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Excellent post Mark. Best pro-schools cricket article I've seen and very balanced and informative. I recall many years ago playing both rugby and cricket in the morning and then club sport in the afternoon. The only time this didn't happen was when playing BRA as they were all day games. But once a year we put up with it because they played proper cricket. It would be sad if the clubs dismissed schools cricket for their own selfish reasons as it will seriously affect the development of the game. I hope plenty of people read this email and take heed.

not having much else to do on a wet evening in Buckna I have been having a read of the NCU "fixtures and rules" book (as one does) and I wonder if any of the "high heidyins" could explain why there is a difference between Junior 1 and other Junior sections with regard to "result" - rule G11 which allows for a result on the basis of run rate where a game "ends prematurely due to weather interruptions". There appears to be an anomaly in that no such provision exists for the rest of Junior Sections despite the fact that these games are played in the same atmospheric conditions. Is there any particular reason for this?

Re Mark Shields
Excellent post, although i am in one of the areas where schools crcket is rarely played on a saturday morning by the local schools, there are still quite a few young crcketers that go to school in Lisburn, and I can recall many times when I was at school in Lisburn that almost all our side played in the morning and then went to play for Lisburn 2nds or thirds, Waringstown Thirds, Donaghcloney or downpatrick threes.
I can also recall playing on various schools pitches for club sides in the afternoon for club sides, and if the schools are not playing as much cricket, then these pitches will be lost as well as a future generation of cricketers.

In the main, I am very pleased with the sensible suggestions of the Senior Cricket Workgroup and will actively support all motions except for the one on schools’ cricket (for league restructuring I can accept the merits of 8,10,10,9 or 8, 8, 10, 11 or 8, 8, 8, 8, 5). Without exaggeration, I feel that the proposal to reduce schools’ cricket to the first three years among the most dangerous ideas suggested in local cricket.
Firstly, it is my experience as a school teacher and the captain of Academy Cricket Club that a significant number, though thankfully not all, of school pupils are not yet aware of cricket’s merits over other Saturday afternoon activities to play with adults on a Saturday afternoon and, faced with the removal of proper school cricket will be lost to the game altogether. We can see evidence of this by looking at the decline of participation in all sports caused by the removal of Saturday sport in English state schools.
In recent times my school, Belfast Royal Academy, has sought to improve the profile of cricket by investing significantly in cricket match and practice facilities as well as coaching in order to nurture youth cricketers. It must be accepted that removal of Saturday cricket sends a clear and explicit message to Boards of Governors, at a time of huge cuts in government funding, that school cricket is of reduced importance. It is not hard to see that this result in a significant decline in investment in top match and practice facilities which (BRA/Academy, Ballyclare HS/Templepatrick, Sullivan/Holywood, RBAI/Instonians amongst others) will have a detrimental effect on the resources available to already cash strapped clubs. In addition, we would surely see fewer cricketers (White, McCallan etc.) appointed to jobs in cricket playing schools, especially with the ever expanding prominence of rugby.
Finally, we have a large number of senior cricketers (Harte, White, McCallan, Kidd...) who take school cricket on Saturday mornings before heading to their club games. The earlier starts in May and June, will result in either these teachers being unavailable for either promoting youth cricket or for the own teams. I suspect that for most the former will be true, which reduces the level of coaching available to junior cricketers and will result in Heads of Cricket finding it very hard to get non-playing cricket staff to take matches.
Let us remember also that in areas were schools feeding clubs is less strong this proposal will make no difference and that any school teacher will tell you that the pressure of examinations makes it impossible to move Saturday cricket to any midweek day. Also, the main reason for its proposal is to enable games in 8 weeks of the season to start earlier by one hour, for which the evidence on improved participation rates at senior level is nil. In accepting this proposal in any form we will without question: reduce the number of children playing cricket, reduce spending on cricket infrastructure and coaching and so hugely damage the future of NCU cricket.
This said, I trust that you realise that this is not a personal attack on the NCU or its officials, who I laud on their efforts to move cricket forward in Northern Ireland.

1. How many overs? 50
2. Does everyone accept DL? No but I think it's an educational issue. Until someone comes up with a better method then we should use it.
3. 14, 16 or 18 matches? 18
4. Do people want ANY midweek rearrangements? Yes
5. How many Sundays per season is acceptable to have to play a game? Very few. A lot of players don't want Sunday cricket.
6. Should cup games be Sunday only? Yea I think so.
7. What time do people want the game to FINISH at? Finish by 5.30. Start at 11 or 10.30.
8. Do players want a T20 competition? We certainly do and I think it will attract more kids to cricket in the future. In my opinion it is the way forward to boost numbers at cricket.

