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Muckamore have reached the third round of the Graham Cup without playing a game. First Lurgan and then Laurelvale awarding us walkovers.
I must admit as a cricket lover this saddens me. The Graham Cup was for many years a blue riband trophy within the NCU.
Why can't clubs field teams ? Do the organisers need to look at the timings of the early rounds to avoid exams etc ? or is cricket in NCU declining quicker than any of us care to admit ?
Much as we marvel about the performances of Paul Stirling, George Dockrell, Grahame McCarter in county cricket is it a case of us taking the wheat from the chaff and throwing the chaff in the bin? Guess what - if we don't look after the chaff we will have no wheat in the years to come.
I think it's time the coaches and those responsible at each club for the youth teams take a serious look at themselves. Are they doing enough to get teams out ?
Here's a suggestion. Every time a club with a professional fails to field a team at under age level the professional gets a two match playing ban or the 1sts get deducted 4 points. Might just focus a few minds on the most important aspect of our game.
anybody have problems getting a team this saturday i have 8 and no doubt there will be more cry offs could not get an early start as home team refused great start for cup run am doing a rain dance now
Re substitute fielders
The main reason for allowing a substitute fielder is obviously where someone has been injured. The relevant Law then goes on to state: "The umpires shall have discretion to allow, for other wholly acceptable reasons, a substitute fielder.
The ICC at the highest level of play (does this relate to our game?)have determined that "Wholly acceptable reason should be limited to extreme circumstances and should not include
what is commonly referred to as a comfort break." This seems to be aimed at avoiding a further Gary Pratt 2005 Ashes incident.
There does not appear to be any further definition of what would constitute "other wholly acceptable reasons" and this appears to be left up to the Umpire. One example given somewhere on the internet is of a Doctor playing and in the course of the game being called to an emergency.
In our game the guy concerned simply appeared to be going to work having presumably known before the game that that would be the case. The difficulty would appear to lie in the fact that it is the Umpires call and the Laws state that an opposing captain does not have any right to object to what the Umpires decide.
It is open to abuse and I agree with Bruce that the spirit of cricket may come into play.
We had a situation in the first game of our season where the opposition only had 10 players (Ulster Heineken cup semi-final) and we offered them a sub fielder. The umpire officiating refused to allow it saying it is against the rules since the sub-fielder wasn't nominated on the team sheet....
Bruce - it WAS called the Celtic tiger!
Missed a bit of law 2 - it does refer to umpires have complete discretion to allow susbtitute for any reason.
Re Paul Robinson - Interesting one Paul. I am no expert but law 2 seems to cover the use of substitutes but only in the case of injury occurring to a player after nomination. In the case of injury the opposition captain cannot object to appointment of a substitute. There is no mention of substitutes being allowed for a fielder leaving the field of play early when not injured. I am not sure if there are anly local competitiion specific regs covering this. Maybe it would be covered under "the spirit of the game" - ie an agreement between both teams to allow a susbstitute if it is known somone has to leave early ?? Of course I could be wrong ? Any one else know?
Could Andy or another umpire clear something up for me?
On Saturday against St Johnston one of the St Johnston players left the field as he had to go to work (15 overs into the 2nd innings), they brought on sub fielder. We weren't informed of this at the start of play, and the 2 umpires didn't consult our skipper during play. Is this allowed? The 2 North West umpires said after the game that it's allowed - surely this can't be right!
One umpire actually told our captain to go away at the drinks, and then said it's nothing to do with you.
reflecting on Bruce's posting I was thinking about the Leinster league structure. 2 "senior" sections and the rest designated as "junior" and I wonder if such a system would have any merit in NCU?
Despite Waringstown's BKISC win last year, there has been an obvious trend of Leinster winners in recent times. I suspect the Leinster clubs are reaping the benefits of sophisticated long term coaching structures. I have noticed that many Leinster clubs are appointing not only head coaches but specific batting, bowling, fielding and wicketkeeping coaches. I think most northern clubs while providing some coaching are not doing so with the same intent as Leinster clubs. There are of course a few notable exceptions to the rule. The basic message is that the northern clubs need to up their game in this area.
sorry Vic - you're right 2012 - the old fingers hadn't defrosted after Shaw's Bridge yesterday! The point I was trying to make was that there is a difference between the subjective decisions and a basic lack of knowledge. What about another thread about the performances of NCU sides in the all- Ireland competitions at the weekend?
Andy, I'm pretty sure its only 2012, not 2102!!
I have to agree about umpiring in the lower leagues, and it is one of the worst parts of playing at a lower standard. If you don't give a decision it is assumed that it is because you are biased, if you do give one, your team-mate is annoyed with ya.... No winners. You just hope that whoever stans is honest enough to give out, or not out, without any bias.
starting times? Why do Sunday games start at 1:00p.m. when there are no school matches on?
Similar to a lot of other teachers' stories I'm sure but...
On Saturday BRA had 12 players (at least) playing for school in the morning and for club in the afternoon.
This is (obviously) a hugely desirable for the future of cricket, yet it is a practice which would be ended by the discussed compulsory earlier starts.
I'd suggest that it makes sense to leave it to the two captains to agree (in advance) any movement from with the default of 1pm during up to the end of June (clubs who do not feature large numbers of school players are able to move starts forward).
Note: It is not possible to play anymore games midweek due to the pressure of public exams. This has been discussed with Schools' Committee
Great win for Holywood yest at North Kildare....Im thinking its the first time Holywood 1sts have scored 300+ runs in a game ??
