PIRATES' traditional Good Friday home and away meetings against Eastbourne will be Craven Shield clashes this year.

Poole Castle Cover chief Matt Ford had indicated they would be Elite League tussles when he originally confirmed the meetings would go ahead last month.

But he has now confirmed the 11am start at Wimborne Road and 7.30pm return at Arlington on March 21 will be in the revamped Craven Shield.

The competition, staged in memory of the late England international two-times world champion Peter Craven, has been run as an end-of-season three-team tournament over the past two years.

Now it has been switched to the start of the campaign with only two sides going head-to-head in meetings.

Pirates have been drawn against Eastbourne and Swindon in their qualifying group, with the dates for Poole's home and away matches against the Robins still to be decided.

Other qualifying groups, which are regionalised, consist of Lakeside, Peterborough and Ipswich, and Wolves, Belle Vue and Coventry.

Group winner with the best record, calculated first on meeting points and then on race points, will go direct to the final.

The other two table toppers will race in a two-legged semi-final to decide who also reaches the two-legged final.

Ford, meanwhile, has confirmed Pirates will meet Lakeside in home and away challenge matches on Wednesday and Friday, March 12 and 14, respectively.

Polish champions Leszno had been pencilled in as visitors to Dorset on March 14 as part of their 80th anniversary celebrations.

Krzysztof Kasprzak's hometown outfit declined that invitation, however, leaving Jon Cook's side as the opposition.

Ford, whose club celebrate the 60th anniversary of their first meeting this year, said: "It doesn't look as though our proposed home and away anniversary matches against Leszno will go ahead.

"It's a shame because it would have been great for both clubs to have been able to mark their respective longevity in this way.

"But Leszno can't fit the meetings into their programme."

It means Pirates' fixtures in the early part of the new campaign include confirmed dates of March 9 (Diamond Jubilee Individual Meeting at Poole), March 12 (Poole v Lakeside), March 14 (Lakeside v Poole), March 21 (Poole v Eastbourne, 11am) and March 21 (Eastbourne v Poole, 7.30pm).

Poole's complete 2008 fixture list will probably be released within the next 10 days.