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Clarence, as a CI member at the time Carl played for us there were many other factors involved. I don't want to go into them as it is unfair but it's easy as usual to have a pop at CI. Suffice to say that John Matchett is homegrown and Ted has been fully committed to CI for a few years.

Interesting to hear Carl's thoughts, from the 'horse's mouth' to coin a phrase and fair play to him for sharing them with us! Very encouraging to hear the lad's doing well at Cregagh C.C. and most importantly, enjoying his cricket!

But his honest and innocent reasoning throws up a rather irritating 'elephant in the room' quandary which I feel must be addressed !

Of the seven players named from his previous club who were obviously detrimental to his chances of regular 1st team cricket, how many were born, raised and played their cricket at Belmont Rd ?

Answers on a postcard please ?

arron k you cant put a first eleven which plays in section 3 in the intermediate cup as they would be playing against some clubs 3rd eleven bit unfair and to those who have posted about mulder he is only coming back as he is getting paid

Thanks for your quick reply carl! would be glad to see you back in the premier leauge as in my opinion you should be on the knights list.

one of the best young talents going around...

Re Ryan James

I'm now playing my cricket at Cregagh in section 2, and loving it! Great club!

Left CIYMS at the start of last summer, as too many spinners Cameron Dow who was exact same action as myself, Rassie van set dussan, Trevor Britain and John Matchett all already in the 1sts. To add to a bowling attack of Stevie Dunn, Johnny Thompson and Nigel Jones.

Really enjoying my cricket in a very young and talented team at cregagh with an average age of 21 / 22 with a few oldies dragging the average up. Aiming for promotion into section 1 this year. Mon the ducks.

Brendan,
It shouldn't matter which club a player comes from if he's good enough. The fact that four of the players come from the two strongest teams means they must be useful to hold their places. I'm sure some of the current Knights players would struggle to get on the Waringstown or CI teams. Mulder did well in a North Down team that is rebuilding, but if there's better out there let's have some names. These five aren't too shabby to start with.

I have watched a bit of cricket in the NCU last season and have found Ryan James's comments rather interesting. From the players that he has named as the 'young' rising talent in the competition, the only ones who i believe will be up to the task of playing for the Northern Knights this coming season are both Waringstown lads!

Matchett & Johnston havent performed well enough to be in frame.

Mulder isnt quite good enough in his own back yard, i dont agree he is ready/good enough to take the next step.

nothing personal on any of the young boys but thats just my thoughts, thanks

re- andy kennedy

overnight i have reflected on my comments and believe they were a little strong.

the NCU itself has some decent young players coming through, including Dennison, Mulder, Matchett, mccollum & johnston. the real question for me is who out of this young group of players can step up and play for the Knights this year (3 of them already doing so).

P.s. i assume Mulder is returning and will try to play for ireland... if good enough?

Regarding tonight's fixtures meeting for the lower junior league sections, as captain of my clubs fifth XI in JL9, I would appeal for a change to the structure of how fixtures were set last year, and ask that all teams agree to play each other both home and away.
Last year, we were 'grouped' to play 2 teams home and away whilst facing the other clubs but once, amounting to only 10 league games. Home and away fixtures would mean 16 to play and I know I speak for all our players who wish to play as much cricket as possible throughout the season.

I totally understand the problems of availability, selection, weather et al that may count against playing more games, and that some clubs didn't fulfil their fixtures for a variety of same said reasons but my argument is simple.... The more cricket played the better! I've already had some feedback from other captains in our section who agree, so...
Here's hoping all clubs at tonight's meeting feel the same way!

Carl is playing his cricket with us at Cregagh in Senior 2 and doing a splendid job.

re Ryan James - as young Dennison is the only player to make the U19 squad I feel that it's not just in spinners that the NCU is short.

hi all

just wondering if anyone can lend a hand and fill me on on where young Carl Rae is playing his cricket?

last time i saw him bowl i thought he was a future star in the NCU and if he was still in the system he would be one of the superior spin bowlers in the Premier League.

the NCU seems to have a real lack of YOUNG spinners comming through and there are none that come to mind in the Premier League as we speak.

thanks, would be interested on your thoughts...

George, thanks for bringing back memories of what was a great game and one in which you had me very worried last year! I think it's fair to say you brought the best out in us as we didn't bat that well again all season!

I think the attitude there is correct - everyone should aspire to play against the best, and indeed when, as a 2nd XI we enjoy the challenge of coming up against other clubs 1st XIs so I think the Junior Cup as is works quite well. It is tough going into a competition you know you have no chance of winning, however so maybe there is a place for another competition or juggling. Would section 3 teams be better off in the Intermediate Cup?

Re Big george

yes I remember seeing that result in the game mentioned...saw the Dee innings on twitter, thought you had a good chance of progressing but did not relize the other team had 4 PL players playing.

I am all for experience and playing better players but I do feel there is a need for some sort of cup competions for the lower leagues...you could have a cup comp for each section ( section 3 cup etc ) or you could involve the NW qualifying leagues 3 and 4 in some sort of competition.

Ref Ozzie’s suggestion about new Junior Cup format

Interesting suggestion. In theory I would probably agree with you on this – although I wouldn’t know how the format of the new one would work!

For example, last season we (Donaghadee) drew Instonians 2s in the first round at Shaws Bridge – a team that contained 4 players that played for the 1s the previous day in the Premier League, a daunting a match up as you could imagine!
We won the toss and had no hesitation in batting first thinking they would skittle us relatively quickly, the thought of them scoring 400+ and us standing in the cold for 50 overs was not very appealing .…… however in an amazing turn of events, we actually felt inspired playing in such company and we ended up making our highest score in many a year posting 275+ in a brilliant batting performance.
The game was actually in the balance for a while until the experienced PL Instonians batsmen took the game away from us with batting that was just too good for our Section 3 bowling.

So yes, in effect the game was never going to result in a victory for us, and even if we had managed to pull off a historic win we would have had to replicate this again at least on another couple of occasions if we wanted to win the cup (never going to happen). But looking at it another way, we were able to test ourselves against players that were much better than us (and ultimately raise our game), in conditions (surroundings and a ground) that we would not play in much throughout a season.

In summary though – can be a great experience, however ultimately a cup that realistically we would never have a chance of actually winning. New format would be welcomed in my opinion. ?