North West season gears up towards its conclusion

The senior cup line-up looks particularly mouth-watering with rejuvenated Coleraine going to serial cup winners Donemana while holders Brigade are away to a Bready side who would be a real threat if in the mood.

It's the same the whole way down the list too and it has the makings of a quality last couple of weeks to the summer.

Having those four teams in the semi-finals would suggest that even though there were exciting matches and some shocks along the way, even in the reduced T20 format, the cream rose to the top.

There were of course hard luck stories; Newbuildings in particular can feel aggrieved not to have made it to the senior cup. They pushed Brigade every inch of the way and their day won't be long coming.

And while we can now look forward to the last couple of weeks, there are huge decisions waiting to be made this winter.

In the past few seasons, T20 cricket competitions had become little more than a hindrance to senior clubs. Most gave fringe players their chance in these competitions, if indeed they even turned up at all.

In April of this year you would have got long odds that there would be any competitive cricket here this summer. And really long odds that we'd have two T20 senior cup semi-finals featuring arguably the top four teams in the region.

It has been a truly remarkable effort from all involved- not just those night after night committee meetings on Zoom but also player meetings, club meetings, captains meetings and umpires meetings.

Quite simply, the North West did what it does best- it decided it wanted to play cricket, and play it did.