Forum

Stuart - got your quip about catering. Perhaps next year you guys will do the host team the courtesy of turning up for tea. We played you twice at home this season. In the first one that was rained off 3 people turned up and in the second game the scorer and one of your players turned up.

just a note on how the top of section 1 (sorry, the premier league) finished. CSNI took 3 hours 16 minutes to bowl their overs recently. this is NOT just 1 minute over the allotted time (as many people r saying) but a full 16 minutes over.
i can safely say that any time CSNI had to bowl their full allocation of overs, they ran over the stipulated 3 hours.
its harsh, very harsh in fact, but rules are rules as i know only too well.
when u look back to 2006, a certain team was penalised for playing Ireland's current opening bowler!!! hmmm does that not seem harsh???
but congrats to CSNI, for breaking the strangle hold north down and waringstown had on things here, a shake up was definately needed. but maybe next season they cud allocate, say 5% of players fees towards catering? just a suggestion

first of all, i have to say i am totally in favour of the proposed restructuring of the leagues.

but roger's view tends to glamourise it a bit too much for me. to paraphrase him, "the top 6 sides in section 2 qualify for the NEW premier league format." Really??? or do they just stay in the section 2? my view of it is 4 teams get relegated from section 2 next year, harsh but it is definately needed.

the football leagues in england changed to the PREMIER LEAGUE, the CHAMPIONSHIP and LEAGUES 1 & 2, but we all know its still the same old divisions 1,2,3 & 4. the number of teams in the leagues is what will improve things, not the new names for them.

the drama continues in section 2 then. It would be very interesting if there had been an error in one of the scorebooks that changed the outcome of who gets relegated. The way things have been going in the NCU this season it would not surprise anyone

There appears to be an assuption by some people on this website that Dundrum have been relegated from Section 2. The situation is that the NNR between Dundrum and Saintfield taken from result forms submitted was so close that a prcess of scrutiny is currently being undertaken, which includes a thorough examination of both clubs' scorebooks. We are now nearing a decision, and this should be announced later today.

Re Andy Kennedy

From What I heard our 2nd XI captain had contacted the league sec and had been told they had no more league games scheduled so it was news to him when he was phoned asking where his team was. I thought it was also generally a custom to phone during the week to confirm details of start times. Especially at time of year, which again i don't believe happened

CSNI 2nds don't turn up for a game at Muckamore on 27th and CSNI 3rds are "awarded" the game -v- Lurgan 3rds!! How does this "sit" with the NCU rules?- 18(d) page 181

Re: League Changes / Jim

Jim you are correct in stating that there will be less to play for next year apart from a top 6 finish etc. How do you think Section 4 clubs feel at this time - they face the prospect of another season with a league of only 6 teams. Clubs in this league rely on attracting players looking for Section 3 cricket the season after promotion. Even the club who tops Section 4 next season will remain in the new Section 4. This lack of cricket is really damaging these clubs - roll on the league changes ASAP.

Don't quite understand how that would work Rodney. Anyway if the new structure is approved at the AGM I should think there will be plenty to play for next year, ie: Top 6 finish in Section 2 to play in the new Premier League set-up and Challenge Cup in 2010, top 4 finish in Section 3 to play in the new Senior 1 etc

Rodney,

yes i would tend to agree with you. there wont be much to play for if there is no promotion and relegation. if the problems faced this year with unplayed games, no results, teams claiming points, is not tackled for next year because of no promotion/relegation, then it will raise its ugly head again in 2 years time and we will be in the same predicament. well done on winning both games at weekend and hope dundrum can get back into section 2 sooner rather than later. roll on indoor nets only 4 months away.....

RE League Restructuring

Does anyone think the restructuring should be done over 2 years (i.e 1 team per year) rather than 1? This would mean teams could play for promotion / to avoid relegation rather than no promotions / relegations.

bad luck to dundrum on relegation after a good effort at the weekend in wining both games. Im sure you will be back up.

Congrats to shieldsy and North Down on yet another title.

Jeff,

You are quite right, the decision didn't really affect the game as he was out soon after other than maybe changing our approach. I can assure you that he hit the ball though, I don't catch them regularly so I know when it has been hit.

I thought that Dundrum were fielding with ten actually but wasn't 100% sure.

gareth. Not that it makes any difference now but i can 100% assure the our big opener did not (NICK IT) as he is an honest player & WALKS he hit his pad. Fair play too you for WALKING when the umpire didnt hear it & Colin Russell hit his & the umpire walked him.We will look forward too both games next year & im sure their will be some more confrontations & if we get chance we definitly will have as much craic of the pitch as on it.

Re Armagh

Dundrum were kindly given the opportunity to play against Armagh to stay in section 2. Armagh could have turned round and said they couldnt field a team. That would of meant Dundrum were relegated straight away.

The simple fact of the matter is Dundrum were given an opportunity to stay in Section 2 and they didn't take it, even if Armagh did play to relegate them rather than win the match.

I enjoyed the game at the Mall even though there was some nasty incidents out in the middle but to be fair we were always going to get that considering the first meeting this season. If Armagh want to hold this against Dundrum then thats up to them but sometimes people need to look at the overall picture and facts before blaming Dundrum of unsporting behaviour. We were fighting relegation yesterday and our wicket keeper had to leave early when they were 30 odd for 3. We never asked Armagh for a player even though the match was so important to us and played the remainder of the game with 10 men. In addition we DID have second team players there but because of the first game circumstances we felt we couldnt ask to play one of them either. Perhaps this goes some way to squaring things up.

At the end of the day Dundrum were set a target to win and they didnt reach it. Again I'd like to say thank you to armagh for supplying a pitch and giving us the chance to stay up as other teams simply wouldnt of fielded a team.

I look forward to playing Armagh in section 3 next year and sincerely hope that the incident in the first game will not ruin the relationship between the clubs in the future.

R