2020 Inter-Provincial Trophy

2020 Inter-Provincial Trophy
Dates20 August – 8 September 2020
Administrator(s)Cricket Ireland
Cricket formatTwenty20
Tournament format(s)Round-robin
ChampionsLeinster Lightning (6th title)
Participants4
Matches12
Most runsKevin O'Brien (148)
Most wicketsSimi Singh (8)
2019
2021

The 2020 Inter-Provincial Trophy was the eighth edition of the Inter-Provincial Trophy, a Twenty20 cricket competition played in Ireland during August and September 2020.[1][2] It was the fourth edition of the competition to be played with full Twenty20 status. Northern Knights were the defending champions.[3]

On the opening day of the tournament, Northern Knights beat North West Warriors by two runs in a match affected by the rain,[4] and Leinster Lightning defeated Munster Reds by nine wickets with twelve overs to spare.[5] Leinster Lightning won the tournament, to claim their sixth title,[6] after beating Northern Knights by five wickets in the penultimate round of matches.[7]

The final two fixtures of the tournament, scheduled to be played on 8 September 2020, were both called off a day before they were meant to be played.[8] The match between Munster Reds and Northern Knights was cancelled because of a possible COVID-19 "chain of transmission" linked back to a cancelled match in the 2020 Bob Willis Trophy in England a few days prior.[9] The other match, between North West Warriors and Leinster Lightning, was called off due to a wet outfield, meaning only half of the scheduled twelve matches finished with a result.[10]

  1. ^ "Fixtures announced for men's internationals, Inter-Provincial Series and Super 3s in 2020". Cricket Ireland. Retrieved 23 December 2019.
  2. ^ "Interpros to return next month". Cricket Europe. Archived from the original on 22 July 2020. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
  3. ^ "Knights lift T20 crown". Cricket Europe. Archived from the original on 19 August 2019. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
  4. ^ "Knights win rain-shortened encounter at Bready". Cricket Ireland. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
  5. ^ "Lightning bolt to victory over Reds in opener". Cricket Ireland. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
  6. ^ "Lightning beat Knights to clinch T20 Trophy". Cricket Europe. Archived from the original on 4 November 2020. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
  7. ^ "Leinster Lightning beat Northern Knights to claim sixth T20 Inter-Provincial series crown". BBC Sport. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  8. ^ "Cricket Ireland cancels match as a precautionary measure". Cricket Ireland. Retrieved 8 September 2020.
  9. ^ "Cricket Ireland cancels interprovincial T20 over links to Northamptonshire Covid case". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 8 September 2020.
  10. ^ "T20 interpro cancelled". Cricket Europe. Archived from the original on 2 November 2020. Retrieved 8 September 2020.