Forum

"Players umpiring matches from the junior leagues should apply a somewhat less strict interpretation". These are the words in the NCU bye laws. Perhaps if you are not happy with them Ivan you should bring it up at the AGM, however those umpires were clearly applying the laws according to the NCU as they stand for the season 2012. This wording has been in the NCU bye laws for quite a while.

Think with Ulster Shield final not until august 5th its madness not getting a chance play the quarter final instead being forced to have a BOWL OUT when surely one rearrangment is still possible .Even a 20T replay is a better option.

Re. Starrings.

Some seem to have missed the point completely. No one is suggesting for a second these players shouldn't be playing at which ever level they wish, the problem lies with the union who decide when a player must be starred. I know of several occasions when a player moving to or currently playing for my club (muckamorecc) have had to be starred for our firsts, and most bizarrely a player who joined us from section three at the time and we were told he had to be starred for our firsts. Ps hope to see Wayne at moylena on the 30th.

On the subject of leg side wides I would appeal to those who are not qualified umpires to consider contacting those who are and find out about the law. We require a consistent approach to the calling of wides at all levels and players must seek advice from NIACUS.

RE: Ivan

It was our lads (millpark 2nds) who played your boys on Saturday and id say going by our boys umpiring performances in the past that they were again very lenient on wides i will be telling them that Muckamore have mentioned it as well maybe that will tighten them up id agree with you anything down the legside is a wide as I say I will be mentioning it

starring
lads personally id love see more ex premier players drop into seconds (or dundrum ) and pass on their experiance and think quite few clubs would loved WAYNE play for their firsts never mind quit . Take look at Waringstown Garfield Harrison and Alan Waite its fantastic that they pass on their skill to juniors and still compete and both could still play at higher level , Michael Shannon another who would walk into any section one team helps holywood bring through the juniors and doesnt do it because of the starring isue simply because they all love the game of cricket and put more back into the game than any PAID pro/players and want the juniors and their beloved clubs bring players through and their experiance cant be bought so surely that can only be for the good of CRICKET?

R.E Starring system

I think its pretty obvious and common sense to see that CSNI are going to have a better standard of player than Muckamore, hence why Horwood isnt in the CSNI starred 8.
Good to see him back playing again anyhow and enjoying his cricket regardless of the level- there are more pressing problems in the Union.

I would like to appeal to all captains at all levels to urge the introduction of the leg side wide in all games. On Sunday I had a couple of our regular 3rds bowlers bowling in the Ulster Plate at Fox Lodge with official umpires.
Rightly they were called for wides that just went down the leg side and having "got away" with those on the 3rds the day before found it difficult to adjust. By being lenient we are NOT helping develop bowlers for our higher teams. It also takes the guess work out of it if we have consistency from both sides.

Understood Michael and thanks Wylie for clarification.
Starring has been a can of worms for years but there doesn't appear to be a better alternative so we have to live with it and keep policing it. The section secretaries do a great job in this respect but the integrity of the system still lies with the clubs themselves.

Clarence - I understand your thinking entirely but I suspect in this case (though I cant be certain) that the NCU has told the Section 1 club in question (lets say Muckamore for sake of argument) that a certain player MUST be starred for the firsts (ie even if the player gets injured, or suffers from horrendous loss of form, they cannot play for the 2s). To do this, they are relying on registrations guidance issued to clubs in the pre-season that indicates that the competition directorate must be satisfied that the player in question is "appropriately starred in relation to their playing ability".

Where I believe Andy is coming from is that it is incongruous that a player is not permitted to play in Junior League 2 (again, for sake of argument) for a section 1 club, but is permitted to play in JL2 for a PL club. If you take the guidance and look at it carefully, it does appear that it should be irrelevant what section or standard the 1st team is competing at, what is of relevance is the standard at which the 2s are playing at, and in this case, the 2nd XIs are in the same league.

As you say, clarification from the competitions directorate as to its thinking would be helpful, to Andy, and others.

Re Andy's query about starrings.
The relevant ruling is in the document on "Administrative Rules Applying to all Competitions" available as a free download on the NCU site.
Part A10 (a) reads �a club with two teams shall star the first eight players normally selected for the 1st XI�. (The rest of A10 deals with clubs with more than two teams).
So it would appear that Clarence and Neale are both correct in what they say and that 2nd XI playing standard does not enter in to the equation.
So someone moving from a Section 1 team where they are starred won�t necessarily be starred if they move to a Premier League club as at the higher level club they may not be 1 of the first 8 normally selected.
It is just unfortunate for the lower league teams second XI that both teams play in the same second XI league section.

Michael,
Surely the consideration is not that the player is deemed to be too good for 2nd XI cricket but more about him being in the best eight players on the 1st XI and therefore has to be starred? This may be true of a player at one club but not necessarily true of his position as another stronger club as Neale points out. This Forum is read by most NCU administrators so a simple clarification would be welcome.

There's no getting away from it Michael, I'm stating the obvious here, but the rain spoils everything when it comes to anything cricket related !

Take those last few cherished hot days at the end of May just past, it seemed everywhere you looked or went, everyone up & down the country was playing or involved in cricket at some level or another, now it's the 'same old, same old' once again; matches called off and Captains/club secretaries, officials etc. having to try and rearrange fixtures yet again, very frustrating indeed !

Take last night for example, I went to bed early to try and avoid the football on T.V. put the radio on, but more football commentary on there as well. Turned it off, but couldn't get to sleep, so I started counting 'sheep' !

After about 500 or so it wasn't working, so I opened the bedroom window, lay down again and decided to count the rain drops pitter-pattering of the ground outside, after 1,600540 drops or it could of been 1,600541 drops (can't be certain), the alarm clock went off and it was time to get up ! And guess what?

It was still raining!!

Like I said...very frustrating indeed!!!

Neale

I suspect Andy knows all this, but I think what he is suggesting is that the NCU indicated to the Section 1 club in question (and I am pretty much having a guess here that it is Wayne Horwood he is talking about, as he has recently gone from Muckamore to CSN, I could well be a million miles off) that the player HAD to be starred for the Section 1 club on the basis that he was deemed too good for the level at which Muckamore 2s play. Now he is at the PL club, Andy is quite correctly posing the question as to why the player in question is suddenly deemed not to be too good for that level. It is, when you look at it from that angle, rather strange. You're either too good for Junior League 2 (for example) or you arent. Andy will be quick to correct me if I am wrong, but I think thats what he is getting at.

RE: STARRING

Hi Andy.
Don't know the specifics, but as regards the thinking behind it - the starring system requires the first 8 players normally selected for the 1st X1 to be starred for the 1st X1.
It is quite possible therefore that a player joining from a Div 1 club would not be considered in the 'first 8'of his new club.
Take an extreme example - the 8th best player on a Div 1 side joining a premiership side is very likely not to be considered the 8th best player at the premier side until performances show otherwise.
In any event, if he is starred someone else will have to be de-starred and instead of a player who was starred for a Div 1 side the previous week playing 2nd X1 cricket, you can have a player who was starred last week for a premiership club able to play second 11 cricket.