The new cricket season gets underway this week with a new Senior League structure.

With 21 teams registered for the short form midweek games, the TT20 Cain and Forrester One and Two will now feature promotion and relegation across the three leagues.

Greig Wright, performance director at Isle of Man Cricket Association, explained the thinking behind the new format: ‘Essentially, with the increase in both teams and numbers we are keen to ensure that the leagues are inclusive but competitive.

‘The new format will ensure closer games between well-matched teams and players, which can only improve overall playing standards of cricket in the island.’

This season will also see the introduction of a new 7-4-2 rule to restrict junior players to only four games in a week, and never more than two consecutive days.

The first round of fixtures for both Wednesday’s T20 Cain Competition and Saturday’s Premiership will see Castletown, led by new captain Jaco Jansen, host Finch Hill while Valkyres head to Ramsey.

The real interest in the opening round of fixtures will see last season’s Cain tournament winners Peel and St John’s hosting Crosby at Mullen-e-Cloie in Wednesday’s opening T20 match.

Crosby, the defending Premiership winners, will then return for Saturday’s league match against their closest challengers last season in the long form format.

As well as weekly junior matches for under-11, u13 and u15 age groups, this season will also see the introduction of a new women’s league on Monday evenings throughout the summer.

The successful CricStart programme sponsored by Ravenscroft will also be returning this summer for the under-nine age group after the successful introduction last year saw more than 130 aspiring cricketers picking up a bat - more details of how to enrol will be released soon.

The Isle of Man national team will be heading out to Finland later in the summer for ICC World Cup qualifiers then out to Romania for the intercontinental cup, while the under-17 team are heading to Guernsey in August for world cup qualifying games.

The Isle of Man u17s have been drawn against Sweden, Denmark and Norway in their group in a tournament that also features France, Guernsey, Italy and Germany.

This summer will also see the Isle of Man women’s team heading to Romania for their first international match on foreign soil.