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The good vibes for cricket in NCU just get better and better with the announcement of fist class status for the Inter Pro games, the announcemt of Ireland and NCU under age squads for winter training camps , the development of the Andrew White Academy .
I have never known so much positivity at this time in the winter break. Clubs can plan ahead with confidence and know that if they unearth a talented player there is now a development plan to take these guys to become first class cricketers and hopefully Test players .
Imagine the buzz our volunteer coaches will get if they see a young player they have worked with at 6 and 7 years old stepping out at Lord's in a Test match .
The hard work being put into the "top of our game " can only drag up the standard the whole way down the pyramid."
When you cross the white line on a Saturday be it the Premier League or Junior League 9 your only thought should be " I'm going to do what ever I can to help us win today ".
Those that don't think like that are also catered for - it's called golf.
So let's look to improving facilities and playing abilities no matter where teams are in the league pyramid .

Roll on 2017

I am quite happy to see overseas coaches come to our clubs to work full time but I don't see the need for them to play. In fact when overseas pros feel they are under pressure to perform on the pitch, it usually takes their focus off coaching. I believe clubs would get more benefit by letting them concentrate on coaching alone.

Jeff and Colin, thanks, very sensible replies. I know shift work and school work and family life can create black holes on the cricket volunteering front.
All the same, I can look out from my window overlooking Chambers park on a Saturday morning and see 200 mini rugby children playing matches or being coached in a well structured environment overseen by club coaches and parents but not an overseas coach in sight. Nip over to Lurgan and there is another 150 rugby kids milling away. There is no shortage of potential.

Jeff,

I see your point about having an overseas coach who does all that he does but to be honest I would not come onto a forum and say that he lives in a mobile home and that he paid £100.00 a week for all that he does...many people would consider that slave labour in a way even tho he chooses ( I assume ) to do all these hours of FREE coaching / umpiring etc...as you say if any one else locally would do the same for them to contact you but to be honest at minimum wage even of £7.20 a hundred pounds doe snot get you much...and here lies the point if you cannot get volunteers ( like hens teeth) clubs are choosing the cheaper alternative of overseas coaches and practically working them to death!!

Different regulations on short- pitched deliveries in different competitions. Surely it's up to the clubs to lobby the Management Committee to amend the playing regulations rather than have players remonstrating with umpires -'it wasn't an extra last week' is a regular whinge that has nothing to do with umpires! But then again , perhaps the players affected are, in the main, overseas at present!!

Re Alan

Alan it by no means has to be an overseas player that fulfills this role, my club has around a dozen qualified coaches and every night of the week sees either coaching or a match with junior players. Students help when Uni finishes, those who work help in evenings.

During the summer we provide extra coaching during the day and like Dundrum go into several schools regularly prior to this. We are fortunate to have so many local volunteers prepared to help out.

As a result our U15 squad had 30 boys last year, with a similar number in U13 & more at U11, this is of course the result of several years hard work, the majority of which without an overseas player. However the benefits of having someone available to assist in this full time over the summer which inevitably is an overseas player is definitely an asset, We do not have much money as a club but we are prepared to fund raise in order to provide the best coaching struture possible.

If you had asked me a decade ago I would have been very much against overseas players but if any player helps to kick start a club that is struggling and work with existing coaches to build or rebuild a youth structure then I am now very much all for it.

Alan .The reason we go for overseas as he lives in mobile home at ground does free 121 sessions with all our juniors who want extra coaching and if you can tell me were there is sumone available to go to ten schools and work with sessions 4 nights a week and umpire on friday night for 100£ week feel free to inform me asap . Dundrum have plan to get membership up to try them playing first or second team and hopefully keep the

Congratulations to all the boys on their selection for the Ireland winter training squads.

HOWEVER there must be a lot of boys across the country who are thinking to themselves that the squads are not picked on performances at either club or inter-pro level - rather it is down to favouritism/old school tie/parents involvement with International/inter pro teams etc etc.

Genuinely it is no wonder so many kids become fed up with local cricket.

Jeff and Colin, why does it have to be an overseas pro? I mean if coaching is the main point and not just a hired gun for match day, surely there are enough local level 2 or 3 coaches to spread over all the clubs that want coaching? If there aren't enough local level 2/3 coaches then the next question is why not? If there are plenty of L2 or 3 coaches the obvious question then is why aren't they coaching?

