The awarding of contracts to Fintan McAllister, Bill Coghlan and Pat Collins bring the number of contracted players in the Leinster Lightning set-up up to five.

Eddie Richardson and Albert van der Merwe had previously been named as beneficiaries earlier in the season.

Of course, the majority of the Leinster Lightning side are already on some form of contract with Cricket Ireland which means they have far fewer to hand out than the other two regions.

All the North West Warriors players have signed contracts, while the majority of the Northern Knights players not involved with Ireland have also done so.

The awarding of a contract means absolutely nothing in monetary terms - the players simply receive a match fee, although there were some rumblings about the levels of these fees with some players reportedly earning twice as much as others for games.

The fees for all competitions had been far below that set out in the original draft proposals, given a dramatic set-back in the Cricket Ireland finances, highlighted at their AGM by Treasurer Bob Magee as 'fragile'.

Other benefits of a contract include gym membership and access to the Cricket Ireland support staff.