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Congratulations to Gary Wilson on his maiden county cricket century for Surrey. Great achievement and we wish him all the best for the rest of the season.

The meadow could be the place to be this weekend, rumours flying about that a certain destructive ireland opening batsman could be playing against us. Although the ville boys are playing it very close to their chest. Will we get extra seating in? lol

Hope he likes it wet, the place is pretty damp we could do with some dry weather between now and saturday to get it on

Already been posted on the home page but would like to take the opportunity on the forum to again promote the competition that the NCU are running for the season. The Union have kindly put up a fantastic prize for the winner; two tickets for the much anticipated Ireland v England One day International at the new ground in Malahide in September. The prize will also include an overnight stay in Dublin after the game. All money raised will be going directly to Youth Cricket development in the NCU so the competition is well worth a go.
Competition is based on selecting an NCU club from the Senior Leagues each weekend. If the club you select win their game you progress, if they lose you fall out of the running. Once you have picked a team they cannot be selected again. There are rules in place for postponed matches etc. and for a full list of the rules you can visit the website www.northerncricketunion.org or if you have a specific query you can email lastwicketstanding@sky.com
There is a prize to be won of course but another aspect in the Unions thoughts was to increase interest in the game throughout clubs and supporters of the game. We would really like to get all clubs from Premier through to Senior 3 involved (and even those from outside the country)
The competition begins on the weekend of May 4th so there is plenty of time to get involved. Register your interest by emailing lastwicketstanding@sky.com
Really think this could a fun competition with a bit of banter amongst clubs and players. So, our thanks to all those already entered and hopes for many more.
Ally (on behalf of NCU Development committee)

The John Mooney affair can now be put to bed after his 3 match ban although many people will feel he got off light. He embarrassed CI and his playing mates. I'm also not going to canonize him like some people are doing because he made a quick apology because he only did that following a phone call from Warren Deutrom. Good on you Warren to act promptly to defuse the situation but let's not give the kudos to Mooney for it.

Its a small small world!!

Niranjan texted from Pune yesterday evening to see how we were getting on at The Lawn. Instead of texting back I rang him. Niranjan answered and said to hold on as he wanted me to speak to someone from Northern Ireland. He put on one Steve Hanna from Donacloney with whom he was having a beer with.

Steve asked me to tell the boys from the Cloney that he was thinking of emigrating due to the warm weather and how it made cricket an all round better game to watch when it was warm and the beer was cold!!

Hi any youth players interested in playing cricket for ards cc please contact myself boys and girls u11 u13 u15 age group anymore infomation can contact me on 07885213024 thanks

For the first time in 20 years I will not be scoring at club level this year and am looking forward to the break although I have a number of matches to score at involving Ireland and NCU. I would like to wish my two old clubs the very best for 2013. Laurelvale under David Sinton have some good young players and this season will be a challenge but I believe that a mid table position is not beyond them. Cooke Collegians were so unlucky last season and will feature in the top three if they can put out a near full strength side and I would consider a Junior Cup Hat Trick as not beyond them. Some of you may be aware that I have resigned as Secretary of NIACUS and I am sorry that I had little choice due to problems with others who felt that I was too capable of doing my job and they were simply unsure how to do theirs. I feel that I gave 110% to NIACUS but this was too much for those who were unable to match my ability to get the job done. I wish the Executive Committee good luck and thank Michael Ross, Ian Houston, Kevin McConville and Alex Adams for their support and assistance. May I also offer my most sincere thanks to all those members who were a pleasure to work with and for but there remain several who were unable to cope with my ability to deliver a professional service to all.
Finally if anyone needs someone to fill in during season for whatever reason give me a call. Am free until mid June.

Looking forward to a jaunt to the northwest for the weekend, hoping drummond and eglinton are fit to get some sort of cricket played. Good to see the sun shinig too.

Cricket Open Night

NDCC are holding an open night at the Green for all interested youth (boys and girls) and adults of all ages and abilities.

We have started youth and girls coaching nights and are keen to develop both (girls Mondays 6.30 and youth Wednesday aged 7 upwards 6.30).

For more info contact us via ndccmembership@hotmail.co.uk or call Ryan Haire on 07988937391.

Thanks and have a great summer to all.

Ref Colins section 3 predictions, would be interesting to know how many new signings the PSNI have for them to be in the running for promotion, maybe the limit to 35 overs will enable them to get a lot of new players, failing that my prediction would be
Saintfield - BISC
Victoria
Portadown
Ards
D'dee
Dungannon
PSNI
Dunmurry

But more importantly, I hope that none of the sides have to scratch games due to not being able to field a side, and that Portadown and Dungannon are able to field second 11's next year again.

Woodvale
Carrickfergus
Downpatrick
Muckamore
Derriaghy
Templepatrick
Donaghcloney
Laurelvale
Cliftonville
Dundrum

1. Derriaghy
2. Carrick
3. Downpatrick
4. Muckamore
5. Woodvale
6. Cliftonville
7. Dundrum
8. Donaghcloney
9. Laurevale
10. Templepatrick

RE - Girls and Ladies Cricket

Templepatrick CC are keen to field female teams in the following 3 age groups.

Can anyone out there provide opposition ?

Under 11s
11 - 16
Over 16 including ladies

Please get in touch with me on mccrea.a@sky.com

regards and best wishes to all for the new season

Andy

Still a couple of spaces left on the Introduction to Cricket Coaching Course.

Details are......
Templepatrick Cricket Club in conjunction with Cricket Ireland are running an Introduction to Cricket Coaching Course at their ground (The Cloughan, Doagh Road, Ballyclare) on Tuesday 23rd April from 5.30pm till 9pm

This course will allow you to work with young players on introducing basic cricket skills to them and provide you 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

The course will be outdoors and is therefore weather dependant.
If the weather is unkind to us on that evening the back up date is Tuesday 30th April from 5.30pm till 9pm

Please get in touch with me if you are interested on mccrea.a@sky.com

Cannot wait for the sun to arrive and the season to begin.

In terms of watering, Pollock Park resembled a lake at noon today so we will not need to get the hose out for a while.

The wicket is cut and rolling has begun for next Saturday's game but we need the sun and 3 or 4 warm dry days to get things really sorted.

I just hope we get a better summer than last year as it makes life as a groundsman so much easier when we have decent weather.

Roll on the sun and the need to get the hose out!!