Mark, the invitational league as it was originally envisaged is dead now. The idea was for a limited fixtures flexible Saturday league. This would have addressed the problem of small clubs failing to get 11 victims on the field every single Saturday home and away. After being informed recently that the invitational league was not to be a Saturday competition, I find it amazing that NCU could be so mistaken for so long about the invitational league proposal.
I'm not having a go at the NCU, I know well the hard work that is being done, but clearly in some areas and especially for stand alone single team clubs, The NCU domestic cricket development clock appears to tick in reverse.

Having attended both the NCU Dinner and AGM I feel NCU cricket is in a great place . Two evenings of great positivity with fun and banter at the dinner and cricket lovers be they players or officials mingling young and old. It was also great to see Ladies cricket well represented.

At the AGM a lot of good positive debate with a mood to play more cricket, facilitate longer games when possible and an acceptance of the electronic era we are in. The Union's finances are healthy and the quality of the people in high office would be welcome around every boardroom in Northern Ireland.

The announcement of a full time Cricket Development Officer and the work of the others on the development team can only be good for club cricket with help now readily available to clubs with their own development plans , grant availability etc.

The excellent work of the coaches at underage level and the announcement that this Sunday sees the start of the winter youth coaching weekends with 220 boys and 50 girls nominated by clubs will raise standards over the next five years.

I see at Muckamore that every player who went through the NCU under age system emerged a far better player.

Andy Clement in his three years in charge did a great job and I'm sure his good friend Alan Waite can build on that over the next three years.

Clubs should be confident to look to the future. We can grow the sport and improve coaching and grounds. At Muckamore we are working towards new sight screens, new flat covers to protect us from the rain during the season and a major overhaul on our back pitch for the start of next season and I know the youth development committee will be working away at devising coaching courses, weekends and camps.

Roll on cricket in 2017

Offering congratulations to John McCormick on his award tonight. As we say up here in the country ' no better man'!

Hi Editor

Previous post re Jeff Maguire was from me not Jeff as I have entered myself.

Apologies.

Good luck to all those attending tonight's AGM and please, if you never heed a word I say, I pray you'll read & digest this?

Vote for the good of the game and not just for the good of your club, for if not, you may invoke a very unwelcome and unsettling presence into your domain....

Mañana Mañana

Mañana Mañana, Moneyhill's resident ogre
settled into the townland some fifty years ago
a nasty, surly brute, who took trenchant root
and ceased the winds of progress to blow

Like a vulture looming large, he grabbed the opportunity
when a once prosperous farm, lacked leadership
for great uncle Bill, never considered a will
affording malevolent Mañana, his chance of courtship

Aware, the devil makes work for idle hands
eagerly, the ogre set about his contrived task
with no air to the throne, he threw the dog a bone
preying on Bill's propensity, for the bottle and hip flask

Then sure as night follows day, Mañana got his foot well in
as things gradually fell into disrepair
and when Bill passed away, folk knew but dare not say
that now dishevelled farm, had a monster made it's lair

With hedges high and unkempt, pasture, thick in thistle
on land no longer farmed nor worked
next of kin came to the door, who hadn't been seen before
but that odious ogre, still, would not be usurped

Like a pack of hungry wolves, relatives, fought between themselves
as Mañana stoked their flames of greed
just as the infamous Marquis de Sade, knew his bed was made
when he played upon his victim's wanton need

Legal battles wrangled on, only lawyers profiteering
while beleaguered fields cried out for cultivation
but if an ogre walks the ground, all that can be found
are stinging nettles, sharp blackthorn, neglect and degradation

And today it's still the case, fools blinded by indifference
Mañana Mañana, they cannot eradicate
for what they do not know, is pure as driven snow
and will evict an encamped ogre, consigning it to a lonely fate

To harvest all through life, yet never plant a seed
invites a nasty ogre into ones' abode
but it will not frequent, where a child plays innocent
because in loving hope, a little seed was sowed!

( Mañana Mañana is Spanish for tomorrow or some other time )

Jeff , I have no problem with a club who if they wish want to pay someone to do their coaching in any sections...I believe tho that any club below Premier league should have not paid pro playing for them...you will find that most clubs in Section 3 and 2 treat the cricket as social hence the reason the NCU were looking at introducing a invitational league and restructuring section 3...

Jeff Maguire & Mark.

Having been of an anti pro stance for most of my cricketing life I have to now say I agree with many of Jeff's points.

If an overseas player is used to help build or enhance coaching structures within a club and not just to win games on the pitch then I think that should be encouraged regardless of the standard played.

We can all give up our time outside of work hours but as Jeff points out someone who is free to go into schools or run summer camps is invaluable.