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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
Sponsorship opportunities available !!
Various prizes on offer
Contact Peter Shepherd ( TCC Secretary ) for more information or to book
petershepherd@btopenworld.com
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.
Nice question & answer interview on the feature page concerning Dundrum's pro/coach Raviraj Patil. Wonder what he thinks of our 'temperate climate' ?
And it's great publicity too for local cricket!
Not just for cricketers of all ages up & down the country, but the general public as well!
I heard BBC radio ulster interview him about it on last Monday evening's drive home from work and how his exceptional feat of six x 6's in an over is comparable to golf's 'hole-in-one', or snooker's '147' !
I personally reckon it's more unique than even those two brilliant sporting achievements, remarkable batsman-ship indeed!
Makes a refreshing change, the only other thing you ever hear these days on the radio concerning local cricket, are Ronnie Ingram's update of NCU/NW results, just after the 11pm ulster news on a Saturday night!
Even then, now it's only the premier league and senior N/W results you hear, nothing after that ?
( Must be this blinkin recession..I guess)!
As a captain of a 4th XI at a club that does put out all teams on the one day, when we are free of the dreaded examinations that now take up four years at least of your secondary education, I have to agree with Neil Fullerton and Andy Kennedy. Examinations play havoc with the availability of players because of their increasing importance and the longer period that they eat into the cricket season; hence with a youthful squad of players, and if you haven't then your club is on the road to nowhere, there are problems with fielding four teams before the start of July and indeed there are holiday problems to follow in July.
My view of the 4thXI agrees very much with that of Andy Kennedy in that it is an introduction to senior cricket for the junior players. Therefore a typical team will be 3 or 4 adults mixed in with 13 years and upwards and given that I need to start again every few years because some of the young players are gradually advancing through the levels means to me that the team is serving its purpose. Winning leagues and trophies is not important at least not at the moment.
I also noticed a posting from someone bemoaning the loss of grass pitches and who couldn't wait for his career to end (why keep playing if you're so unhappy came to mind). He appeared to blame the clubs for the loss of grass pitches (and I apologise if I have misconstrued) but in my experience, certainly for council and school pitches, this is more a question of economics. Ground staff cost money and it is so much cheaper to just keep the grass on the outfield trimmed. I expect that if clubs were prepared to pay the full economic cost that councils would happily oblige but some months ago we had a campaign to make cricket affordable for Victoria CC after Craigavon Council wanted to charge a more economical cost for the rent of their ground. Many clubs are strapped for cash so I can't see this changing.
Andy,
Maybe you should stay in Buckna with that thinking. You are obviously not getting it so I will explain it again. They have 4 teams, so they should in essence be able to field 4 teams on the same day if needs be. And its only your answer not one supported by too many I wouldn't think! A 4th XI is fine and dandy but I will not in the future arrange a fixture when it suits them.
Jim - stay down the loanin'. You query why there should be 4th XIs. The answer is quite simple - if a club is serious about club development then a group of young players mature to the stage where they need to be introduced to "adult" cricket and they find this in the 4th XIs. In my time I descriibed this as the combination of "decripit old age & youthful exuberance" where a couple of senior players/drivers who can drive will bring young guys into the game. I recall a comment from the late Tom Kyle at Ballymena saying "if you don't have wee lads you'll never have big lads" - and that was long before we had "professionals". This is a totally different concept to having a "paper" 4th XI (or even a 5th XI) that we have all come across in the past. I saw a classic example on Saturday with Waringstown 2nds on Saturday with Alan Waite & Geoffrey Heyburn and a host of great young cricketers - Mitchell, Kennedy, Wilson, Dennison & Hall to name but a few - what a combination they will be in a few years. So Jim - a club with a proper focus will use a 4th XI for progression.
Played cricket 40 years but witnessed some best hitting you could ever wish see as Woodvale were all out for 76 and after Indian Raviraj Patil hit the the first ball over extra cover for six it lit the touch paper for what was a remarkable 53 runs of just 15 balls including 6 sixes 4 boundarys in what could well be world record?
Re Neil Fullerton...
Last posting - Clearly if Ballymena are unfulfilling fixtures, then you don't have enough players - not unlike many other clubs I might add - the days of clubs having four and five teams are just about a thing of the past - fast becoming anyway...
It seems almost a 'badge of honour' to enter as many teams as possible, almost as if you'd be in 'demise' if you throttled back to reallity...
Putting your bottom teams captain under ridiculous pressure to get 11 'anybodys' on a pitch does not advance the game in this country - I would infact suggest it have a serious negative effect...?
Maybe Neil it's about time Ballymena also moved into the 21st Centuary - and started to play on Sundays ?
That alone would help you massively with your inability to play matches...!
Stevo
What planet do you live on? If you have 55 senior players you certainly don't enter five teams. In fact I would suggest you don't enter four.
We register between 70-80 players every spring and still struggle to get four teams out during school term. (I refer you back to my initial post).
Although I do agree with you that times have changed since the 70s (although I'm much too young to remember). People wanted to play cricket back then!
