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can anyone up north west direction help.

is there anything to stop any club playing 11 overseas players up in the north west league or cup competitions. seems like some clubs are playing 2 or 3 each saturday especially last week in their cup quarter finals

Thanks Trevor
So are these guys just second overseas players/pros? What's all that about, I thought teams were restricted to one 'pro'?
James

Thanks Trevor
So are these guys just second overseas players/pros? What's all that about, I thought teams were restricted to one 'pro'?
James

Sorry, I forgot to mention James Bennett. Used to play with the Hills, but hasn't played much during the past few seasons. I think he's now working in Londonderry.

James,
Wajahuddin has come from England, Mortaza Hussain (Pakistan 1st Class cricketer with British Passport)also played with Glendermott last season, but at the end of the season was signed on a tempory contract by Surrey. He also began this season with Surry but was released for last weekends cup games. Bhatt at Eglinton (Pakistan 1st class cricketer with British Passport) last season was playing the Middlesex league and is very useful left arm spinner. Karmi at Strabane from Nottingham, has played County 2nds cricket, brought in to replace Phil Eaglestone when he was on international duty, but he's still here as Phil is injured.

Can anyone shed any light on where these new players in the North West have come from, Wajihuddin and Hussain at Glendermott, Karim and Bennett at Strabane, Bhatt at Eglinton?!

Great stuff section 2 this year. Lots of interest and at this stage it looks almost certain that Woodvale and Ballymena are going up with maybe Lurgan as an outside chance.
Well done to anyone who took advantage of an injured and out of form Laurelvale side in our first six games but looking forward to playing anyone from here on in.
Can I also commend the N C U on an excellent change of the 20/20 format. Looking forward to sunday.

ps. No comment yet on Ulster Shield.

Sam,
Might North Down feel the Twenty20s is small fry beside the other tournaments and tactfully withdraw? Can't see they have much to gain from playing in it when there are so many important fixtures coming up.
Just read that Rodney's boys are exhausted already with their fixtures and it's only the start of June.

Good to see some controversy and proper cricket disussion on this forum. The other channel has been talking about teas for four weeks now. Think in the next few weeks we'll be talking about fixture congestion for North Down. Already a Senior Cup replay, two league games to rearrange, plus Ulster Cup semis now moved to 6 July, which is the original date scheduled for the Twenty20 finals. And that's not taking into account any further progress in the Senior or Irish Cup. Add in a closed Saturday at the start or August, and a few rainy days at some point. Might be a few Fridays off work coming up.

Taito
Your argument that Downpatrick and Lurgan make the league stronger only applies if you think that those two teams are better than CIYMS and Cliftonville, since they are the teams that have been replaced?!
Marky

mark c i am only going by what experienced section 2 players have been saying. Having not played much in section 2 i cant really judge how strong it is, but with two coming down from section one now and the two that came up competiung very well i think that it seems to be a stronger league. As in the past other teams that have come up have really struggled and not been strong enough.

Also i would say that ballymena are a stronger side now than they were when they went down, and woodvale likewise, ourselves and lurgan came down last year and are pretty much the same as we were then, so surely two teams that have played in section 1 for so long would make the league stronger.

Rodney,

I appreciate and note your reply. I certainly wouldn't expect there to be a bad relationship between the clubs but I can only speak for myself on that matter. Personally I enjoyed my first trip to the Meadow and hope that we are in the same division next year to get another game.

Guys, I'm catching up on the forum after a few months offline and am surprised to see so much reference to Section 2 being so 'strong'.
Can anyone name one of the teams that is stronger than when they were relegated in the last few years?
Woodvale, Ballymena, Downpatrick, Lurgan, Muckamore, all the same if not weaker than when they went down.
Competitive yes, strong, I can't see the logic?
Marky

Readers should note that I made clear that Dundrum had absolutely no obligation under the laws of the game to provide a substitute and were quite within their rights to refuse us, but like Taito, I had never seen a genuine request turned down. I have now I suppose.

As for going back to the Dundrum Inn, it was a split decision between our team members and on the main the guys who were unfortunate enough to have not taken a day off today wanted to get home as quickly as they could. Didn't seem to be any dissent when I explained that to the dressing room as we were leaving the Meadow.

taito

congratulations on a good win at the weekend. you are right things are pretty tight. I've found if you get the pro out early against most of the teams (bar the top two or three) you are in with a real chance.