WHILE the north London lights of Middlesex have attracted many a local cricketer over the years – more than 20 Irishmen have played for the county – the traffic has recently started to become a two-way affair. Already this century Ed Joyce, Eoin Morgan, Boyd Rankin, Dom Joyce and, shortly, Paul Stirling and Kevin O'Brien have worn the county colours at various levels.

With the selection of Hammersmith-born Andrew Poynter for the Twenty20 squad some balance has started to be restored. Poynter has an impeccable Irish cricket pedigree however, with his mother Wendy being the big sister of Deryck Vincent, the cultured left-handed bat of the late '80s who was worth far more than the 21 caps he actually won. 'I never really saw him play', Poynter told Inside Edge, 'but I've played with him in a few friendly games in Clontarf'.

Poynter first came on the Irish horizon three years ago, when he came over to play for Uncle Deryck's old club. 'I was playing for Sunbury on Saturdays and came over for a few Clontarf games on Sundays, but for the last three seasons I've been playing full-time - I love it here. The club have looked after me really well.' Staying with his nan, Phyllis, Andrew has been coaching at the club and at local schools, and has just finished his Sports Science finals at St Mary's, Twickenham.

Those exams cost him his first Irish caps, as he had been asked by Phil Simmons to join the squad for the last two Friends Provident games: 'they were on Sunday/Monday and I had my finals starting on the Tuesday so I had to give them a miss.'

Poynter could be set to rectify that gap on his CV before long. A text from Alex Cusack told him he was one of five uncapped players in the Twenty20 squad which will play two games against the Lashings XI in Kilbride next Sunday. It is a form of the game he greatly enjoys. 'I love it. It's so intense - you have to go for everything.'

Poynter has made his name as a big, hard hitter of the ball, and was fortunate that his best innings yet - a match-winning 130 in a high-scoring cup quarter-final at Rathmines last month - was witnessed by Simmons.

His class was spotted by Middle-sex at an early age, and he was brought into the county set-up at Under 10 level. 'I played all the way up to under 21, Academy, 2nd XI, but never got the big runs that would have got me a contract offer. I played against and alongside great players like Morgan, Finn and Godleman.' Aged 18, he played one first XI game alongside Ed Smith and Jamie Dalrymple, against Cambridge. 'It's a first class game and they can't ever take that away from you,' he says. He opened the batting with Billy Godleman and made 1. His brother Stuart, a wicketkeeper batsman, made his Middlesex 2nds debut last year, aged 16, and played for Ireland in the U-19 World Cup this year.

Andrew, too, played in that competition, in 2006, scoring 76 against New Zealand and taking particular liking to the bowling of new Kiwi star Tim Southee. He progressed through the U-23 and A team and spent a few weeks in India over the winter with the ICC alongside Gary Kidd, Gary Wilson and Fintan McAllister. All four have now been brought into the full squad as Simmons rebuilds the team in advance of the ICC Trophy next Autumn.

Poynter plans to stick around this summer and see how his nascent Ireland career develops. 'I commit-ted myself to Irish cricket a couple of years ago and I want to see how far it goes.'

THERE is a brand new name on the Irish Universities trophy. The event has been dominated by Trinity and Queens since its inception in 1972, with rare interruptions by UU and UCD. But last week the men of Dublin City University comfortably beat both their Dublin rivals to claim the Gordon Mellon Trophy. A busy, keen side, a cultured century by Pembroke's Theo Lawson against Trinity was the highlight of their campaign.