Forum

Thanks for that 'Mark'
The only point was to help answer a question that was posed by an earlier contributor, asking whether or not there was a club team in Ireland with 7 or 8 home grown players.
I wasn’t making any other point, although you seem to be keen to get yours across!
Shieldsy

Peter what is the point of your local teams analysis on the other channel? The teams that promote local players don't seem to win much as the teams that recruit either locally or overseas do best. North County, Limavady, Brigade, CSNI and North Down being good examples. Recruiting from local clubs is not much different than recruiting overseas players. The world has changed yet the NCU is still trapped in the anti overseas debate that was started in 1979. Let clubs do what they think is best for their own club and get on with it.

congratulations to A. Clements on his questionaire on the future of local cricket currently being digested by all clubs. hopefully if all clubs return these soon we could have some sensible changes in place for this years agm.

Re : Mark Jones

What if CIYMS get relegated? Any other "gossip" or insight to who Waringstown might be interested in? A quality express fast bowler for starters would be nice...

Clarence.
I think your article brings home the changes in our society that have lead to the changes in our sport.I still struggle to get on the pitch purely to try and bring on our youngsters.After games everyone wants to rush home unlike the days you recall.Such was the crack between clubs and players that I can remember going with Johnny Millar on more than one occassion on a Friday night to the North Down sixes.I remember after a Ballymena Sixes my mother waking me to tell me there was a strange man sleeping on our sofa ( she was right ,it was your brother John ).I will never forget Mark Napier taking the side out of my Cortina in the laneway of his parents house ( my weekend home for two summers ) as we returned about 7am on a Sunday morning after a North Down v Saintfield game via Wes Campbell's house.Or leaving Laurelvale on numerous Sunday mornings.I will never forget Tom Irwin calling me an overweight illegitamate child after I hit a rare six and the next words he spoke to me where " what are you having? ".Priceless.Matches at Newforge against John Craig,Bob Cooke etc or Donaghadee and Frankie Porter ( more than once I lodged there ), Ronnie Elliot,Sailor ,Kenny Nelson and crew.Genuine friendships that last a lifetime where made as I witnessed last winter when my good friend Frazer Evans hosted a Saintfield reunion at a Ballynahinch rugby game .A memorable occassion as Snapper bought drink.That's not to mention the friends in drink we all made at our own clubs like the two Andy's Clement and Gleghorne or Fred "the legend " Ashton and those wonderful sparring partners of yours Galway and O'Prey.
As I comtemplate putting the whites away for good I am glad I have so many vivid memories that far outweigh the odd fifty or five wicket haul.There is so much more to this great game than playing with a straight bat or bowling a nagging length

How exciting Mark.
That's the sort of story that is more boring than the weather right now and is nobody's business but the people involved.
Let's talk cricket.

Re David Somerville
Are you having a laugh?
Couple of those selections are way out there!!

Re Mark Jones

Looks like you have wrongly informed about Ijaz and CIYMS......

Apparently they were hoping to sign Michael Vaughan but unfortunately he has been awarded a central contract...

Looks like its back to the drawing board for Sulaiman Al-Fahim and the rest of the CIYMS committee!!!

It has been confirmed then for definate that waringstown have not renewed the contract of Ijaz Ahmed and are on the look out for a high profile signing or two to get them back up in the running, also heard during the week that he has pre agreed to come back to the country with ciyms if they stay up? now there's a bit of gossip for yous all!!!

Re Ivans Posts - 11am starts, all league matches 40 overs max, cup games 50 overs - I'd give it a go - if anyone would have me.

Ivan
1. When one is selling a product (cricket) is it not more profitable & you can reach more customers if you promote in two channels not one? Basic Marketing ivan!
2. You are not proposing to disband schools cricket but by forcing players to choose one or t'other on saturdays, schools themselves may decide to drop cricket. I'm out of date I accept but there are lots of other sports they could do.
3. Disappointed that my view is "typical" (not seen any similar comments actually!)and may be disregarded just because i have retired - you often see things in perspective from the "sidelines!"

