Forum

M Parks.
AS far as i am aware no there is no limitation on Victoria IIs. The original thoughts of JTF was to limit teams which were not a clubs lowest side but this proved unworkable for league matchesand so I believe the competitions and management committee recommended that the fixture restrictions be placed on teams in Junior 1,2and 3. This means that teams in these leagues can only schedule 2 matches on a sunday with the exception of Millpark II ( as they are the lowest team in their club)

Would I be right or wrong in saying that Victoria II's would be limited to two games not on a Saturday in Junior 5?

NCU WOMENS CRICKET LEAGUE

Three teams (so far) have expressed an interest in the formation of a Women's League for the coming season - North Down; CSN and Waringstown. If there are any other clubs interested please contact either myself or indeed any NCU official as we are hopeful to get things up and running.

Cliftonville are running a Reunion Dinner incorporating the Inaugural Hall of Fame. The dinner will be held at the Penthouse Suite of the Belfast Europa Hotel on Saturday 16th April 2011. It is an open invite all members, former members of Cliftonville together with members of other clubs who may be keen to come along.

Tickets are £35 each and can be obtained by sending cheques, made payable to Cliftonville Cricket Club, to either Jim Munn, 20 Grangeleigh Avenue, Ballymena, BT42 2AP (Tel. 02825 649386) or Crawford McCully, 51 Schomberg Avenue, Belfast BT4 2JR (Tel. 02890 760593). This invitation is also extended to wives and partners.

To see the shortlist of nominees for the Hall of fame visit our website cliftonvillecricketclub.co.uk

GOOD NEWS is we have some cricket grounds SURROUNDED with beautiful scenery.

BAD NEWS is we have a LOT of sub standard playing surfaces on which cricket is played on.

The recent postings on number of runs scored are irrelevant.Many runs are scored on POOR pitches due to the inadequacies of bowlers who are unable to take advantage of "helpful" conditions.
Generally, the only SCIENTIFIC figures[to name but a few] that really matter when determining the quality of a cricket square are:

Clay Content
Soil Strength- Breaking Strength
Binding Stength
Silt Fraction
Organic Matter Content
pH values

How many of our clubs KNOW or want to know this information about their OWN ground.

Unfortunately,we must live with the fact that most local clubs are unable/unwilling to provide the resources [financial and human]to construct AND maintain the playing surface to the standards we see at many grounds in England.

I can assure you that whilst a "holiday" visiting a few county grounds and viewing their preparations for a match is interesting it has a "deflationery" effect on one`s own mindset when you think about NCU surfaces and one`s own club back home.

Nevertheless,when you recover from the shock you have to remember that we are amature clubs/players with an amaturish approach playing generally village cricket to 10 men and a dog for spectators.............so why get so concerned about where a cup final is played........it doesn`t matter

If you don`t think I am correct take a jaunt over to a few county grounds and before you go view a few websites on cricket pitches ......the ECB one is a good one to start with.

Happy Cutting/fertilising/rolling etc,etc

Wylie,

You are quite right: those figures are far from scientific. I think, however, they give a decent, if a little rough, indication of how pitches performed across the season,

Michael

No Dundrum in the Ulster Shield draw this year. Was just wondering reasons behind this?

Ivan raises an issue that hasn't been picked up - a sponsor for the Challencge Cup. In the past there have been some fantastic sponsors such as Touche Ross. In the absence of any progress I ask if there is any input available from Cricket Ireland to assist in the marketing of this competition or are they totally focussed on the national team? I also recall an earlier posting from Wayne Horwood regarding this so we seem to be in the same position as last year.

Re Paul
NDCC certainly did. I think the players would like to see the FINAL shared around the 3 top grounds.
In Oz grade cricket has a comprehensive system of reviewing is in place to determine ground gradings which transparently indicates the good and bad grounds. 1 or 2 is just not enough.

Michael,

Those are very interesting stats you have produced within your article.

Amazed to see Waringstown as low as that but as Wylie righly points out, there have to be other circumstances taken into account when assessing these stats. No surprise to see North Down at the top as they have been the dominant force for a long time now on what must be superb wickets.

All this chat has got my juices going again for local cricket and i think i may take in a few games this coming year to make sure my assesments from news articles/websites and old playing colleagues are correct!

I'll ask my question for a second time though to Wylie if i may, and see if he responds this time. What clubs put their names forward for the NCU Senior Cup Final 2011?

Michael

Surely you need to factor in the second innings scores as well and calculate a "runs per over per ground" (based on the two scores) sort of thing as well as take in to account other factors affecting a teams score.

The reason I say this is:

Scenario One: Larne are the best team in their league and all the rest are rubbish – they win the toss in each match at glorious Sandy Bay and put the opposition in and bowl them out for under 100 each time. This would mean the average score for Sandy Bay is less than 100, ridiculous I know, but there you are, the figures say so that Sandy Bay is not a good batting ground.

Scenario Two: Larne are the best team in their league and all the rest are rubbish – they win the toss in each match at Sandy Bay and bat first passing at least 250 each time. This would mean the average score for Sandy Bay is more than 250, so the figures say Sandy Bay is a great batting ground.

What I am trying to say is that based on your method there are other factors (other than the ground condition) that need to be taken in to account when calculating runs per ground – eg. Strength of opposition, weather conditions, umpires (?)

Any one else got other thoughts?

I'm not sure if this will add anything to the debate, but the average first innings scores for top-division club grounds in 2010 are published here: http://www.cricketeurope4.net/DATABASE/ARTICLES3/articles/000048/004886.shtml

Brendan, you took the words out of my mouth.
Andy, I'm sure James was not being personal.
On another note I played golf with Frannie Lee and Paul Hanby from Leinster CC this morning and it is amazing how much fun three "has-beens" can still enjoy through the medium of sport. Looking forward to linking up with George Dockrell next week when Somerset arrive in Barbados for the Twenty20 finals. Good kid with great potential.

I am convinced Lisburn will do the Senior Cup proud and be fantastic hosts. The new extended ground looks great and geographically is a great location. I think after this Final there will be a clamour for Lisburn to be regular hosts. My hunch is weather permitting we will get a record crowd. There must be a sponsor out there somewhere. Who's looking and does anyone know the sums involved ?

Is that really true James?
Have we so many superstars in local cricket these days?
Surely they still only win a few cups?
Play for the shirt yes, but it is still only a game.
Enjoy it as the playing years pass quickly and then you have only memories.