N Gamble | Sm | 4 | 3 | 2 | 43 | 25 | 43.00 | - | - | |
| B J McCarthy | Du | 8 | 3 | 1 | 57 | 33* | 28.50 | - | - | |
| G H Dockrell | Sm | 3 | 2 | 0 | 34 | 29 | 17.00 | - | - | |
| S R Thompson | Sy | 1 | 1 | 0 | 16 | 16 | 16.00 | - | - | |
| M R Adair | Wa | 6 | 6 | 0 | 70 | 27 | 11.66 | - | - | |
| P J Moor | Sy | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1* | 1 | - | - | - |
| O | M | R | W | Avge | Best | Ec/rate | |||||
| B J McCarthy | Du | 52 | 3 | 292 | 12 | 24.33 | 4-50 | 5.61 | |||
| M R Adair | Wa | 47 | 5 | 277 | 9 | 30.77 | 4-19 | 5.89 | |||
| R N Gamble | Sm | 22 | 1 | 110 | 3 | 36.66 | 2-37 | 5.00 | |||
| G H Dockrell | Sm | 24 | 1 | 127 | 3 | 42.33 | 1-33 | 5.29 | |||
| S R Thompson | Sy | 4 | 0 | 25 | 0 | - | - | 6.25 | |||
| A W Gorvin | Ha | 3 | 0 | 29 | 0 | - | - | 9.66 |
| M | I | NO | R | HS | Avge | S/R | 100 | 50 | |||
| P R Stirling | Mx | 2 | 2 | 0 | 156 | 116 | 78.00 | 152.94 | 1 | - | |
| B J McCarthy | Du | 11 | 7 | 3 | 67 | 16* | 16.75 | 142.55 | - | - | |
| WTS Porterfield Wa | 3 | 3 | 0 | 73 | 53 | 24.33 | 140.38 | - | 1 | ||
| K J O'Brien | Le | 2 | 2 | 0 | 38 | 30 | 19.00 | 131.03 | - | - | |
| A Balbirnie | Mx | 3 | 3 | 2 | 95 | 51* | 95.00 | 126.66 | - | 1 | |
| S W Poynter | Du | 8 | 5 | 0 | 106 | 44 | 21.20 | 117.77 | - | - | |
| P J Moor | Sy | 6 | 5 | 0 | 47 | 22 | 9.40 | 106.81 | - | - | |
| G H Dockrell | Sm | 4 | 4 | 1 | 43 | 32 | 14.33 | 104.87 | - | - | |
| M R Adair | Wa | 11 | 3 | 2 | 9 | 6* | 9.00 | 100.00 | - | - | |
| R N Gamble | Sm | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1* | - | 100.00 | - | - | |
| W B Rankin | Wa | 1 | 0 |
| O | M | R | W | Avge | Ec/R | Best | ||||
| W B Rankin | Wa | 4 | 1 | 9 | 3 | 3.00 | 2.25 | 3-9 | ||
| G H Dockrell | Sm | 13 | 0 | 67 | 7 | 9.57 | 5.15 | 4-22 | ||
| P R Stirling | Mx | 7 | 0 | 38 | 2 | 19.00 | 5.42 | 1-15 | ||
| B J McCarthy | Du | 37 | 0 | 271 | 16 | 16.93 | 7.32 | 3-20 | ||
| K J O'Brien | Le | 8 | 0 | 60 | 3 | 20.00 | 7.50 | 2-28 | ||
| A Balbirnie | Mx | 6.1 | 0 | 52 | 2 | 26.00 | 8.43 | 2-25 | ||
| M R Adair | Wa | 31.2 | 0 | 273 | 10 | 27.30 | 8.71 | 3-15 | ||
| R N Gamble | Sm | 13 | 0 | 118 | 3 | 39.33 | 9.07 | 1-11 |