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john

Ballybeen

9th Sep 2008

Re Mark Jones

Looks like you have wrongly informed about Ijaz and CIYMS......

Apparently they were hoping to sign Michael Vaughan but unfortunately he has been awarded a central contract...

Looks like its back to the drawing board for Sulaiman Al-Fahim and the rest of the CIYMS committee!!!

mark jones

east belfast

9th Sep 2008

It has been confirmed then for definate that waringstown have not renewed the contract of Ijaz Ahmed and are on the look out for a high profile signing or two to get them back up in the running, also heard during the week that he has pre agreed to come back to the country with ciyms if they stay up? now there's a bit of gossip for yous all!!!

Wisey

Lisburn

9th Sep 2008

Re Ivans Posts - 11am starts, all league matches 40 overs max, cup games 50 overs - I'd give it a go - if anyone would have me.

Nile Smith

sidelines

9th Sep 2008

Ivan
1. When one is selling a product (cricket) is it not more profitable & you can reach more customers if you promote in two channels not one? Basic Marketing ivan!
2. You are not proposing to disband schools cricket but by forcing players to choose one or t'other on saturdays, schools themselves may decide to drop cricket. I'm out of date I accept but there are lots of other sports they could do.
3. Disappointed that my view is "typical" (not seen any similar comments actually!)and may be disregarded just because i have retired - you often see things in perspective from the "sidelines!"

Bruce Topping

Laurelvale

9th Sep 2008

Paul is right about D/L. It is useful for completing games on a much fairer basis than run rate when there are rain delays.

I dont like the idea of midweek 20/20 rearrangements.

To me 20/20 and 50 over cricket are completely different formats of the game requiring different types of bowling and batting skills. Therefore if you have a 50 over league competition all the games should be decided over 50 overs(using D/L for rain delays).

My argument therefore is to reduce the number of league games to 14, 12 or 10 games per season by changing the league structure. This will ensure that the games are fully completed.

As I said before you could then run a separate 20/20 competiton for the remainder of the season which would have equal status with the 50 over competition.

Rather than clubs folding this might actually attract new players/supporters who only want to play/watch a short game of 20/20 cricket rather than give up a whole day.

You ony need to look at the response to 20/20 worldwide to see the attraction of the game.

clarence hiles

Barbados

8th Sep 2008

Ivan, looking back I seem to recall that quartet getting picked up from clubhouses late on Saturday evenings as well!
It's sad to read players don't socialise as much as we used to do as I think that's why a lot of the fun has gone out of the game. Bragging rights in the bar started some great sessions.
Keep up the suggestions as I think this is a good debate and will hopefully lead to some positive change at the next AGM. I think everyone (including officials) wants a better system for dealing with a wet season.

jeff maguire

it has too stop raining

8th Sep 2008

Think thers no doubting in this DEBATE that we have LOTS OF people that have very good views young & old (chris &ivan),what i would like too add is that the NCU & COMMITEES work virtually unthanked & get most off the DECISIONS RIGHT .Theirs no doubt that if IVAN & rest keep coming up with good ideas their definatly is a format that will be obvious too even the NCU that will be benificial too all the CLUBS?

The Section 4 View

Still no cricket!

8th Sep 2008

Re: Bruce Topping – league changes

Good to see some feasible suggestions regarding possible changes in the league structure. I would agree entirely with Bruce's view that the status quo is not working and clubs need to agree to changes.

I thought it was time to put forward the view from Section 4. I appreciate that because of the poor weather this summer, most clubs are having difficulty in completing their programme of fixtures. However clubs in Sections 1-3 are lucky in that they have fixtures scheduled for each weekend over the season from the outset. Because of the small number of teams in Section 4, these clubs do not have regular matches each week.

A look at the up-to-date Section 4 league shows that only 6 teams remain in this league.
This is because:
1) Indian Gymkhana withdrew (again) just before the season started - how many more times will the NCU permit this? This deprived clubs of 2 scheduled Saturday matches.
2) PSNI have now either withdrawn from the league or been expelled because they have forfeited too many matches (as in 2005). This is no surprise as on May 17th they failed to fulfil their Junior Cup match with Drumaness and have forfeited all matches arranged since 14th June.

With the 2up 2down system, teams in Sections 1,2 and 3 rarely play a match where the result is not important. This cannot be said for Section 4 matches. Another look at the league shows how many matches have not taken place due to one of the clubs failing to field a team. Of the matches PSNI have played this year, some were played with 9 or 10 players. Clogher have also forfeited a match this year, their longest away trip to Donaghadee.

8 games is the most any team has played. Ards and Donaghadee have only played 6 over the whole season! Another curious anomaly is that Section 4 clubs’ 2nd XI teams have more fixtures to complete than their 1st XI?? Does this seem right?

