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Andy K -

I hope my mate "Fazza", the left arm spinner for Ormskirk, didn't throw the toys out too much on Saturday!!! He normally has a wee tantrum at some stage if they are losing!!!

re Stat Man

think you might find Saintfield have scored 300+ twice as well!! well done to Rosco on Saturday on his hattrick

stat man - a certain club from the Comber area has managed that. Having just return from Liverpool (cricket not football!) I was delighted, as I'm sure "Davy" was, to learn that Mr. McCullough got a couple of wickets on Saturday. Not bad for someone who "doesn't bowl"!! Also congratulations to Jason on his fantastic knock yesterday

340 scored by Victoria yesterday. Am I correct in saying that they are the only team to have scored 300+ twice this season?

A very rare event occurred yesterday(Saturday), I was without a game of cricket ! What with my non selection for our 1st eleven!! And the late rearrangement of our 3rd's home game,to another day, I was at a loss as to what to do ?

On hearing this profound news, the good Mrs.Johns suggested a day in Belfast shopping or the possibility of re-wallpapering the spare bedroom (again) !
But such ludicrous ideas were soon dispelled, when I suggested we head out for a family pic-nic and despite the lite drizzle outside, an agreement was reached !

As it happens the venue was to be a few miles only down the road at Pollock Pk. home of Lurgan C.C. where the host team were entertaining CIYMS C.C. and I was keen to see their ex. New-Zealand test player in action.
And I wasn't dissappointed,the weather brightened up and during the course of our hastily prepared meal, it was a treat to watch 4's & 6's being dispatched over the long boundary ropes with consumate ease as McMillan scored 113 !

But in defence of the Lurgan attack, they were very unluckly not to get some more tight LBW appeals in their favour and during their own innings in reply, Viljoen's own knock was equally brilliant if a little less billigerent than their opposition's Pro !

Anyway a great family day out watching a premier league cricket match, loads of room at Lurgan's fantastic huge ground, the kids played in the practice nets between innings, there were football goal posts, rugby posts and we even brought the tennis rackets and we played 'the lot' ! plus I had a few pints to top it all off in the club house.

What puzzles me though is, why a club with the ground and facilities like Lurgan have, are sitting at the bottom of the 'pile' ? Doesn't seem right if they're playing next season in Section One, "come on lads, pull it out of 'the fire" !!

I would like to express my frustration and annoyance at the fact that the outstanding Quoile Cup quarter final between Armagh and North Down was settled by a coin toss. As a parent of a North Down youngster I am fully aware of the lengths that North Down have gone to get this fixture played only to be greeted by negativity from Armagh. The original date for the game was 25th June but this did not suit Armagh because of the Ireland game and every subsequent attempt to fix a date (bar one that fell foul to the weather) was greeted with “doesn’t suit” or “can’t get a team”. The last attempt was to take place tomorrow night but because Armagh cannot field a team it has been decided by the dreaded coin toss which would at least give Armagh a 50-50 chance of winning – and guess who won. I have just broken the news to my son who is understandably upset. His performances in the competition and those of his team mates did not deserve to exit in this fashion. To us it may only be an under 11 competition but to the boys it is a big deal. They, and the competition, deserve better.

Jeff, glad i touched a very passionate nerve - no one dounts your comittment to Dundrum CC or what a wonderful club it is - in my opinion local 'pros'as in any career have the right to have another 'part time job' and are merely expressing their talents and opportunities - in general they offer much more loyalty than overseas players and understand the game and politics more acutely (and this is where quite often petty jealousy is vetted against them). I will agree to disagre with you on a couple of other points and with ref to my name here it is my prerogative to display what i'm comfortable with....hoping we've entertained and all who read this with no pseudo names are chuckling - gotta ask - "howzat"? Keep up the great work in Dundrum Bay

I'm sure that the selectors at Muckamore will now take a serious look at their policy in the light of "Davy from the Lisburn area" posting. At present the 1sts are running neck & neck with Bangor for the 1st Division title (I think even "Davy" would accept that both will be promoted), in the Final of the T/20 Cup and still in the Ulster Shield. You're right "Davy" - something missing at Muckamore alight!!! As someone who was at the Cricket Factory at Junction One I can assure Davy that it was more than just a "few nets". Of course "Davy" may have attended the same event and I'm sure those involved would welcome any comment he may have in order to effect improvement.

Re.Davey, a rather disbarriging comment there earlier on, about the cricket nets in a shopping centre !

I travelled up to that event organised by Muckamore C.C. with the family to have a 'wee duke', but ended up spending a good hour or more being thoroughly entertained and looked after by Andy and his team from the club, as did my 9 yr. old son, who was shown training techniques and cricket skills that had him asking his 'old-man' afterwards:
"Dad, I don't think you really know that much about cricket", after-all" !

And I had too agree with my son, on that one !!

But don't take my word for it though, on the benefits of a brilliant piece of innovative work by Muckamore C.C. bringing cricket out onto the streets as it were, encouraging 'Joe Public' to get involved and have a go !

