Forum

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. ?

Now that most Pro's have been appointed and transfers done it must be close to the time for us to try and predict who's going to finish top and who's going to be battling to avoid the drop.

On paper Waringstown's main challengers in the Premier League looks to be CIYMS. Instonians and North Down look like the best of the rest The other four places could very much depend on the performance of the "gun" Pro's. I wouldn't like to try and list them five to eight at this stage.

In Section One I think it's going to be very very competitive. I think any team with Kamy as their pro won't be far away at the end of the season. He's a proven match winner and Armagh proved last season they have a great team spirit and in Colin Russell and the guy Rogers they have two batsmen who could build match winning partnerships with Kamy. If they don't win the league I think they will certainly upset some of the more fancied teams.

Obviously I hope Muckamore will have learnt from last year's experiences and certainly in Ryan Haire and Neil Gill have two of the best all rounders in the league and have others such as Craig Drummond , Jay Hunter and Sam Gordon who can score big and bowlers like Gary Nicholl who are proven at that level.

Ballymena have a lot of players with years of Premier League experience and a team spirit that kept them in that league for years despite being everyone's favourite for the drop. I think they will start as most people's favourites to go straight back up .
Bangor with Tiamur Khan onboard will probably fancy their chances as should Downpatrick who certainly on paper have a team of proven performers at that level and Woodvale especially at Ballygomartin Road are a dangerous side. A top six that might be decided by the team with the biggest "desire" to play in the Premier League in 2017.

In Section Two Cliftonville and Templepatrick will be hoping to go straight back up but Cregagh might have a big say in the final positions .

It will be interesting to see others thoughts on the 2016 season.

Junior Cup

can someone please tell me when the last time a team playing in section 3 at the time won the Junior Cup..

I think the NCU should introduce a cup competition for sections 2 and 3...especially section 3.( LIke the NW do with their leagues )

Gives the players and teams with in each section a chance every year of some silverware especially as you are playing against cricketers of the same ability.

makes no sense to see clubs like dungannon , Monaghan etc who do struggle at times in their leagues to play Junior one teams who when you think about it have players that can play premier league cricket if the chance arises ( injuries / sickness to first team regulars )....

Any opinions ?

Anybody know why there would be a bye in the 1st round of the Ulster Cup?
Surely if a team 'drops out' another team could be moved up to replace them? Is this not the major NCU-NW competition?

Re. Kyle

Kyle's cricketing credentials are impeccable.

But to put this thing to bed why doesn't he simply make a short statement based on the facts of the matter.

There's no point in saying it was a confidential conversation between selector and player as there are now so many versions of that conversation being bandied about.

Similarly Max Sorenson could come out with a statement of the facts also. Or would he need an "Incentive" to do that??

This is tiresome. The Knights should be made up of the best players who are still available for Ireland and will be so for the foreseeable future!!

Rant over!