It hardly seems 30 years ago, but a lot happened in 1986.
The NCU celebrated its centenary with a series of events, the great Ian Botham gave a wonderful display of batting at Wallace Park as Lisburn celebrated its sesquicentenary, Waringstown won the Senior Cup as they usually did in those days, North and Downpatrick shared the Senior League, and India came to Ulster on tour.
The Ulster Grasshoppers also toured the English Midlands, and in their first match Muckamore’s Freddie Ashton scored the first century for the nomads.
During the 1980s the Grasshoppers travelled several times to England to tour and watch Ireland take on the counties. On this occasion they not only included the game against Leicestershire at Grace Road, but India’s series win over England at Headingley.
Freddie’s century was scored against Leicester University Staff in the first game, and it gave the tour a huge buzz, not least because the celebrations that evening were long and late. Freddie later conceded it was the most expensive night of his cricket career, but worth every penny.
For the statisticians the milestone was achieved off 98 balls and included nine boundaries and three sixes. His innings appeared ‘explosive’ alongside the more pedestrian Wally Graham and Colin Barkley, both of whom claimed that they were happy enough watching Freddie take the game to the bowlers in such style. Once Freddie reached his century and the applause subsided, tour Captain Graham ‘Doc” Crothers declared at 162-3.
When the University Staff team batted they found John Elder (4-45) a hot handful, but they held out for a draw at 141-8, and everyone headed to the bar.
Freddie’s tour was complete when the following day six of the tourists travelled to Headingley and met up with former North Down professional Raman Lamba on ‘loan’ to the tourists. Raman played an important part in Freddie’s celebration as once he heard his idol was Dilip Vensarkar, he arranged a photo. Dilip had just completed a century for India, so Freddie felt it was a meeting of two kindred spirits.
The match at Grace Road was less entertaining as Leicestershire gave Ireland a batting lesson. One of the best ‘action shots’ from the afternoon was Ivan McCombe sleeping in the stands. Ivan claimed later it was not the cricket that knocked him out, but he still hadn’t recovered from Freddie’s celebration party!
However, he did recover for the evening’s activities at the Grand Hotel, where over a few drinks the Grasshoppers were keen to push Freddie’s credentials for national selection!
The Grasshoppers on this tour paraded a bevy of NCU senior cricketers that also included Ivan Connolly, Clarence Hiles, Ian Warke, Sam Beckett, and Fraser Evans. Special mention should also be made to the inimitable Tom McCullough-scorer, Alickadoo, raconteur, amazing storyteller et al.
At the Grasshoppers AGM at the end of the season Doc Crothers was reinstated as Club Captain, the ebullient Charles Corlett as President, Phil Nixon as Hon Sec and Maurice Moore as Hon Treasurer.
However, the main talking point was still Freddie’s century, one of only two in the 36-year history of the club.
