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Thanks Jamie W. It's always good to have people like you checking over the content. Maybe if you had read the post from Pete who posted the original team as closely as you had read mine you would have understood that his team was selected to a certain criteria but youth wasn't one of them.

Mulder's performances at North Down were certainly impressive and it will be interesting to see how he goes this season.

There seems to be a feeling that some of best players playing in the NCU are not playing in the Northern Knights for a variety of reasons. It would be interesting to know if the other two Unions are in a similar position or are they able to select from their whole compliment of players who are playing club cricket in their Unions?

On a separate topic watching on Sky over the holidays and seeing how one sided Aus v WI and NZ v SL have been is their an argument for 2 divisions of 6 countries playing Test, ODI and T20 cricket maybe over a two year period with promotion and relegation between the two divisions and allowing the top associate country a chance to replace the bottom team.

My Cup Runneth Over

Though the well may be dry, no need to sadly sigh
and wither on the vine
For the challenges of life, in comfort or in strife
is to walk the righteous line

The spoils of decadence, soon rapidly condense
viewed through a discerning eye
If consumed by wanton greed, a heart cannot bleed
when little children cry

The corrupt and morally unshaven, seek sanctuary or haven
behind walls of ill-repute
But a house is not a home, if built on tainted loam
and will bear forth, rancid fruit

So take a leaf from the good book, don’t grapple on the hook
of avarice or imposition
For if the soul is pure, it is written de facto, de jure
your cup will overflow, due to wise volition

A happy cricketing new year to all !

is Mulder returning to Northdown?
with Cameron Dow gone? mulder is the clear choice for mine to take on the role. trevor britton for mine has had his chance and has no future for ireland, while he is a good bowler i feel we need to look to the furute and that could be mulder who has performed at a good level for 3 years now in the ncu and has made it clear he wants to play for ireland. we need to put time into players like him and get games under the belt of some youngsters... I feel that Mulder may have upset some people in the NCU last year with the issues at carrick... can anyone shed some light on what actually happened?

P.s ivan it would help if you got some names correct. James & Adam from waringstown.

Jeff's challenge.
Interesting to look back like that . Having played senior cricket for 24 seasons and probably 400 games with three clubs Muckamore, Saintfield and Ballymena across what is now the Premier League and Section One you forget just how many top players you played against. In that period '73 to'96 NCU produced a lot of internationals and there were some fantastic overseas players about as well.
But here goes.
1. Moylena / The Lawn
2. Archie McQuilken ( THE best) but it's difficult to call between John McCormick / Andy Clement / Mark Napier / Adrian Goodrich
3. Dermott Monteith / Simon Corlett ( although I never faced them for too long as they were always too good for me).
4. Asif Mashood ( and I got him out with the only delivery I bowled at him ) / Jimmy Kirkwood
5. Raman Lamba / Rahaul Mankad
6. Trevor Henry / George Archer
7. Waringstown / Lisburn
8. Adrian Goodrich / Andy Gleghorne
9. Garfield Harrison / Michael Reith
10. Nile Smith / Paul Jackson
11. Captaining Muckamore to promotion in 1995 and then in the top flight in 1996 after a gap of 24 years / Captaining Muckamore 2nds to win the Ulster Plate in 2012 on my 55th birthday and becoming the first NCU club to win it.
This got me thinking about picking a team of the best players I had played WITH and again that's not easy.

1. Alfie Conn
2. Archie McQuilken
3. Mark Napier
4. John McCormick
5.Adrian Goodrich
6. Davy Napier
7. Andy Clement
8. Dessie Kane
9. Harry Cook
10. Nile Smith
11. Adrian McCoubrey

To all my cricket friends xmas challenge name your best 11 in each category .Allowed maximum of two and you must played with or againest

1 Best ground played at = Downpatrick strangford road.Saintfield cc
2 Best player played with Noel Maguire / Henry St Clair
3 Best bowler faced Alan Nelson/Simon Redpath
4 Best batsman bowled at Davy Dennison /Johhny Hewitt underrated
5 Best overseas pro bowled at Indrajet Kamtekar/Micheal Clarke Carrick
6 Best umpires Alan Neill/ Ian Housten
7 Best teas Holywood by mile !
8 Best fielder Craig Irwin covers / Noel Maguire gully
9 Best all rounder Craig Lewis/David Greenlees
10 Best wicket keeper played with and againest Derrick McCann /David Watson
11 Best moment in cricket rebuilding and opening Dundrum cricket pavilion after two arson attacks which we never got £ from Northern Ireland office as it was fantastis effort from the members and great support from lots peope .

Looking at Pete's team and adding in Greg Thompson, Trevor Brittan and Jamie Holmes as all good shouts to be included begs the question who are the "next kids of the block? "

The hypothetical squad Mulder and Holmes being the exception must all be 27 plus. ( not old for a cricketer ).

So the challenge now for younger players must be to put the scores in the book with bat and ball in their club cricket in 2016 to warrant selection in the team on performance as opposed to potential.
Top of the list must be Jamie McCollum and Andrew Dennison at Waringstown followed by Peter Eakin and Ally Shields at North Down. Others in the reckoning would be Jason VdeMerwe at CSNI , John Mattchet at CIYMS and Robert McKinley at Ballymena.

Without any stats to back this up I have a feeling by the time they were these guys age the likes of Garfield Harrison , Neil Doak, Kyle McCallum and Andy White were turning in regular match winning performances in club cricket so that is the challenge for the next group who want to take the step from club to inter pro to the full Ireland side .
With John Mooney gone and Boyd Rankin back and most of the experienced players likely to be fit and good enough for at least another two seasons their aren't many obvious places in the international set up just now and those already in the wings like Chase, Kane and Stuart Poynter are probably earnarked to move up next.
Bearing that in mind the seven young players above have two seasons to show why they should be given a chance. A couple of seasons with maybe 700 runs or 40 wickets would probably be the level they need reach and be automatic picks even in hypothetical teams like Pete's.

Happy xmas and new year to everyone from Dundrum cricket club

Re: Ivan and Jimmy

Agree with you on Trevor (or is it Ted) Britton - he is a very crafty bowler and has the ability to take key wickets for CIYMS. Surprised he hasn't had a call up over the last few years given that he played for Ireland A in the past and is a consistent wicket taker in any league he has played.

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Let's hear from you.

I agree with Ivan - Trevor Britton is one of the most underrated spinners in not only the NCU but also all of Ulster. Also a very useful late middle order bat

Pete's team using the criteria he outlined doesn't look far off the mark. Greg Thompson would be another name in the mix, Trevor Brittan turns out good figures most weeks and could be preferred to Mulder. Strong pace attack with four internationals.,

Re: Pete's team

A good side, but Jamie Holmes should surely be in there to strengthen the batting order, as of the Irish qualified batsmen, only James Hall and James Shannon finished ahead of him in the 2015 NCU Premier League averages. He is also one of the best fielders in the league, and a handy leg-spinner.

It must now be time for the Knights to give him another go, as they have not selected him since the T20 Inter pros in 2013 when he gave a reasonable account of himself. He is now based in the Province and has been steadily improving as a player since then.

Hopefully he will finally be given a chance to prove himself in 2016. Jamie is only 23 and still has ambitions to play for Ireland, and he has shown a genuine committment to NCU and Irish cricket by playing here since 2011.

Very good side Pete. Might be a useful exercise if we could troll readers to find out if this would be the team of their choice.

Re:Wylie
Is it not a case that Johnny Thompson has never been considered for selection for Knights and therefore never asked