1 Has cricket life finally settled for the old North of Ireland CC under the “new” banner at Civil Service North?
I only played for NICC for one year at Ormeau before the move to Deramore as Belfast Harlequins. That period saw many of the old North stalwarts become disenchanted and move away from the club.
CSN is now an identity and brand of its own. When the two clubs merged the primary ambition was to become the focal point for youth development and cricket in East Belfast and ultimately one of the premier cricket clubs in Ireland.
South Belfast was flooded with clubs and the Civil Service club had set up a good youth system prior to the merger. The kids from Campbell, that would have been the traditional feeder school for NICC, were not travelling to South Belfast. The merger made sense, and now four seasons on, I think the likes of Nigel Rountree and Jonathan Hool who put in so much work to make CSN happen, will be satisfied that the club is progressing in the right direction.
2 Playing fortunes are running high with your Firsts close to the top of the league and into the cup final. Is CSN going to make a statement this year?
I really hope so. For the last two years in the Premier League we have really struggled and at the start of the year with Regan and John Costain joining, plus Rob Arthur being more available, and the likes of Michael Heaney and Charlie Beverland a year wiser in senior cricket, we had high ambitions with the main aims being to try and split up the traditional ‘top two’ and win a trophy. We have achieved nothing yet and there are massive obstacles in front of us to win anything this year. However, we are committed and focussed and you can rest assured that win, lose, or draw, whoever we play for the remainder of the season will know they have been in a match.
3 Some sceptics might say the club bought its success by hiring players. How would you respond?
While we have had no success yet, in terms of the quality of the personnel that we have playing at the club we have invested wisely! I have always struggled to come to terms with the hired hand concept and over the last three to four years my view has changed. Each club committee is accountable to its members as to how it is going to progress and how it oversees the sustainability of the club. CSN had struggled with relegation for a couple of years and the Seconds and Thirds teams had suffered as a result. It has been a challenge for all concerned. Our main problem for us was a lack of players in their twenties who could play senior cricket. Unfortunately the Deramore stint and the brain drain saw the likes of the Finlays. Corletts and Fullers move on, but we now have good kids coming through the ranks. We also have the ability to field six teams over a weekend, and even six on the one day when school’s cricket ends. However, we lacked class and the general feeling was that we needed to improve the playing standard of the 1st.Eleven to make the second team a more stable side to fight its way back into Division 2 Section 1, which in turn would mean the youngsters coming through would play at a higher standard on better grounds so that when they started to play in the premier league the gulf in standard would not be so huge. We did not take our decisions lightly, and we firmly believe we have done the right thing for the future success of our club. By the way, many other people might say that we are just competing on a level playing field with a few other big name teams!
4 Do any of the old North members keep involved or is this a new club with a new culture?
As I’ve said, CSN is a new club with a new brand and culture. As for old North members, some are still heavily involved and more are getting involved as their kids come through the ranks. It is great seeing Charlie Beverland, Jonathan Hool and Peter McMorran turning out for the Sixths with their sons. And these days we have Jackson the bowler and Johnston the batman playing regularly in the junior sections. And people like Mark Marais (Chaka Travel) and Michael Moreland (Andrews and Podium4Sports) continue to be great supporters of the club.
5 And what of Wayne Horwood as a player? Do you think you have achieved all your personal cricket goals?
Not yet. I was probably a late starter in the Premier League in 1999 but since then I have had some enjoyable personal performances and some great team wins. I think Woodvale vs Waringstown in the cup semi-final in 1999 was probably my most enjoyable game, thanks to Richard Warnock. However I have still not played in a team that has won a major league or cup despite being in four senior cup finals and I would like to rectify that. An Irish Senior Cup win would be the icing on the cake.
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