KEVIN O'Brien was yesterday named as captain of Leinster Lightning ahead of the start of the revamped interprovincial cricket championship next month.

O'Brien leads a strong 22-man squad which includes a dozen who have played for Ireland - even though it excludes all the English-based professionals.

"It's a good mix of experience and youth", O'Brien told the Irish Daily Star. "There's some old heads there and some exciting youngsters like Peter Chase and Tyrone Kane."

The Lightning squad starts training next week and kicks off with a 50 overs game against the Northern Knights at the Hills on May 6th.
They will also play games over the three-day and 20 over formats.
Malahide's Fintan McAllister, who won six caps before he went down under for two years, is back in the running for the keeper slot with Stuart Poynter.

Last year's Ireland A springer Alex O'Brien is also included, while Railway Union's Australian professional Patrick Collins - with Irish roots - also gets a chance to show his talent.

Squad: K O'Brien (Railway Union, capt), B Ackland (Merrion & Unicorns), J Anderson (Merrion), A Balbirnie (Pembroke & Cardiff MCCU), P Chase (Malahide & Durham), B Coghlan (Clontarf), P Collins (Railway Union), A Cusack (Clontarf), T Johnston (YMCA), T Kane (Merrion), P Lawson (Pembroke), J Mooney (North County), S Moreton (Leinster) , F McAllister (Malahide), B McCarthy (Pembroke), A O'Brien (Merrion), A Poynter (Clontarf), S Poynter (Clontarf & MCCYC), E Richardson (North County), M Sorensen (The Hills), R Strydom (YMCA), A Van der Merwe (YMCA). Coach: T Johnston; Manager: M Jones