Johnny Morton

The highly anticipated Gallagher Challenge Cup semi-finals will be played on Sunday as four teams battle it out for a spot in the showpiece decider at The Green on Friday 13th August.

Here is all you need to know ahead of CSNI vs CIYMS with team news, who to watch out for, previous Challenge Cup meetings and quotes from those involved.

CSNI vs CIYMS

Team News
Defending champions CIYMS have made serene progress to this stage after beating Carrickfergus by 122 runs in the first round before a 90-run victory over Woodvale in the quarter-finals.

They will welcome back Graham Kennedy and Mark Adair who were both on international duty with Ireland during their recent series against South Africa and Allen Coulter makes his return from injury.

CSNI will also be bolstered by the return of their Irish international Ben White – who made his senior Ireland debut in the final Twenty20 – while captain Gary Wilson will lead his side after missing last weekend's trip to Waringstown due to coaching duties.

Luke Georgeson, Paddy Beverland and Chris McMorran will also be back in the side from that defeat meaning both teams enter this at full-strength.

2021 Star Performers

CSNI
Luke Georgeson – 625 runs, 20 wickets
Ross Adair – 560 runs
Ben Adair – 23 wickets
Matthew Foster – 20 wickets

CIYMS
Chris Dougherty – 534 runs
John Matchett – 408 runs
James Cameron-Dow – 20 wickets, 381 runs
Chris Robinson – 17 wickets

Previous Challenge Cup meetings (since 2011):

2016 FINAL

CIYMS 243-7 (N Jones 51, J Kemp 68, S Chambers 42, J Thompson 37, Z Rushe 22no, J Costain 2-27, A Blain 2-73)
CSNI 244-5 (A Cowden 22, S Getkate 64, J van der Merwe 98no, G McCarter 25no, J Kemp 2-39)
CSNI beat CIYMS by 5 wickets

2017 QUARTER-FINAL

CSNI 125 (J Kennedy 67, N Jones 2-7, M McGillivray 4-38, T Britton 2-12)
CIYMS 130-5 (C Dougherty 20, R Hunter 38, J van der Merwe 23, G McCarter 3-33, A Blain 2-23)
CIYMS beat CSNI by 5 wickets

2019 SEMI-FINAL

CSNI 156-9 (J Kennedy 34, A Malan 27, D Robinson 2-30, J Mulder 4-11)
CIYMS 161-6 (O Pienaar 72no, J Mulder 26, A Malan 2-39, B Adair 2-25)
CIYMS beat CSNI by 4 wickets

What did they say?

CIYMS all-rounder Graham Kennedy on their spin attack: "If someone is having a bad day, there are always others there that can put their hand up and take it on. Spin is something we rely on quite heavily so if we are bowling well then we can really put a hold on opposition batsmen.

On the game against CSNI: "You're playing with and against good teams, so on Sunday we are playing against the likes of Gary Wilson and Stuart Thompson who are some of the best players around and that's the sort of thing you want to be involved in. It is tough and there are no easy games. We were in a bit of bother against Carrick but thankfully we pulled through that and it just shows how tough it is."

CSNI all-rounder Luke Georgeson on Sunday's game: "With the way we are sitting middle of the table in the league, the cup is probably going to be the one we are targeting. It sounds like CIYMS have been pretty successful in recent times and have a long history of playing against Civil Service, so it's going to be a great game. Everybody is excited about it and it's a great advertisement for cricket because they'll have their international players back like Sparky (Mark Adair) and GK (Graham Kennedy) and we will have Gary (Wilson) and Ben (White) back."

Gallagher Challenge Cup Match Summaries