I know Ivan & Andy etc. don't need my reccommendations, but I would like to point out for you info.
When all club reps.(me incl.), where at the pre-season N.C.U. meeting at Shaw's Bridge, a short couple of months after Muckamore C.C. had hosted the 'cricket factory', Bryan Milford read out a statement from the Director of Cricket Ireland, Warren Deutrom, no less !
Thanking Ivan and his team and praising all involved for their excellent efforts at trying to be progressive, pro-active and promoting the game of cricket for all to see rite at 'grass roots' level.(to which Ivan recieved a healthy round of applause, I hasten to add)!

So there you go... A bit more than a net session in a shopping centre!!!

Don't you agree ?

WAR Saintfield.

Willie I agree that without personal and club commitment the game won't move on.However I think people from our era do need to recognize that values, options etc have changed over the past 30 years and maybe we have to tweak things a bit.

I can think of a dozen guys at our club that have stopped playing at least 10 years earlier than we expected and I'm sure most clubs are in the same boat. It's those people we should be surveying almost more than those still playing. Why have they stopped ? and What might entice them to play again ? Remember these ex players get lost to a club in more ways than just playing and that doesn't help when it comes to coaching, transport, grounds and fund raising. All key commitment areas that can't be overlooked.

Reference M. Parks

M...........it depends what you see as the priority....personally I would rather improve the standard of ALL cricket.....rearranging leagues MIGHT make it competitive in the short term but the overall standard won`t improve.....some leagues in a range of sports are competitive but the quality of many games is poor.........don`t forget that good quality cricket AND competitive cricket are not mutually exclusive irrespective of what level we play the game...........as I said before its all about REAL personal and club committment

Personally, I feel that Muckamore should be commended for what they are doing as a club. They appear to have a number of people working tirelessly within the key aspects of a club; their youth structure looks strong and they appear to be targeting Primary School ages, which is key. They are investing in their facilities, which, in my opinion, should be each club’s priority. Their success is richly deserved as was their victory on Sunday.

DK (why hide your name or club ?) ive always been againest pros/coaches and if i had a vote id ban them but id still raise all the £( ive raised 6k in 2yrs ) needed too bring retired coach over as the amount of work ours does with kids is unbelievable as we have for the first time ever got 4 schools playing cricket in the area something that i never thought possible and into intregated schools so even a small club like Dundrum can promote the game off cricket an produce players for the future of our club an i hope its in section 1 but too be honest i love my club an if its section 4 ill still be a STALWART at Dundrum as the club is what matters not the section . ps verbals think if u ask paul mccrum ( still a freind )he rang me after the game too see if Dundrum would employ him although it might have been something to do with Peter Lavery 10 million lottery winner owning the clubs local pub the BAY INN so ive no doubt that the very talented ex irish cricketer Paul was more deserving off banter( not verbals IMO) than most playing in section 3 in which their was some cracking players Alan & Noel Nelson Davy & Robbie Dennison Charlie Mcrum Craig Irwin and 2 pros kiwi Micheal Clarke & indrejet Kametar ex donacloney ( now soon 2 star in premier with muckamore ) clarke who was as good bat as i seen so it proves that it dont matter what section you play as long as you enjoy the game off cricket.

I wish Davy from "the nets" would remember that there are those who are of a certain age who haven't a clue what IMO means. Indeed there are those of us old enough to remember a certain JRW Boyce who couldn't bat up an entry & following his injury wasn't exactly the sharpest of wicketkeepers but was motivational enough a captain to take Ballymena, who were a Section 3 side at the time, all the way to a Senior Cup final. Where does it say in the Boys Big Book of Cricket that a captain has to be a star? And being captain isn't all about what happens on the field. Indeed I was discussing the very subject with a Premier league captain last Saturday. Admittedly it is easier in the 1st XIs but I am sure that many who have done the job will agree with me that when you've picked a side, dealt with the cry-offs (always from teams above) and found 3 players on a Friday night/Saturday morning, organised the sandwiches, who will be taking cars, got the rope out, opened the scoreboard AND organised the drinks, the playing of the game is the easy part! I didn't read the article but a look at the top 3 League tables shows that teams are "adrift" at the bottom of each section. If the standards were as high as everyone claims there wouldn't be this points gap. If Macca needs the loan of another fishing rod he knows where I live!!

"Non playing captain"
I have to agree that sometimes a captain is required to do much more than just play. It seems that big Macca has 10 other talented players at his disposal and if he can make then all play together then he will bring the success that they want.
In the late 90s at Holywood, Billy McCormick came back from 2nd XI to captain the 1st XI - simply because none of us were ready to take that role on but he developed the younger lads like Philip and me to eventually captain the club. As Wayne says, there is much more to captain than just turning up and tossing a coin!
Good luck to Macca and Muckamore - they seem to be doing something right and dont need to explain anything to anyone in my opinion.