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It would be good if we could get details of pre-season matches arranged for this weekend, I'll start...

Sat North Down v Bready
Sun North Down v Brigade

Re Jay's comments on Mallusk

Jay,

I chair the NCU's grounds committee. Unless you can substantiate your claims regarding Mallusk dont put them in print.

I have all the umpires reports last year on Mallusk and I can assure you that the ground and the work that Belfast Council and Cliftonville have done on it has brought the standard of this ground to a high level.

I was actually on the ground yesterday with Tom Flintoff, who is an ex county groundsman of Durham and who the NCU bring over to inspect grounds.

He was pleased with what he saw at Mallusk, especailly as it is a council ground.

So please dont print utter rubbish about what I can only assume is something you have no knowledge about.

after reading a comment the other day i would like to post an opinion on section 1 league this year

1)Bangor came down will be hard to beat

2)Muckamore will go up but could be hindered by playing first few games away from home.

3)Woodvale may just mis out due to muckamore signing players

4)Derriaghy could push but will probably miss out could be higher depending on how good pro is.

5)Saintfield lovely ground good youth as stated before should be mid table

6)Cliftonville definately will stay up getting pro and new facilities should nto go down

7)Holywood will not be relegated far from it but dont see them challenging for league

8-9)Armagh i think will have enough batting in their line up not to sure if their bowling is up to much. Dundrum missing players at start of season will be difficult season may prove a few wrong

10) Laurelvale after losing wayne pearson to psni and bruce topping to lisburn who i believe quote if wrong scored majority of runs last year batting will be a hard battle all year bowling fine but on a batting track at the vale any team with a batting professional should enjoy a gr8 batting track.

only my opinion no offence. any1 else have predictions

Re Mallusk

I was at Mallusk a few times last year and was very impressed with the ground and pitches as a whole apart from 1 occasion which was more to do with the bad weather than lack of preparation. Cliftonville should be given some credit regarding all the work they've done to the ground, it can't be easy for them after what they've went through the last couple of years

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Come on Jay.
Where is Mullusk?
You are starting to write like these North West people.
Mallusk may not be Lords but from my days in that area it has served cricket well. Good luck to Cliftonville as they haven't had much of it down the years.

RE: Jay ???

Apart from one game last year at mallusk the scorecards and umpires reports would suggest otherwise regarding the standard of the ground.

As for playing at greenisland your view would most likely be echoed by quite a few at the ville. It was a great place to play cricket on a warm and sunny day over looking the lough. However the guys at Mallusk have looked after us superbly well and we as a club can't thank them enough.We are delighted to have Mallusk as the new home of the in crisis Cliftonville Cricket Club.

Thank you for your opinion Jay but I will Look forward to proving you wrong.

On the 25th April(yes the first weekend of the cricket season) I will be running my first ever London Marathon in aid of Epilepsy Action,the charity Epilepsy Action aims to improve the quality of life and and promote the interests of people living with Epilepsy.
Read my story at justgiving.com/john-torrans were we are trying to raise as much money as we can for a worthy cause.

John Torrans

Well spoken Ivan. I have to be careful here as some people might think I'm your pimp and have set up the story for such an informative and comprehensive reply. You guys are getting your act together which is great, but a shared league title in 1970 and a cup final appearance in 1972 is a light return in the last 40 years so I hope your remuneration hasn't been performance related? Just joking of course, as Moylena is a beautiful place to play cricket and it's great to see all those guys supporting the club as everything is driven by good leadership. Good luck going forward.

i do believe cliftonville are in crisis due to near relegation last year lost theyre ground and now playing at a ground not fit for section 2
court setlement id much rather to play at green island than mullusk

"setlement from the Court case"? c'mon Davy - tell us more!

Clarence your latest article as usual is well written and while I can't speak for Birgade or CI I can tell you that no one is under any illusions that what we have set out to do at Muckamore will be easy this year or easy to sustain in the years ahead.
I think we respect the structures in place at North Down and Waringstown and hope that real cricket men at Muckamore like John McCormick, Benny Craig, Billy Boyd and Harry McFadden can help harness the enthusiasm and drive of the next generation of Andy Clement, Fred Ashton and myself. I hope we have looked past success on the field in 2010 and are aiming to put a business plan in place that sees us supported by the wider business community in our quest to give Antrim a sporting club and facilities to be proud of.It's forty years this year since we shared the Senior League title with Waringstown and John, Billy and Benny were part of that. While the last forty years have been light on success on the field we have produced players for four different Under 19 World Cups and if Mark Gleghorne hadn't gone to hockey that would have been five and hopefully Jason Vde Merwe will grace that stage next year. We have won the Graham Cup a few times and contested another couple of finals. We have produced two Presidents for the NCU and that could have been three in the last twenty three years and Andy Clement is now one of four NCU directors. We have also hosted many inter provincial games and international fixtures as well as NCU cup finals.And how can I forget that the doyen of umpires Paddy O'Hara was a stalwart player and administrator at Muckamore.
I think as a club we have always played the game in the proper spirit and hopefully that will always be the case.
So I think in terms of history and standing in the game as a club Muckamore have a fighting chance to become a major force over the next twenty five years.
PS Just got my kit out tonight as in less than three weeks time I will embark on my 40th season captaining our 3rds away to Waringstown 4ths and I just can't wait.

I thought Andy Clement was the only one putting pressure on Andy McCulloch our skipper for 2010 to win promotion. Now the pundits all seem to be joining in.
I think most at Moylena expect a tough season with Bangor ( I've heard they will have Johnny Hewitt and Jeremy Stewart playing this season ) and Woodvale with Bunting back from Instonians the pre season favourites. Holywood look a good side with Ross Adair a year older and depending on the quality of the pro along with Derriaghy and ourselves would like to be in the top five. In what order I think it's to early to say. Ourselves and Woodvale will be handicapped slightly by having to play our first nine games away from home.Cliftonville may not win the league but as we found out last season they can beat anyone on their day and Saintfield with a New Zealand pro and Bumper Dale in the line up won't be any pushover and I don't think anyone underrates the fighting spirit of Dundrum.Armagh will miss their pro and Laurelvale will miss Bruce Topping who I understand has gone back to Lisburn and Wayne Pearson who I understand is the new player coach at PSNI.
We travel to play Eglinton this Sunday and I heard today that the sun is due to shine this weekend.

REF: Jay

Thank goodness you posted.

I'm Cliftonville's secretary and hadn't realised we had a crisis.

I'll send back the settlement from our Court case, cancel our new roll on nets, turn away our new South African Pro, not bother signing off new signings, telephone the 12 schools we are coaching in, abort our new u11 side and go and watch the women's summer football instead.

You saved me a lot of work there. Thanks

RE TOM B
as the season draws nearer i have not heard any more news from side of signing player my predictions as follows

1)Muckamore due to signing players will be a hard side to beat

2) Bangor may have young side but are now experienced at the highest level so should return to top tier

3)Derrighy will just miss out on promotion once again

4)Woodvale apparently have lost players

5) Holywood if player still play should hold their own

6)Saintfield have good youth setup so should be a decent midtable side this year will potential to build.

7)Cliftonville have lost ground and in crisis but should stay clear of relegation

8)Dundrum missing bassett for start of campaign so could struggle at start but will be harder to play at their ground.

9) Armagh no professional this year struggled last time were in section 1 now in again without strengthening side cant see them staying up

10)Laurelvale no professional and lost some players will definately struggle with their batting and any team with a professional should enjoy a bad bowling attack on a quality wicket.

anyone else agree?