| 2020 Inter-Provincial Trophy | |
| Fromdate: | 20 August |
| Todate: | 8 September 2020 |
| Administrator: | Cricket Ireland |
| Cricket Format: | Twenty20 |
| Tournament Format: | Round-robin |
| Champions: | Leinster Lightning |
| Count: | 6 |
| Participants: | 4 |
| Matches: | 12 |
| Most Runs: | Kevin O'Brien (148) |
| Most Wickets: | Simi Singh (8) |
| Previous Year: | 2019 |
| Previous Tournament: | 2019 Inter-Provincial Trophy |
| Next Year: | 2021 |
| Next Tournament: | 2021 Inter-Provincial Trophy |
The 2020 Inter-Provincial Trophy was the eighth edition of the Inter-Provincial Trophy, a Twenty20 cricket competition played in Ireland during August and September 2020.[1] [2] It was the fourth edition of the competition to be played with full Twenty20 status. Northern Knights were the defending champions.[3]
On the opening day of the tournament, Northern Knights beat North West Warriors by two runs in a match affected by the rain,[4] and Leinster Lightning defeated Munster Reds by nine wickets with twelve overs to spare.[5] Leinster Lightning won the tournament, to claim their sixth title,[6] after beating Northern Knights by five wickets in the penultimate round of matches.[7]
The final two fixtures of the tournament, scheduled to be played on 8 September 2020, were both called off a day before they were meant to be played.[8] The match between Munster Reds and Northern Knights was cancelled because of a possible COVID-19 "chain of transmission" linked back to a cancelled match in the 2020 Bob Willis Trophy in England a few days prior.[9] The other match, between North West Warriors and Leinster Lightning, was called off due to a wet outfield, meaning only half of the scheduled twelve matches finished with a result.[10]
Originally the tournament was scheduled to be held from 12 June to 3 August 2020, with competition split into two halves, each branded as a T20 Festival. The first half was scheduled to be played in June, and the second half was scheduled to be played in August.[11]
On 26 March 2020, Cricket Ireland confirmed that domestic competitions would be pushed back to 28 May 2020 at the earliest, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[12] [13] Government restrictions prevented any cricket, including training, from starting before June 2020.[14] The Irish government announced a provisional date of 20 July 2020 for a possible restart of sporting fixtures in the country.[15] Plans of a possible start of domestic cricket in Ireland, with matches taking place during August and September, were looked at in July 2020.[16] On 22 July 2020, Cricket Ireland confirmed the revised fixtures for the tournament.[17] On 15 August 2020, all the teams confirmed their squads for the tournament.[18] [19]
The following teams competed:
| Team[20] | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leinster Lightning | 6 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 22 | +2.608 | |
| Northern Knights | 6 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 15 | +0.753 | |
| Munster Reds | 6 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 8 | –4.111 | |
| North West Warriors | 6 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 | –2.013 |
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