Forum

starring
lads personally id love see more ex premier players drop into seconds (or dundrum ) and pass on their experiance and think quite few clubs would loved WAYNE play for their firsts never mind quit . Take look at Waringstown Garfield Harrison and Alan Waite its fantastic that they pass on their skill to juniors and still compete and both could still play at higher level , Michael Shannon another who would walk into any section one team helps holywood bring through the juniors and doesnt do it because of the starring isue simply because they all love the game of cricket and put more back into the game than any PAID pro/players and want the juniors and their beloved clubs bring players through and their experiance cant be bought so surely that can only be for the good of CRICKET?

R.E Starring system

I think its pretty obvious and common sense to see that CSNI are going to have a better standard of player than Muckamore, hence why Horwood isnt in the CSNI starred 8.
Good to see him back playing again anyhow and enjoying his cricket regardless of the level- there are more pressing problems in the Union.

I would like to appeal to all captains at all levels to urge the introduction of the leg side wide in all games. On Sunday I had a couple of our regular 3rds bowlers bowling in the Ulster Plate at Fox Lodge with official umpires.
Rightly they were called for wides that just went down the leg side and having "got away" with those on the 3rds the day before found it difficult to adjust. By being lenient we are NOT helping develop bowlers for our higher teams. It also takes the guess work out of it if we have consistency from both sides.

Understood Michael and thanks Wylie for clarification.
Starring has been a can of worms for years but there doesn't appear to be a better alternative so we have to live with it and keep policing it. The section secretaries do a great job in this respect but the integrity of the system still lies with the clubs themselves.

Clarence - I understand your thinking entirely but I suspect in this case (though I cant be certain) that the NCU has told the Section 1 club in question (lets say Muckamore for sake of argument) that a certain player MUST be starred for the firsts (ie even if the player gets injured, or suffers from horrendous loss of form, they cannot play for the 2s). To do this, they are relying on registrations guidance issued to clubs in the pre-season that indicates that the competition directorate must be satisfied that the player in question is "appropriately starred in relation to their playing ability".

Where I believe Andy is coming from is that it is incongruous that a player is not permitted to play in Junior League 2 (again, for sake of argument) for a section 1 club, but is permitted to play in JL2 for a PL club. If you take the guidance and look at it carefully, it does appear that it should be irrelevant what section or standard the 1st team is competing at, what is of relevance is the standard at which the 2s are playing at, and in this case, the 2nd XIs are in the same league.

As you say, clarification from the competitions directorate as to its thinking would be helpful, to Andy, and others.

Re Andy's query about starrings.
The relevant ruling is in the document on "Administrative Rules Applying to all Competitions" available as a free download on the NCU site.
Part A10 (a) reads �a club with two teams shall star the first eight players normally selected for the 1st XI�. (The rest of A10 deals with clubs with more than two teams).
So it would appear that Clarence and Neale are both correct in what they say and that 2nd XI playing standard does not enter in to the equation.
So someone moving from a Section 1 team where they are starred won�t necessarily be starred if they move to a Premier League club as at the higher level club they may not be 1 of the first 8 normally selected.
It is just unfortunate for the lower league teams second XI that both teams play in the same second XI league section.

Michael,
Surely the consideration is not that the player is deemed to be too good for 2nd XI cricket but more about him being in the best eight players on the 1st XI and therefore has to be starred? This may be true of a player at one club but not necessarily true of his position as another stronger club as Neale points out. This Forum is read by most NCU administrators so a simple clarification would be welcome.

There's no getting away from it Michael, I'm stating the obvious here, but the rain spoils everything when it comes to anything cricket related !

Take those last few cherished hot days at the end of May just past, it seemed everywhere you looked or went, everyone up & down the country was playing or involved in cricket at some level or another, now it's the 'same old, same old' once again; matches called off and Captains/club secretaries, officials etc. having to try and rearrange fixtures yet again, very frustrating indeed !

Take last night for example, I went to bed early to try and avoid the football on T.V. put the radio on, but more football commentary on there as well. Turned it off, but couldn't get to sleep, so I started counting 'sheep' !

After about 500 or so it wasn't working, so I opened the bedroom window, lay down again and decided to count the rain drops pitter-pattering of the ground outside, after 1,600540 drops or it could of been 1,600541 drops (can't be certain), the alarm clock went off and it was time to get up ! And guess what?

It was still raining!!

Like I said...very frustrating indeed!!!

Neale

I suspect Andy knows all this, but I think what he is suggesting is that the NCU indicated to the Section 1 club in question (and I am pretty much having a guess here that it is Wayne Horwood he is talking about, as he has recently gone from Muckamore to CSN, I could well be a million miles off) that the player HAD to be starred for the Section 1 club on the basis that he was deemed too good for the level at which Muckamore 2s play. Now he is at the PL club, Andy is quite correctly posing the question as to why the player in question is suddenly deemed not to be too good for that level. It is, when you look at it from that angle, rather strange. You're either too good for Junior League 2 (for example) or you arent. Andy will be quick to correct me if I am wrong, but I think thats what he is getting at.

RE: STARRING

Hi Andy.
Don't know the specifics, but as regards the thinking behind it - the starring system requires the first 8 players normally selected for the 1st X1 to be starred for the 1st X1.
It is quite possible therefore that a player joining from a Div 1 club would not be considered in the 'first 8'of his new club.
Take an extreme example - the 8th best player on a Div 1 side joining a premiership side is very likely not to be considered the 8th best player at the premier side until performances show otherwise.
In any event, if he is starred someone else will have to be de-starred and instead of a player who was starred for a Div 1 side the previous week playing 2nd X1 cricket, you can have a player who was starred last week for a premiership club able to play second 11 cricket.

could anyone possibly explain the "thinking" of the NCU starring system where a player "must" be starred for the 1st XI of a 1st division side yet when he transfers to a Premier club he is permitted to play for the 2nds of that club - that happens to be in the same section of the club that he left.

been watching the scores from Brigade on Twitter and it must have been a superb game, congratulations to all involved, just wish i had decided to go up and watch.
On the idea of clubs fielding too many teams, if you have 40+ players and only two teams, you will lose members as they get fed up not getting games, if you have three sides then at times you will have to play with 9 or ten players, and for four or five sides then just increase the numbers involved, neither ideal, but for clubs to flourish we need to keep as many people involved as possible.

Templepatrick Cricket Club Golf Day

This years TCC golf day will take place on Friday 22nd June

at the Hilton, Templepatrick

Tee times available from 2:30pm

£30 including Bacon Butties before and BBQ in Kinahans Bar after.

fourballs welcome
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Various prizes on offer

Contact Peter Shepherd ( TCC Secretary ) for more information or to book

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or
07786138655

Jim - my response was to the first line of your original posting. I agree with your comments about having 4 XIs - but only up to a point. It has been my experience over many years that some clubs don't have enough for 4 regular teams but if they enter only 3 teams in competitions then some guys won't get a game unless there is some degree of rotation. And then again I have the experience of playing against the "Saturday" and the "Sunday" team of clubs that are remarkably different - but then that takes us down the road of "starrings" and that would be a whole new can of worms!!

R.E Links with the past.

Armagh C.C this week have lost one of their greatest ever servants with the passing of Jim Graham. Jim first played for the club in 1945 and played his last 1st XI team game in 1981. He served as Captain, Secretary, Treasurer, President, Grounds convenor and then Patron.
A remarkable servant who will be missed.