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Re start times
I can appreciate both sides of the argument but surely the rule book provides for the LATEST start time - there is nothing to stop earlier start times being arranged (just as our match at CSN was on Sunday) Does it not just require the 2 captains to agree?
is there not someting in the rule book that a game can start earlier than the "published" start time - provided both sides agree? I recall a couple of years ago that Muckamore 2s & Waringstown 2s had such an arrangement that benefitted everyone. As for late finishes, I don't believe that the "30 minutes" before overs are deducted is helpful - 1:30 starting time with the 1st innings due to finish round 4:40, 30 minutes tea interval and we end up with a finish time of 8:20 - forget about schoolboys - what about me having to get home to help Flossie get the hens in?
Davy McC Vistoria.
Davy I appreciate that you and others work on Saturday morning but I contend more people have quit playing for the reasons outlined by Billy Adams. I contend that if this Saturday every player in the NCU ( at all levels ) was handed a postcard with three options of start times of 11am , 12noon or 1pm that a vast majority would go for 11am. It would be great to see this done on an individual basis as a private ballot without any lobbying or discussions about school cricket etc. If my hunch is right then it's up to the Union/Schools to facilitate the wishes of the majority.
Spectators also need to be considered and getting home by 9pm isn't appealing to anyone. Those that want to spend two or three hours at the cricket and be home for tea or to go out that evening could get there for 2.30 pm and the game would be over by 5.30pm /6pm allowing them to see the game played to a finish.
A sport without spectators will never progress. I'm sure some of the young guys playing in our nets or outside the boundary on Sunday at the Muckamore v Waringstown game will have gone away thinking " I want to play in front of crowds like that ".
Selling cricket isn't easy. I was listening to Boycott on the radio today discussing the Rose Bowl's first test and he said " it takes time to build a test watching public ". When they struggle to " sell cricket " in Hampshire and in Cardiff you can understand how much work we have to do to get people watching NCU cricket.
Without spectators it is harder to get sponsorship or other revenues. Without money we can't have better facilities or better coaching. Without those we won't attract young players in to the game.Without the young players the game will die. So you can make an arguement that supporters are THE lifeblood of the game and we as clubs in the main treat them with contempt.
And just in case you haven't thought about it cricket in Ireland was dealt another heavy blow at about 20 minutes past midnight on Monday morning when Rory McIlroy was hailed as potentially the biggest sporting star on the planet. Well done Rory and I'm as proud of you as the next man but it needs to be " wake up cricket ".
Is the 11am start for all cricket or just the 50 over format?
Why would we want to restrict clubs to not having any schoolboy cricketers (and potentially teachers) available until the end of June?
if the NCU decide to start all games next season at noon this year will be my last playing, and as we have about 4 or 5 players that regularly work saturday mornings, it may well be a step too far for them as well, not to memtion the amount of players that will be lost as they will be playing for their schools.
On behalf of NIACUS I would like to extend our most sincere sympathy to the Irwin family upon the death of Mrs Irwin. We are truly sorry to hear of this and wish Brian and family every sympathy at this time. May they be comforted by the prayers and thoughts of the Officers and members of our Association. I only met Mrs Irwin last year at a fixture at Dunmurry and she was a very kind and charming lady and I really feel for Brian at this time. I am thinking of you and your family and with you every comfort from the words and thoughts that will be around you at this time.
didn't have a game on Saturday but was at a cracking match at Stormont on Sunday that had everything - CI 46/5 getting to 149 wuith some fantastic running between the wickets from the brothers Brittain, dropped catches on both sides and then to see young McMorran bat with determination to swing the game from 199/9 to win by 1 wkt. Maybe you should be arranging for extra seating to accomodate the crowds that will be following the visitors on Saturday!
I don't know what match Andy Kennedy was umpiring on Saturday and I'm not great with my North, East, West and South's so I don't know which club he's referring to but the one I was at on Saturday wouldn't be in a position to comment on Muckamore's ability to attract a crowd.
