Ireland's annual three-day match against Scotland, which starts at Ayr tomorrow, and next week's Irish Development sides' games against the English Midland Conference will be the last chances for our top players to make a bid for inclusion in the 25-man panel which the selectors will announce next Friday for indoor training during the coming off-season.

Ultimately, the squad for next summer's ICC World Cup qualifying tournament will be drawn from the panel which will be unveiled next week, so these final few representative fixtures will be very important for those with international ambitions. Yes, there are some automatic choices - the captain, Kyle McCallan, for instance - but several places are very much up for grabs, and the selectors' task is by no means easy.

Word has it that the names of some 20 players have been pencilled in already, following the selectors' meeting last Sunday. But only time will tell, and that plume of white smoke will be awaited with some interest at the end of next week.

The Midland Conference side - featuring top club players drawn from the Birmingham area - will have a busy week. They will play two matches against a Leinster Development XI, two more against Irish Development sides, as well as one against a Northern Cricket Union team.

Meanwhile, the Leinster Senior League continues apace over the weekend, with Clontarf, the Section A table-toppers, at home to Pembroke tomorrow and away to The Hills on Sunday. Pembroke are lying second last in the table, but Ronan O'Reilly and his colleagues can't afford any slip-ups at this stage in their drive to add the league title to the Conqueror Cup which they captured at the start of the month.

In women's circles this evening, Malahide will be hoping to make the most of home advantage, as they face YMCA in the final of the Leinster Senior Cup (5.0).

On Sunday, the European Cricket Council will co-ordinate a day of intense underage activities. The day will be marked in the Leinster area by the staging of an under-11 blitz, which is being run by Donal O'Sullivan, chairman of the Irish Cricket Union's Youth Committee, and Brian O'Rourke, the LCU's development officer, at the North Kildare club's grounds at The Maws, Kilcock, starting at 10.30. Twenty teams will be in action on six pitches in two main competitions.