Paul is right about D/L. It is useful for completing games on a much fairer basis than run rate when there are rain delays.

I dont like the idea of midweek 20/20 rearrangements.

To me 20/20 and 50 over cricket are completely different formats of the game requiring different types of bowling and batting skills. Therefore if you have a 50 over league competition all the games should be decided over 50 overs(using D/L for rain delays).

My argument therefore is to reduce the number of league games to 14, 12 or 10 games per season by changing the league structure. This will ensure that the games are fully completed.

As I said before you could then run a separate 20/20 competiton for the remainder of the season which would have equal status with the 50 over competition.

Rather than clubs folding this might actually attract new players/supporters who only want to play/watch a short game of 20/20 cricket rather than give up a whole day.

You ony need to look at the response to 20/20 worldwide to see the attraction of the game.

Ivan, looking back I seem to recall that quartet getting picked up from clubhouses late on Saturday evenings as well!
It's sad to read players don't socialise as much as we used to do as I think that's why a lot of the fun has gone out of the game. Bragging rights in the bar started some great sessions.
Keep up the suggestions as I think this is a good debate and will hopefully lead to some positive change at the next AGM. I think everyone (including officials) wants a better system for dealing with a wet season.

Think thers no doubting in this DEBATE that we have LOTS OF people that have very good views young & old (chris &ivan),what i would like too add is that the NCU & COMMITEES work virtually unthanked & get most off the DECISIONS RIGHT .Theirs no doubt that if IVAN & rest keep coming up with good ideas their definatly is a format that will be obvious too even the NCU that will be benificial too all the CLUBS?

Re: Bruce Topping – league changes

Good to see some feasible suggestions regarding possible changes in the league structure. I would agree entirely with Bruce's view that the status quo is not working and clubs need to agree to changes.

I thought it was time to put forward the view from Section 4. I appreciate that because of the poor weather this summer, most clubs are having difficulty in completing their programme of fixtures. However clubs in Sections 1-3 are lucky in that they have fixtures scheduled for each weekend over the season from the outset. Because of the small number of teams in Section 4, these clubs do not have regular matches each week.

A look at the up-to-date Section 4 league shows that only 6 teams remain in this league.
This is because:
1) Indian Gymkhana withdrew (again) just before the season started - how many more times will the NCU permit this? This deprived clubs of 2 scheduled Saturday matches.
2) PSNI have now either withdrawn from the league or been expelled because they have forfeited too many matches (as in 2005). This is no surprise as on May 17th they failed to fulfil their Junior Cup match with Drumaness and have forfeited all matches arranged since 14th June.

With the 2up 2down system, teams in Sections 1,2 and 3 rarely play a match where the result is not important. This cannot be said for Section 4 matches. Another look at the league shows how many matches have not taken place due to one of the clubs failing to field a team. Of the matches PSNI have played this year, some were played with 9 or 10 players. Clogher have also forfeited a match this year, their longest away trip to Donaghadee.

8 games is the most any team has played. Ards and Donaghadee have only played 6 over the whole season! Another curious anomaly is that Section 4 clubs’ 2nd XI teams have more fixtures to complete than their 1st XI?? Does this seem right?

In 2004 Section 4 had 9 teams and regular matches. In recent years with the decrease in the size of the league due to the appearance and disappearance of Shorts, East Belfast, Newry and Mourne, IGCC and PSNI, former Section 3 clubs such as Portadown, Ards and Donaghadee have all suffered with players moving to other clubs in search of regular cricket or losing interest entirely in cricket. All of these teams are desperate to return to Section 3 knowing that they would be guaranteed regular cricket and more chance of attracting new / returning players to their clubs.

Bruce Topping’s suggestion of 8 teams in Section 1, 9 in Section 2, 10 in Section 3 and 8+ in Section 4 depending on the existence of Cliftonville and PSNI seems a step in the right direction.
The NCU seems either unaware of the situation in this league or perhaps unwilling to do anything about it. Unless changes are made, clubs in this league will continue to lose players to other clubs and their survival must be in doubt.