The number at Moylena on Sunday was about 280. Maybe with Father's day and a lot of heavy cloud about at midday we lost a few. However the day was a success off the pitch. Spectators saw some good cricket for about 75% of the game with excellent individual performances from Ober Pinnear and Lee Nelson with the bat for Waringstown and with the ball for Muckamore by Neil Gill, Indrajet Kammtekar and Jason Van de Merwe. Jason followed his 10 overs 1 for 23 with an excellent half century while Josh Hall took 6 wickets for Waringstown ably supported by Simon Harrison and Gary Kidd and Johnny Bushe gave a wicketkeeping masterclass.
Bar sales were well up on a normal fixture , the bbq stand was very busy all day and a lot of local people where there for the first time or hadn't been at a game for years. I really think it will be easier to go from 280 to 500 than it was to go from 60 to 280.
Waringstown bring a large travelling support. This Saturday we play Instonians at Moylena and they are one of the less supported clubs in the League.We again will be promoting the game through social media and by a poster campaign in local shops and would hope to get an above average crowd.
We have learnt many lessons from this past week's efforts and will carry on promoting the club and fixtures. We did get a lot of youngsters and clubs might be advised to promote to a family audience. Maybe the addition of a play area to grounds would help and also 2 musts " I think to encourage people are 1. A permanent PA system and 2. Permanent seating.
I was at Shaws Bridge ( where we played as bad as we have in years ) and not a seat in site and later on at Eaton Park ( great finish ) and again no spectator seats available.
As the Premier League goes to 8 teams and the standards expected to rise I think clubs need to look at spectator facilities. Guess which two clubs have the best seating and best PA.- North Down and Waringstown while Lisburn provide excellent seating.
I encourage all clubs to take responsibily for promoting the game locally. We got more publicity in the past weeks than we have in years, and remember ALL publicity is good publicity. "Dogs don't bark at parked cars ".
well done to all concerned at Muckamoe on the lead-in to Sunday. The number who turned up is certainly much higher than the 40odd that was being rather churlishly being predicted at a certain South Belfast club on Saturady afternoon! But then again I haven't seen that particular club attracted 40 spectators over 2 games!
Great effort by Muckamore to get 300 through the gate. I think this approach has a huge part to play in the future of Irish cricket. Advertising and promotion of cricket will bring people through the gate. A lot of people don't know there are cricket teams in their local area and certainly at Dundrum we have attracted more members through the kids section who thoroughly enjoy watching and didn't know we were there before.
The problem with advertising, promotion etc is that it takes time and money not to mention a committed and hard working committee who arent afraid to get their hands dirty.
I cant talk for committees around the country but from what I've been told Muckamore seem to have a committee that work as one and do not oppose change or the idea of moving forward. Moreover it seems they aren't afraid to put the effort in and look like they understand this is a pre-requesite for the club to achieve its long term vision.
Well done.
Anyone hear how many were at the Muckamore v Waringstown game?
About 300 was the report I heard, good effort.
When is the draw made for the Challenge Cup Semis? Should be some quality cricket with the top three teams from the NCU involved - Waringstown, Instonians and North Down.
3 night matches - d/l?
apparently you can only have a max of 50 overs in the last day to make a game. so if only 10 overs have been bowled in nights one and two it becomes a 30 over game in night three. 10 overs already bowled plus 20 of the 50 then 30 overs for team two. that is my interpretation of rule g25 but i am open to correction
does anyone know how duckworth lewis works in a three nighter? so for instance tomorrow night forecast is shocking, so is it the usual after half an hour do we start losing overs? or if it rains tomorrow night can we play full game on weds and thurs?
Couldn't agree more Billy...
No older players want to sign away their summers to that...
Encouragement not discouragement please NCU...!
How many at Moylena Ivan today BTW...?
the sooner we start all mataches at noon the better we got home from laurelvale after our junior cup game at 10pm this needs to be sorted asap this is why some players do not want to play the game
