It’s all eyes on Irish cricket this week although the abandoned match against Hampshire at Eglinton last Sunday, and the decimated Irish Senior Cup programme on Saturday, was a poor start to nine days of cricket that everyone was eagerly awaiting.
Tough luck on the hard-working Eglinton club and North-West cricket in general, as they haven’t had their fair share of top cricket over the years, and this was a golden opportunity for the region to showcase their cause. Perhaps the same could be said for the teams that were looking forward to their Irish Senior Cup games, but once again the weather intervened and played havoc with the fixtures. That aside, full marks to the Irish coach for allowing the domiciledIreland players an opportunity to play for their club the day before anIreland game. Or maybe big Phil had inside knowledge and knew there wasn’t going to be a game anyway?
The weather was better in Dublin and both North Down and Donemana took full advantage with two wins on the road. Hopefully shades of things to come in this competition, as most of us are getting sick and tired of all the crowing from Dubliners about how strong their club cricket is in Leinster. OK, so it’s been five years since a northern team won the Irish Cup, but not many Leinster clubs have won it either! As far as this competition is concerned, it’s been the NorthCounty show with five wins in the past eight years. Very commendable indeed, and I’m not going into their recruitment strategy as that’s only sour grapes, but their success is hardly a reflection of Leinster dominance in Irish club cricket. The truth is NorthCounty is well ahead of the pack in this competition, irrespective of where they come from.
Ireland plays two games in Dublin later this week and let’s pray the weather gods are kind. They were certainly kind yesterday in England and Phil Simmons must have been cringing with envy as two Irish players stole the limelight with brilliant centuries. Eoin Morgan’s fantastic 161 for Middlesex off 136 balls againstKent narrowly eclipsed Ed Joyce’s superb 127 off 125 balls againstDurham, but what a great advertisement for Irish cricket’s development programme over the years. William Porterfield scored a modest 34 for Gloucestershire, and all three Irishmen were on winning teams. When you see performances like these, there has to be a better solution for the betterment of Irish cricket than having our best players star for the counties when our second string struggles to hold its own against them.
Clontarf Castle on Wednesday night is not be the venue for an epic Ireland cricket match, but there will be a very special dinner to honour the surviving players who hit the world headlines 40 years ago when they skittled out the mighty West Indies for a paltry 25 runs at Sion Mills. This celebratory dinner is to raise funds for the hard-working Lord’s Taverners and let’s hope it raises a lot of money and everyone present pays homage to a remarkable achievement, and to a team that will live forever in Irish cricket folklore.
They say a week is a long time in politics, but Irish cricket is packing in a lot this week irrespective of the weather.
Clarence Hiles
Editor
