KEVIN O'Brien is only the highest-profile Irishman involved in the newest glamorous T20 tournament. The CPLt20 - or Caribbean Premier League - takes place in the West Indies in early August, and the Irish vice-captain will be a key member of the Trinidad and Tobago Red Steel.
"The tournament starts 30 July," he told Inside Edge this week, "and I'd hope to get out there a week ahead to get acclimatised. There's a limit of three foreign players per team, but as we only have two others - Ross Taylor and Aaron Finch - if I perform well in training I'd hope to get in the team."
O'Brien is also set to play alongside local stars Dwayne and Darren Bravo, Kevan Cooper, Fidel Edwards and Samuel Badree. Unlike the IPL and BPL which has an auction, the CPL is a draft.
"That means T&T told the CPL they wanted to sign me."
Did Irish coach Phil Simmons - who is from Trinidad - have anything to do with his signing?
"I don't think so … but if he did - thanks Phil!," O'Brien grinned.
There will be some other Irish cricketers about the place during the CPLt20. Despite sitting on top of the RSA Division 2 bowling averages, Clontarf all-rounder Paul Ryan flies out this week to act as Liaison Officer for the Jamaica Tallawahs, answering to the CEO of CPLt20, Dubliner Damien O'Donoghue.
"Damien set up Icon Talent, the sports agency, with Brian O'Driscoll and Damien Duff," explains Ryan.
"I knew him from Clontarf and he was keen to get a few Irish people involved. The St Lucia Zouks physio is former Ireland A, Leinster and Harlequins rugby player Andy Dunne."
The tournament is also funded by Denis O'Brien's firm Digicel, which recently renewed its sponsorship of West Indies cricket for another three years.
"This is the first year of the CPLt20, so it has to be done properly", says Ryan. Big names such as Muttiah Muralitharan (Jamaica Tallawahs) and Ricky Ponting (Antigua Hawksbills) have been signed.
"Kevin is highly-regarded out there", says Ryan, "the tournament will be a great chance for him to show what he can do."
O'Brien is exciting about the prospect. "I'll miss some matches for Railway and Leinster Lightning, but there's no Ireland games at the time so that will give me a chance to play in the whole tournament."
"I'm really looking forward to it. It's a great chance to improve and get my name out there again, get more 2020 experience. The next big tournament for Ireland is the T20 qualifiers in Dubai, and then hopefully the ICC World Twenty20 in Bangladesh or South Africa. That's another opportunity to get experience," he added.
The six-team CPLt20, which will be shown here on ESPN, kicks off July 30th and the final is on August 24th.
Ryan Gallagher has been one of the sensations of the summer in RSA Division 2. The Strabane man moved south to Malahide where he is currently topping the club averages with bat (364 @ 45.5) and ball (21 @ 10.38) , and is second leading bowler in the province. After a season with Phoenix in 2011, he decided to respond to Malahide's offer of a job coaching and playing and has repaid their faith handsomely.
"I'm loving it here in Malahide", he told Inside Edge. "They've some fantastic young players. The likes of Cameron Shoebridge can go very far if he puts the hard work in." The former Ireland U13 player has great ambitions, and is 100% committed to playing his way onto one of the regional sides. And like William Porterfield who moved from Donemana to Rush in 2006, Gallagher decided a move was best for him.
He acknowledges that Leinster Lightning will be hard to break into, but is unsure whether his native North-West will pick him while he plays outside the union.
"I feel like my game is now at the right level", he says, as he assesses a season in which he made his first century in Dublin cricket.
Gallagher is uniquely placed to assess current standards in the unions, which he says are quite similar, albeit there are twice as many strong clubs in Leinster.
While no-one will begrudge Trent Johnston a deserved long retirement, some will wish he could have played just one more World Cup. TJ will be 41 just after the 2015 event, which would make him younger than these World Cup cricketers: Nolan Clarke (Holland, 47, 1996), John Traicos (Zimbabwe, 44, 1992), Johan Louw (Namibia, 43, 2003), Flavian Aponso (Holland, 43, 1996), Don Pringle (East Africa, 43, 1975), Steve Lubbers (Holland, 42, 1996) and Somachandra de Silva (Sri Lanka, 41, 1984).
Performance of the Week: Laois ended Cork County's 100% record on Saturday in what was only the 2nd league match ever to see 700 runs scored. Laois made 378-8 (Louis Hoffmeyr 131, Ramazan 105) and County 323.
Tweet of the Week: jaw-dropping photo from Terenure Titans of their coach Ted Williamson, the last Munster-based player to play for Ireland