...the North-West season has all but finished in the second week in September.
That in itself was quite an achievement, given the appalling weather that has decimated the 2008 cricket season. But has North-West cricket advanced this year, and is it stronger than at this time last year?
Looking at it objectively from a distance, I fear not!
This was a season tosavour for the Donemana and Limavady clubs, but they didn’t really have much opposition in their domestic league, and although Limavady won the Ulster Cup, Donemana will be disappointed to have reached the final of the Irish Senior Cup, and failed to topple North County. Champions are judged by major successes, and both clubs set high standards, so the elusive Irish Senior Cup remains the one trophy that appears to be beyond the reach of northern teams these days.
North-West cricket has had a more open approach to professionals and ‘outsiders’ than their NCU counterparts, and while much comment has been made on how many home grown players feature in senior teams, it doesn’t appear to be a major concern for the union as a whole when they set their rules. Overseas players continued to dominate North-West cricket in 2008, and it certainly surprises a lot of outsiders that veterans like Decker Curry and the McBrine brothers are still so dominant. There’s no doubting their pedigree in North-West cricket, but is their continuing dominance more a reflection of dropping standards than three great players who seem ageless and peerless?
Outside the “Big Two” the other clubs were well off the pace, especially defending league champions Brigade who had an awful season, despite reaching the cup final. Brigade could have won that final had they taken their chances, and the same could be said for Strabane in the ClubTurf Ulster Cup final who lost to Limavady by only four runs. But there are no laurels for losers, and when the other section one clubs look back on their season, they will feel they were a long way off the pace set by Limavady and Donemana. They may also want to review the cost of failure, as it might be one thing to protect your section one status with a few costly imports, but if you still don’t compete with the “Big Boys” is the money wisely spent?
In some respects North-West cricket is not much different than their NCU counterparts, given the latter has been dominated by Waringstown and North Down over the past decade, although this season it is Civil Service North and North Down that are contesting a two-horse league race that looks likely to run to the final week of the season, weather permitting! The North-West might feel in a stronger position given their better showing in the ClubTurf Ulster Cup competition and the fact that Donemana reached the Irish Senior Cup final, but in reality it all comes back to what Limavady and Donemana did rather than the strength of cricket up the M2. Yes, Strabane beat North Down at Comber in the semi-final chasing a high score, but it was on the back of big batting performances from two overseas professionals, and hardly a reflection of a stronger team. There were no sour grapes from the Comber team, albeit Ireland calls had weakened their attack. Some people might even say, “if you live by the sword, you die by the sword!”
A major area of concern for North-West cricket should be the lack of players challenging for representative honours at the highest level. Gone are the days when there were six or seven top players in the frame, and following the retirement of the outstanding Peter Gillespie, there’s barely one or two players fighting for places in Phil Simmons’s squad. The same cannot be said for administrators, where the best North-West men are at the helm in a wide variety of roles within Cricket Ireland. Roy Torrens has proved an excellent national team manager, while administrators Joe Doherty and Gavin Craig have given the game Trojan service. Also in the Ireland frame are excellent coaches like Brian Doherty and ‘Bobby’ Rao while Alan Rutherford sits on the powerful management committee of Cricket Ireland.
Other positives include the enterprise and vision of Bready Cricket Club with their new facilities, and Strabane Cricket Club who superbly hosted the Irish Senior Cup final, despite some horrendous weather challenges.
And therein lies the hope for a better and brighter future. Now may be the time to put away the cricket togs, but the North-West delegates at their Annual General Meeting have the same challenges as their NCU counterparts in trying to put their cricket on a better footing, and to improve the standards which many observers feel are dropping year by year.
Clarence Hiles
Editor
