It is a sign of the times that when the NCU Premier League season gets under way, five of the best players will be in Sri Lanka preparing for Ireland’s third Test match this month.

It would have been six if Civil Service North’s Matthew Foster had not been injured and the clubs who have developed or signed these players are now facing up to the reality that this is the future — club cricket will play second fiddle to Ireland going forward.

A look at the international programme alongside the domestic fixture list highlights the clash. Of the nine weekends when the Premier League teams meet each other before the division splits into the top six and bottom four, the Ireland players will be available for only three of them, and one of those is the day before they travel to Zimbabwe for the World Cup qualifying tournament.

The second half of the season is set to be just as conflicting with Ireland heading to Scotland for the T20 World Cup qualifiers followed by three T20 internationals against India in August, across another weekend of club cricket.

In the short term — the first two weeks — Waringstown are without James McCollum and Graham Hume; CIYMS will miss Mark Adair; North Down Tom Mayes and defending champions Lisburn must do without Matthew Humphreys.

Will it open the door for some of the unaffected clubs to be surprise title contenders, much like Lisburn last year before Humphreys broke into the international side?

The short answer is ‘unlikely’ because the stronger teams have the greater depth and Adair, for example, was a regular absentee last season, playing only eight of CIYMS’s 21 domestic games.

So, under new captain John Matchett, CIYMS will be confident of seeing off the challenge of Carrickfergus in what is the only game featuring two teams from last year’s top six.

Lisburn, who have CI’s long-serving captain Nigel Jones in their ranks, begin their defence with a trip to Instonians but Waringstown’s double loss has been immediately reduced to one match because their game against Cliftonville Academy was called off yesterday as the Castle Grounds is too wet.

New-look North Down, however, will have home advantage after accepting Woodvale’s request to switch the venue from an unplayable Ballygomartin Road and newly promoted Derriaghy play their first match back in the top flight since 2016 against Civil Service North at Stormont, the international ground without an international this season.

The India games, to be played at Malahide, are Ireland’s only home games this summer and yesterday the dates for the T20 World Cup qualifiers were announced.

The games will take place at two grounds in Edinburgh from July 20-28 with Ireland favourites, alongside Scotland, to be the two teams to qualify for the finals in West Indies and USA in June next year — once again at height of the domestic season.

Ireland’s T20 World Cup qualifying fixtures:July 20 v Italy (Goldenacre), July 21 v Denmark (Grange), July 23 v Austria (Grange), July 24 v Jersey (Goldenacre), July 27 v Germany (Goldenacre), July 28 v Scotland (Grange).