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Junior League 3
I see there was runs galore in the Academy 2nds Vs Armagh 2nds game on Saturday.
Academy got 364-2 in 40 overs! Armagh returned with 299 - not too often you score almost 300 and lose!
Does anyone know what ground this was on?

Re - Temporary professionals.

Dave, is it maybe because these clubs have so little faith in their own players that they have to resort to temporary pros??

dave

as a person that isnt really in favour of professionals in general being in the ncu i would totally agree with u

Any thoughts on these temporarily professionals? I can't believe the NCU can allow clubs to sign overseas players for one/two matches. e.g CIYMS sign guy from Pakistan for 2 matches over the Saturday, Monday and Instonians sign guy for one match against Waringstown. Can teams not go one or two matches without a professional until their original one arrives?

As Chairman of Lurgan CC, I agree that it was disappointing that we couldn't field a 2nd XI last Saturday. However, I expect this to be a blip. With Easter being late, we had a number of players away on holiday as well as others still playing other sports/working etc - we had 25 players unavailable for one reason or another.
This Saturday, we still have some players away but are easily in a position to field 3 teams - in fact, we can't get all our younger players a game.
Derek Heasley has made a major impact so far and we expect this to continue. This is initially seen as a 3 year project and I am fully confident our club will be in a much stronger position at the end of this period.

can't really agree with David about the "penalty" runs at Waringstown - the time limit has been increased to 190 minutes and the captains are usually kept abreast of the time every completed hour - so clearly the problems didn't lie with the umpires. On the question of not getting teams out - surely its up to the clubs, at the fixture meetings, to take these matters into account - or am I missing something/

Re non fulfilled fixtures.

I believe that all clubs struggle at this time of year with young cricketers who play football for example finishing off important matches/cup finals etc at that sport. With the football season increasingly extending their season this will always be the case. Lurgan lions etc youth structures are to be envied and I believe are in a good position for that club. I expect that the non fulfilling of fixtures is a blip at this time of year.
Maybe next year the Junior cricket at clubs effected by this syndrome should put off planning fixtures until the first week in May.

Sorry Paul, yet again in this forum some misinterpretation means that we must re-emphasise that Roy Young is NOT associated with Ards CC.

It is however disappointing for the game that Lurgan II, Cliftonville II, Carrick IV were unable to fulfill fixtures this early in the season.

Paul,

Perhaps you are right - time will tell ! Theres no doubt your old club were certainly on the wrong end of some severe beatings last year ! I wish them well in their quest to regain former glories.

Roy,

Maybe that's why Lurgan CC created the role in the 1st place - proud history which they hope to reclaim - they have a fabulous man & cricketer in Derek - let's hope he gets the support both he and the Club deserve - let's give it some time remembering "Rome wasn't built in a day".........
Moving forward it's great to see Lurgan CC like Ards CC have a plan which i fully admire!

Interesting to see that Lurgan were unable to field both a 2nd and 3rd eleven to fulfil last weekends league fixtures ! A very sorry state of affairs for a club who have just employed a Director of Coaching !!!

The NW is not exactly in great shape at present but with that all said i think we should have a few players involved in the North vs South game who will add to what should be a strong team.

1-Neil Russell
2-Niall McDonnell
3-Ryan Haire
4-Andrew White
5-Stephen Clarke
6-Nigel Jones
7-Rory McCann
8-Ben McCord
9-Johnny Thompson
10-Eugene Moleon
11-Peter Connell

Surely if we are working on the basis that this should represent the best v the best, then several of the mentioned younger players have some way to go before being included in such a lineup.

For what its worth here is my lineup to actually beat the South, rather than getting mauled by them:

1. N McDonnell
2. N Russell
3. R Haire
4. A White
5. N Jones
6. C Dougherty
7. R McCann
8. B McCord
9. G Thompson
10. E Moleon
11. PC Connell
12 L Nelson

CI man.

Apparently the umpires stopped their watches every time the ball was lost and they were still overtime. Still quite unfair considering the score! Great knock from a potentially legendary player!

Picking the North team isn't easy and depending on the guidelines could be even more difficult. I see Decker's in one of the selections and if that's the criteria I wouldn't argue but in the same breath based on 2010 form Stephen Smyth and Peter Gillespie would be in the reckoning. Other names missing of the selections include Andrew Britton and Phil Eaglestone while younger players such as Chris Dougherty, Stuart Thompson, James Hall, Jason Van De Merwe and James Shannon must have their supporters close to the Irish set up.

If it's the knack of "how to win " the younger guys want to pick up then you need the McBrine twins in there. What a performance again on Saturday at Strabane. Certainly puts paid to ther myth that they can only do it on the smaller grounds these days.

This certainly has the makings of a very competitive fixture and if the weather holds up and the crowds come out will be a great warm up to the games v Pakistan at the end of the month.

PS. Maybe I should say ( before Andy Kennedy or someone else does ) that my team is 17th out of 18 in the Muckamore Fantasy League at the moment so maybe selecting isn't my forte