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As the end of the season come near, I see all the leagues have champions - bar 2.
Junior League 6 see Inst 3rds ready to be crowned champions if they beat North Down 4's.

JL7 see Holywood 3s top but should be joined by Ballymena 4ths. As it seems Lurgan have given up the season and will concede Vs Ballymena again - giving them a 4th victory due to teams unable to field a team.

Well done to the teams that have won their leagues this season! I hope they have an enjoyable night at the celebration dinner!
There are still a lot of fixtures to be played, but no dates?

James Taylor.

I too thought it was a sad reflection on Waringstown and cricket in general that they couldn't field a 2nds.They and North Down are the two clubs that I think everyone else should take the lead from.
I think clubs should take their duty to fulfil fixtures very very seriously. When you fail to fulfil a game you deprive 11 individuals from the oppostion of a game of cricket so it's not only your own club that suffers.It's the sport.
How many times does that need to happen until people find alternative sports to play ?
Every game can't be a promotion or relegation game and dead rubbers are inevitable. That's not a good enough reason to scrub a game.
Maybe we need to see some serious financial penalties introduced or failing that maybe a 12 point penalty or whatever it takes to make captains think twice. ( maybe we could deduct points from the 1sts for unfulfilled fixtures by teams down the club )
I know at Muckamore we pride ourselves in fielding four teams and maybe a fifths soon and I think we have gone 10 seasons without having to forfeit a fixture. I think a lot of clubs focus on the youth when maybe a bit of focus needs to be on the not so young. These are the guys that provide the leadership, the discipline and the transport. I watched our 2nds at Saintfield yesterday with four guys over 40 playing for us and they each had the enthusiasm of a teenager.Our younger players can only learn from that.
If you want to contribute to your club trust me you can do more playing in the 3rds or 4ths than you can walking around the boundary watching the 1sts. I have just finished a season of spectating but intend playing a full season in 2012 for our 4ths to help bring on more young players.
I would appeal to every Ex senior player to think seriously about getting fit enough to play again down the club.Even you do so on a rota basis with half a dozen of your contemparies. I know from my own experience it's a great feeling to see a young player score a 50 or take wickets in the firsts knowing that you played some part in his development. I contend the best coaching is a combination of technical and being out in the middle with them. And at 30 or 35 overs now you can still catch the last hour of the 1sts game and be home at a reasonable hour.
Our sport should be growing with more clubs and more teams. I see an unfulfilled fixture as a nail in the coffin for the sport I love.
Lets make 2012 the year of " Shame on You" for not fulfilling a fixture. We owe it to our sport.

Just a week after the 1st XI lifting the Irish Cup Waringstown concede a saturday 2nd XI fixture.

Bizarre from one of the strongest clubs in the country...

re Andy
I take it you mean Section 1 of the 1st Division?
Based on the outcome of the 2010 NCU AGM it was decided to have 8 teams in Premier, Section 1 and Section 2, with the remaining teams making up Section 3 for 2012. This is why the NCU website shows 2 teams being relegated/demoted from the Premier League, 4 from Section 1 and 6 from Section 2.
I believe that after the three meetings held recently at which clubs discussed the NCU’s Senior Working Group’s report a consensus formed that the preferred structure would be 8, 10, 10, 9 team leagues. It is likely there will be a motion going forward to this year’s NCU AGM to enable this.
However, as the outgoing NCU President has pointed out to me the website should reflect the outcome of the 2010 AGM until then.

forgot to add "Section 1" in my last posting

could anyone clarify what is happening in Section of the 1st division with regard to demotion - is it 2 or 4 teams going down?

Calub remember the umpire is always right - just back from a function in Belfast City Hall and I met a guy who used to work in the Ramada at Shaw's Bridge and he was expressing his hope that all the trophy winners take the cups home at the end of the night of the NCU dinner.

Watching the current One Day series between England v India, isn't it very refreshing to watch the 3rd umpire review system (purely there for the entertainment of the T.V.viewers ofcourse) and note on how many occasions the on-field umpires get the original L.B.W. decisions correct !

Impressive to say the least and as it's there for their assistance on-field, the umpires use it for the close call run out decisions as well, but as I've said before they could do without it and still get 99% of their decisions correct !

Hope they never bring it over here !!

I'm sure all you blokes know enough about Andrew White as it is but if you're interested I have written an article on his amazing efforts for Ireland in the Intercontinental Cup. He also answers questions on his time at Northants during 2004-06 as well as the success of Instonians this year.

http://www.crichq.com/media/article/292/whites-simple-game-plan-prevails

Enjoy the read!

re: Billy
It would appear that the majority of NCU folk do not agree with you.
In a normal year the attendance at the NCU dinner has fallen to around 150-160 (at £25 per ticket).
For the NCU’s 125th Anniversary Dinner in Belfast City Hall (at £40 per ticket) I am told that already over 300 of the 400 tickets have been sold.
Also for those still wavering about buying a ticket the cost of drinks will be at "sports club" prices and not "hotel" ones I am informed!!

Is it just me or is anyone else put off by the ludicrous £40 for the NCU dinner ?

Also "a table of 10" is £400 - what's that all about, is that an incentive ?

re Neal
As Bryan has explained there are separate regulations to deal with promotion/relegation and to decide league section winners.
Once again I will say that this appears to be what clubs want as no club has put a proposal up in the last few years to change this.
Run rate is used in the Senior Leagues to decide promotion/relegation only.
In Junior Leagues the previous season’s placings are used to decide promotion and relegation only.
As it appears you do not have access to an NCU Fixture Book that contains all the NCU’s regulations then you should nip over to the NCU website and click on the Regulations link as this has them for you to look at.

Apologies - FI6 is the relevant rule.

F21 deals with Promotion and Relegation following a Tie.

The Union does not make the rules - clubs do at the AGM.

Re Bryan's reply.

That is a ridiculous rule to have and one that makes a mockery of all the titles that can be won within the NCU. We all play to win but it seems that really we are all playing to share a title or maybe even win it.

So if the rule states that the title should be shared explain how if the league structures had stayed the same with 2 up/2 down the two promoted clubs would have been decided??

Rules can't be broken so would there had to have been a third team relegated or would it have actually worked on Net Run Rate as it did to decide who was relegated between Dundrum and Saintfield a few seasons ago.

If the Net Run Rate was used to get the two promoted clubs would that decide the overall winners as well or would it just be discounted????

Looks like the rules as usual are as clear as mud!!!!

NCU Competition Rule F17 states that when there is a tie at the top of a Section, the clubs shall share the trophy.

Clubs are free to bring forward proposals to the AGM to change the rule.