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congrats to woodvale back home after a lot of hard work by a number of people played there on sunday wicket fine no demons always enjoy playing there good banter with players and supporters

Great to see Woodvale back on the ground! The wicket will take a few years to bed in but the square and outfield look superb. Well done to all a great achievement!

Downpatrick CC are running the UPS T10 tournament on Monday. Should be a cracking day out. It is the battle of south down, with Downpatrick, Dundrum, Saintfield and Drumaness taking part. It should be a great family day with a bouncy castle, face painting, BBQ and a burger chips and a pint in the restaurant for just £6. So if you are doing nothing else come down for a fun packed day and hopefully loads of sixes. Check it out on our website downpatrickcricketclub.com

Good to see Woodvale back at their beloved Ballygomartin after two years as Nomads !! How was the newly relaid outfield and wicket - much improved or will it take a while longer to bed in ? Congrats to all the stalwarts at Woodvale for all their hard work !!!

In a nutshell, Steve, that's exactly what we should be trying to avoid... "clubs not entering teams."

And if you're club can do without schoolboys then you're in very fortunate position.

PS: So far this season our 4th XI should have played three times. They've taken to the field once. And our Thirds should have played four league games by now. Two of them have happened.
Hardly stats that should be ignored.

July and August is also peak holiday season, which can also have an effect!

Our 3rd XI chose to not have many fixtures for the first few weeks of the season, but this has led to older and younger players coming down to practice and getting frustrated at not getting much cricket.

Surely with teams in the Junior Leagues arranging their own fixtures, surely each club should have a fixture list which best suits them!

does the NCU have a view on whether Twitter or Facebook would be regarded as "public"?

Re: Neill Fullerton...

Neil mate, as a Adult 3rd/4th IX cricketer may I, as suspected ridicule your Idea...

In a nutshell, if you don't have enough players, then don't enter a Team...

Senior leagues are not there simply to facilitate 'schoolboys' - that's what the schoolboy leagues and cups are for...

Oh and by the way, I believe your 4th IX under the excellent stewardship of Colin completed their entire league program last year finishing a close second...!
I believe there was more than the mere 14 games this year as well ?

Is there anything else I can ridicule for you :-)

This is just an idea which I believe may stop some clubs dropping their lowest team this winter and 3rd and 4th XI cricket becoming a thing of the past.

Only play 3rd and 4th XI cricket in the months of July and August.

I can hear the howls of protest already but it's just an idea (which could be tweaked) so hear me out.

The majority of NCU clubs struggle to put 3rd and 4th XIs on the field in April, May and June - some can't event field 1st and 2nd XIs - so why not ease the pressure on selection committees and team captains during the first third of the season when players are thin on the ground.

The Thirds and Fourths at my club - Ballymena - play in Junior 4 and 7. That's 14 leagues games each summer. Although I don't think they've actually played a full campaign for various reason for about five years.

That would be 8 Saturday games and 6 shorter 25/30 overs games scheduled midweek throughout the two months.

The tweaks I mentioned earlier could be two 3rd XI games and two 4th XI games in May and June - obviously on alternate Saturdays.

Therefore the Thirds and Fourths at any club don't have to play on the same weekend until July when all schoolboys are free of schools cricket and, more importantly, exams.

The delay would also see the availibility of all students for whatever team they are good enough to be selected for.

I know many adult 3rd and 4th XI players will ridicule this idea, but surely a more structured and patient fixture list would avoid the frustrations and annoyance felt by many looking forward to games that are called off by opponents who can't get teams.

As I said, only an idea, but it might just work.

im playing but if i was not playing i would gladly help out

umpire shortage as i posted before if clubs dont put people forward to help out or do the umpires course its easy dont give them umpires on match days simple.I see a lot of games not being played as clubs unable to field teams is it a case of the firsts have their team sod the rest of the teams sort it yourself and hard luck if they take someone from the seconds and then the knock on effect on 3rds and 4ths happens

Re Norman Browne

Thank you Jonathan for your kind words regarding my Uncle Norman. I will convey your comments to the various other family members. It is comforting to know that he was well thought of by his colleagues and friends in cricket.

The Officers and Members of NIACUS would like to offer their most sincere sympathy to the Browne Family upon the death of our friend and colleague Norman who sadly passed away on Wednesday. Norman was a great friend and member of NIACUS and we were delighted to see him at our recent dinner. He will be sadly missed as one of the characters in local cricket. He will be buried on Saturday 26th at Roselawn at 11.30am. We hope that his family will be comforted by our thoughts and prayers.

So first proper south down local derby of the season tomorrow in the sunshine. The 'meadow' should be looking in great shape. All set for the usual tight game and a bit of banter no doubt. Looking forward to it and to see how the new pro shapes up for us.

ref Robin Haire advising us to take a visit to Waringstown. I did just that in a match last year and found the Lawn a lovely place to play. However they maybe have a lot of facilities, but as a member of a visiting team with schoolboys who played cricket in the morning, I was a bit miffed when they didnt offer any tea after first innings was over, so their tea making facilities are obviously not up to scratch!