The Junior Cup Final on Saturday at Belmont was one of the best games that I have witnessed by many years and yes we missed the rain that postponed many games throughout the NCU. The game was played in a positive atmosphere and both Cooke Collegians and Woodvale Seconds deserve credit for spirit in the way the game was played. There was quite a family atmosphere at the fixture and CIYMS must also be congratulated for the effort put in to host the final. As a Cooke Collegian I am delighted that we won but Woodvale should be given much praise for their performance. Well done everyone and thanks for a great day.

jason i have seen all that you have stated and much worse i was nearly walking off the pitch a few times have had run ins with players and people watching i have been playing cricket a long time and will continue for as long as i can but the blatant cheating and maybe less cricket being played will have an effect on young and older players to stop playing we need to get it right

Just wondering,

Can Match 2s in the Junior leagues be reduced to less than 20 overs and if so by how much? Doesn't appear to be spelt out in the NCU book?

Cheers

Jeff, yes you boys are definately favourites, anything can happen on derby day though. Hopefully the weather clears up a bit. Looking forward to it

TAYTO. we have won 3 out of 3 derbies but yous definitly favourites onyour superb strangford road ground as we been very poor last 3 games but ive no doubt this is just the fixture we need to motivate our players as its getting tight for the last relegation place and even tho we are still in tird place even Dundrum can still be relegated but should be good game as always a pleasure too be at your ground and ill bet we stay for few win lose or draw but not too many as we play lurgan sunday morning at 1030am now ill bet you rodney will struggle get up early for that start

Re: Mathew

Ive been playing cricket 8 or 9 years and I actually think this cheating is getting worse, ive been captain of our 2nd eleven for the past 5 or 6 years and when available I always send the most experienced guys I have playing out to umpire I think but could be wrong but we (Millpark) are quite fair with our umpiring especially with the giving of wides.

Over the past few seasons ive witnessed

(1) A batsmen walk across his stumps and basically kick the ball away not even playing a shot and the young umpire give “NOT OUT”,

(2) Ive seen a wicketkeeper dive for a caught behind initially catch the ball but then spill it behind him pick it up again and still claim the catch

(3) Ive seen 2 batsmen knick off to first slip (no exaggeration) both start to walk then see the umpire hasn’t put his finger up and both about turn in comical fashion back into their crease to take guard again

(4) Ive seen a stumping not given that the batsman who should have been out and the other standing umpire could only be described as embarrassed by the desicision and apologized numerous times after the game

(5) But on the other hand ive witnessed our bowler being the only one appealing and getting a lbw decision that wouldn’t have hit stumps if they were 5 ft high so after the game I heard the other teams captain ask why the umpire gave it out for the umpire to reply “he gave me out lbw last week”

(6) To show that my own club isn’t whiter than white ive seen one of our umpires not give a caught behind when the ball nearly knocked the bat out of the batsmens hand

I could really go on all day, the funny thing about it is that numbers 2, 3, and 4 are all involving one club in particular or a former member of that club, I think it gets to the stage after you play teams a few times you know before the game starts what to expect. Unfortunately its been going on for years

whilst the subject of decisions has been raised I'm surprised that the "starring" system hasn't come in for comment

William and Matthew-this is a difficult problem and not easy to solve. It challenges every tissue of sportsmanship and integrity and sails in the face of the spirit of the game. And it is widespread.
What can you do? You can ask for neutral umpires. You can urge people within your club to become umpires. You can report the issues to the section secretary. You can shame the other side by naming them. You can formally write to the other club and ask them to reflect on how they are destroying the game. Of course they'll counter claim against you.
What you should not do is to walk away from it and you should not call the NCU 'spineless' as the NCU are the people you elect every year at the AGM and they do a thankless job. Every decent cricketer shares your frustration but as footballer Billy Sinclair wrote in his autobiography-"Don't let the b******* get you down!"

Re: “Spineless” NCU
Once again another anonymous poster this time accusing the NCU of being “spineless” in not taking action over perceived cheating by players umpiring junior matches. Maybe “matthew” and “William” are not aware that in most cases there are two sides to every story.
Over the last few years a few clubs have written in to complain about umpiring (and other things) in matches. When the opposing clubs views are sought they in turn accuse the accusers of not being entirely whiter than white themselves when it came to giving honest decisions. Who then do we believe?
In my time playing in matches with no “official” umpires I found that most teams were as bad as each other. If a player umpiring gave a team mate out LBW he was quickly replaced by someone else who was not as generous with his decisions. Few and far are the captains who tell their team before going out to bat to be fair and honest with decision making while umpiring. A second XI captain at my club tried that a few years ago and gave up after 5-6 games as his players were not happy that the opposition were not giving any one out even though we were.
Surely it is up to the clubs to sort out the dishonesty of their players when they are umpiring not the NCU.

Matthew - as William says this has been going on for years - and I go back more than 25 years! The only thing is that William doesn't offer any solution and I can't see how this can be resolved as long as wee lads are sent out to umpire their own innings. I posted earlier about a captain, who shall remain nameless but I do meet on occasions, berating one of his younger players for giving a 2nd LBW with the words "you've already given one"! It is interesting to see the reacion of batsmen when "official" umpires stand in the latter stages of the more "junior" Cup competitions.