The cricket season has reached its halfway stage but there's a familiar ring around the major competitions and it doesn't augur well for NCU teams!
Performances in the Irish Senior Cup and the Ulster Cup are probably the best barometers of progress every year and while there was plenty of optimism that northern teams would make a major impact in the premier club competition this year with professionals allowed to play, that has not materialised. NCU hopes rest totally with Waringstown, while Limavady and Donemana will carry the major North-West challenge. Unfortunately the draw will eliminate one of these three major contenders and when it gets down to the last four there are plenty of people in Leinster circles who feel it will be much more of the same with three teams flying the Leinster colours in the semi-finals.
And there’s not much to crow about from within the NCU after a poor showing in the Club Turf Ulster Cup with three North-West teams left in the fray. North Down supporters might bemoan coming face to face with Strabane’s two hired guns firing on all cylinders last Sunday but it’s too late to complain after a good hiding on home soil! The Comber boys will now focus on their domestic trophies and once again their major competition should come from old adversaries Waringstown. The Villagers have been in fine form this season but their talented entourage have become victims of their own success. Cricket Irelandcall-ups have depleted their ranks and with no respite from the rulebook, they have suffered more than any other club to date. The NCU legislators might need to look at the anomaly which allows a league match to go ahead with three players absent on Irelandduty, yet a cup game can be postponed when only one player is unavailable.
It’s too early to make the call in the two league competitions but Donemana is certainly setting the pace up the M2 but it would be a brave man to nail his colours to the mast at this halfway stage. High scoring means that most teams can beat each other and there’s no doubt a few skeletons still remain in the North-West cupboard.
While most of the focus remains on the top competitions Ballymena has been blazing their own trail of success while Dundrum and Saintfield have raised more than a few eyebrows with some stirring performances. Not so at the Meadow Downpatrick, where the locals have it all to do to turn their season round after a disastrous start to their 2008 campaign. Thankfully there’s still time to do it but it must happen soon.
There are no trophies presented halfway through a cricket season and bragging rights should be put on ice for a few weeks more, but come September I feel there’s going to be a familiar ring about the winner’s enclosure!
Clarence Hiles
Editor