In 2004 Section 4 had 9 teams and regular matches. In recent years with the decrease in the size of the league due to the appearance and disappearance of Shorts, East Belfast, Newry and Mourne, IGCC and PSNI, former Section 3 clubs such as Portadown, Ards and Donaghadee have all suffered with players moving to other clubs in search of regular cricket or losing interest entirely in cricket. All of these teams are desperate to return to Section 3 knowing that they would be guaranteed regular cricket and more chance of attracting new / returning players to their clubs.

Bruce Topping’s suggestion of 8 teams in Section 1, 9 in Section 2, 10 in Section 3 and 8+ in Section 4 depending on the existence of Cliftonville and PSNI seems a step in the right direction.
The NCU seems either unaware of the situation in this league or perhaps unwilling to do anything about it. Unless changes are made, clubs in this league will continue to lose players to other clubs and their survival must be in doubt.

ivan mc combe

Muckamore

8th Sep 2008

Michael
I would suggest that in the NCU an hour after a game you could count on one hand the number of players still in the bar at a majority of clubs.
Nile.
I think your comment is typical of someone who is totally out of touch with the game and the problems fielding teams at club level. No where on here did I ever suggest that we disband school cricket. Just move it to a Friday afternnon .And as far as coaching is concerned I think a lot of this is done in the schools by club coaches. I think the response from our club members tells us how they feel.Surely we need to listen to those playing the game not those standing on the sidelines.
Chris.
I appreciate what you say but unless the NCU clubs make a stand we will have half a dozen schools driving more and more older guys away from the game . Luckily enough in my day at Ballyclare High the teachers realized that for people like myself, Andy Gleghorne, Nigel Simpson and John Millar playing for Muckamore was important. Most weeks we were collected from the school in our whites to play a club game.

Paul Stafford

Waringstown

8th Sep 2008

Duckworth/Lewis is better than run rates. We should use D/L for match 1 if enough of the game is played for a result and a 20 over match for match 2. It's about time we thought about sharing points after that. For example instead of 2 points each you could have 1 each for a no result.

Chris Busby

TCC

8th Sep 2008

Re Billy Pollock

As somebody who was involved within playing school cricket recently for Ballyclare High(I left school in 2005)perhaps I can shed some light its current state.
You generally turned up on a Saturday morning at a rugby pitch which had an artificial mat plonked in the middle, these varied vastly in quality- there really are some awful school grounds (obviously with the few exceptions of RBAI, Campbell Coll etc) Then the game (a 20 over bash)commenced, taking the form of "our three best players vs their three best players"- generally there would have been at least 5 people who couldn't bat or bowl to any sort of decent standard meaning that the same 5 people would bowl their full allotted overs and bat in the top 5- something I hope we don't get in any of the NCU leagues! The game would end with a flurry of rash shots as people tried to get away to catch a lift to their club game- often fielding teams might bowl the last three or four overs with 8 or 9 men.
I take the point that there are many who get alot out of these games who may not be interested in club cricket, however those who take their cricket seriously get very little out of these matches. I am all for school cricket and I had some great times playing it but I think the time is right now for it to be switched to a Wednesday afternoon so as not to clash with club games, this would also allow it to be taken much more seriously by the players- because at the minute it is far from being a top priority.

Billy Pollock

Belfast

8th Sep 2008

Just read more negative comments about schools cricket and wondered why we all dismiss their Saturday morning cricket so negatively. I'm sure there are many pupils and teachers giving a lot every Saturday morning and I'm sure there are plenty of pupils who are not attached to clubs but still enjoy the sport. I know times have changed but it's not all about clubs and it would be good to hear some comments from the pupils and the schools on these matters. The less cricket played the more it will decline and that's nothing to do with the weather.

mark

Belfast

8th Sep 2008

Bruce,
If some senior teams have only 8 league games and one cup game they might as well fold. This won't develop cricket and finishing the season in early August is throwing in the towel at the rain. The real issue we need to deal with is what happens if a match is rained off? Should it be replayed or scrapped? Should there be no more points or shared points? Should there is a short mid week game or nothing?
All this relates to bad weather but two seasons ago we had good weather and everything went OK. Let's be more positive.

Billy Johnston

Bangor

8th Sep 2008

I see it has started already...the rumour mill!
Playing leaving and players arriving, but as usual nothing to substantiate any of it. The North West gossips are best at it (probably because more players move around there) but let's put a ban on website gossip until at least February as it all sounds like clocking hens sitting around the camp fire.

Bruce Topping

Laurelvale

8th Sep 2008

RE: Another suggestion for league structure for section 2.

Split the league into 2 groups of 5 teams (top 5 seeded so they are not all in one group). Play home and away. That would be 8 mathces per team. Then have playoffs between the groups. (ie the winners of each group play each other to decide who wins the league etc. (toss for home advantage)

Top two promoted.

Teams finishing 5th in their group play for 9th and 10th. Bottom team relegated. team finishing 9th has playoff against second team from section 3.

That would be nine matches per side (except for team finishing 9th.) This would mean the league could be finished by early August.

The rest of August and early September could be filled by a 20/20 competiton based on similar league structure