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Ards CC is having a Table Quiz night on Friday 22nd April at Ards Rangers Clubhouse on the Portaferry Road.

Anyone is welcome to put forward a team of 5/6 players (entry £5) for a great night of 'craic'. Anyone wanting to enter a team contact Rab Dunn on 07724 117026 or rabdunn@yahoo.co.uk

Also at the Table Quiz, the club will be drawing its grand raffle ballot - for a list of prizes see our website www.ards.hitscricket.com

There is upwards of £1000 of prizes available from Martin Philips' carpets to dinners out, karting passes for Eddie Irvine's to crazy golf at Pirates in Dundonald, free passes for ice skating in Dundonald to a gallon of ice cream! Anyone wanting to purchase ballot tickets (£1 each) please contact Rab Dunn on 07724 117026 or Ian Farley 07752 386484

All funds raised are going to our youth coaching programme.

The latest loss in young talent from our club is an inevitable consequence of the current policy the committee are pursuing. It was only a matter of time before the younger guys got feed up with being bit part players and only being used to make up the numbers in support of the paid players. Last season it was common knowledge that they were getting fed up with their role in the team. Last year we lost 4 very good young players from the club and now with AJ, Adam and Nathan leaving this year the future is not looking bright. Few clubs in the NCU could afford to loose this many cricketers. People want to play cricket with their friends and feel they have a role in the club and team. There is no pleasure when every year the team changes and you are made to feel like some alikado. I feel we are reaching a crossroads and although the sponsors support can never be criticised we need to revaluate our direction of travel and rediscover the format that originally got us into the premiere league .

very sad indeed particularly a club that epitomises the spirit of local club cricket.
I enjoyed many a Queens v Drumaness match down the year and they were always a great bunch of guys.

Hopefully in the long term interests of the local game clubs like Drumaness can get back on their feet and into league cricket again as when clubs fold and the interest in our game diminishes in communities we are all losers.

Hopefully local clubs can assist with a programme of matches that perhaps provides some cricket to allow the club to get back again.

Good luck lads.

sad news coming out of Drumaness. Smaller clubs need as much support as possible. Also, just learned that Larne are holding a quiz on Friday 22nd April. Was going to suggest that some of the 'bigger' clubs could send a team or two but then I realised that half of their players aren't in Northern Ireland yet!

Having read Alastair Bushe's report far be it from me to comment but isn't interesting that despite postings in the past about CIYMS youth development 2 young players have jumped ship?

Disappointed to hear two young 'Galacticos' leaving CI this year. Having played in the T20 and Challenge Cup winning teams, something must be seriously wrong at the club for these players to be leaving. Maybe one paid player too many? Thoughts? Surely it's not long till matchett follows suit?

THINK its time we moved with times coloured clothing seniors and juniors asap as its way forward to improve our game and no better way advertise your clubs members supporters wearing coloured club kit as whites are outdated.I would back the NCU to give clubs one year to sort out as lets be honest the new forward thinking NCU chairman and committees get 98% improvement in our game correct and i think the AGM needs restructured as its stupid that section 3 vote on what premier section needs and vice versa.Any club looking junior friendlies 11/13/15/17 contact myself asap home or away.Dundrum starting major drive in schools 7 primary and three secondary with 8 week FREE cricket program with finals day for both .PS any club in section two who fancies stop over in Dundrum or Newcastle i can arrange for them as not near enough craic after games? I can rememeber when CIYMS were in old section three stayed down loads all hawaiian shirts GREAT TIMES Academy (was harder get micropone of Davy Greenlees than get him out ) Cooke as well.

Peter, I think they mean two non Irish qualified players, and presumably they have yet to be named

Hi Ivan,
No doubt Clarence was enthralled by the final as the womens final was just as exciting and it had such a great outcome for the Caribbean teams. It was a fantastic day of cricket !

I like the look of the Knights squad that was announced yesterday, it's a good balance of youth and experience and I wish Eugene, Gavin and James all the best for the season, we look forward to welcoming you to The Green for T20 and 3-day games this year! No doubt the batters in the squad will be looking forward to those games too...
Couple of queries: Firstly, I assume that 'for 2016' doesn't mean that the door is shut on others to force their way into the squad by virtue of excellent performances and secondly, 'two overseas players' I presume should read 'two non-resident players' and out of interest which ones are they?

After a very exciting T20 World Cup which seemed to attract interest from a lot of people not regular cricket fans is it time to reach out to the wider sporting public at local level ?
Should we think now about getting out of the whites that those people associate with this boring game played in grammar schools and get into club colours. Get the sport an identity locally, get people wearing the coloured clothing everywhere . I'm not just talking about 1sts cricket I mean all cricket from boys to Premier League and everyone in between.
Coloured pads , helmets , caps etc with white or orange or pink cricket balls against black sight screens .
Sponsors would get more involved , kids would identify with the kit ( they aren't going to run about the estates in their whites ).
I think it's always better to embrace change and be actively behind it as opposed to wait until it eventually happens and then be dragged kicking and screaming.

After a very exciting T20 World Cup which seemed to attract interest from a lot of people not regular cricket fans is it time to reach out to the wider sporting public at local level ?
Should we think now about getting out of the whites that those people associate with this boring game played in grammar schools and get into club colours. Get the sport an identity locally, get people wearing the coloured clothing everywhere . I'm not just talking about 1sts cricket I mean all cricket from boys to Premier League and everyone in between.
Coloured pads , helmets , caps etc with white or orange or pink cricket balls against black sight screens .
Sponsors would get more involved , kids would identify with the kit ( they aren't going to run about the estates in their whites ).
I think it's always better to embrace change and be actively behind it as opposed to wait until it eventually happens and then be dragged kicking and screaming.

Sad to learn of the vandalism at Laurelvale - obviously some low life's with little to do.

Firstly may I offer my thoughts of a speedy recovery to Clarence is who is a gentleman of the highest order and someone who is a huge pillar of our local game.

My reason for this posting is to once again to notify any club of my availability as a scorer for the forthcoming season. As many know I have been a club scorer for over 20 years and am a recognised international scorer with a number of games and tournaments over the years. So if you are interested why not contact me at any time.

Cricket Coaching Qualification - Welcome to Cricket

For those of you who may be interested in getting involved with or cricket coaching, after 4 successful courses in the last 4 years, Templepatrick Cricket Club in conjunction with Cricket Ireland are running the following coaching course at their ground (The Cloughan, Doagh Road , Ballyclare)

Welcome to Cricket Thursday 28th April - 5.30pm till 9pm

This course will allow coaches to work with young players on introducing basic cricket skills to them and provide coaches with a range of games that can be used with players to further develop their cricket experience.
This course is a good starter for those people with limited cricket experience or limited experience in working with young players and allow you to assist other qualified coaches.

The cost of the course is £10

Who can attend? Answer - Anyone over the age of 15 years old.

Attendee Requirements: There is no assessment to be completed during this course. Participants however are required to attend all components of the course in order to receive a certificate of participation.

Accreditation: Attendees will receive a certificate of participation at the completion of the course.

Cricket Ireland are hugely grateful for the support of Templepatrick Cricket Club for facilitating these hugely important courses as Cricket continues to grow exponentially at many levels throughout the country.

The course will be outdoors so please bring warm clothing. If the weather is unkind to us on that evening we will be able to use the hall in the clubhouse:

Please get in touch with Andy McCrea if you are interested on mccrea.a@sky.com or 07811 737047