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Given junior league matches only consist of 20/ 25 overs with the agreement of both clubs at the fixtures arrangement meeting could they not play some matches midweek thus taking the schools cricket congestion out of the equation it would I think make more of our limited summer and facilitate more participation and less walkovers

Arthur

My Auld Granny hated young people not dressing for Church until the Minister pointed out that he was grateful they were there at all.

Please don't continue :)

I agree totally with Arthur. Standards are slipping. I want more handlebar moustaches, cream teas and 5 day matches for u11s.
And we should bring back this disciplined attitude to other areas as well. Bring back the cane at school, hanging and other forms of corporal punishment, bring back kids working in the mines and let's take the vote back of women.
Progress and advancement in cricket? Who wants that?
Or maybe not Arthur. Maybe we should move with the times. All sports and fashions change and I for one embrace it. Bring on the tattoos and the piercings as long as people play our game
Sammy

Don't you realise Arthur that if that guy hadn't taken his phone with him he would have felt totally isolated from his world? He wouldn't have been aware of where his friends were eating, drinking or giving opinions on world shattering events?! Concentration on the game wouldn't come into it!

Would just like to make a comment RE Section One players and not being recognised for Knights Selection. The reason for this is that these players are not being watched. There isn't even a stats zone in place to keep track of good consistent performers. We can't keep letting these players slip through the system and be penalised for not playing for a premier league club. I would love to see a game of the best premier league vrs the best section one. I would say it would be a lot closer than people would think! My NCU Section One team to play:

C Lewis (Captain)
P Park (Wk)
M English
R Adair
J Terrett
R Smyth
A Nixon
M McCord
R Boultwood
D Kennedy
C Moorhead

Re Arthur...
your comments regarding 'sinister tattoos' are nonsense to be honest. What reason do you have in mentioning that the individual in question had tattoos?

Seem to be stuck in the past. And yet another person who would push people away from the sport of cricket as it seems to me that tattoos just aren't gentlemanly enough for your liking.
Very disappointed in these comments.

Hope for Ireland.
West Indies defeated Afghanistan 3-0 in the T20 Series. ODIs will follow so we'll judge them in comparison with contemporaries ie; a test team at the bottom of the ladder and the strongest currently Associate member. Ireland will test them again facing Afghanistan in July and then West Indies in September.

Re Arthur

I agree with some of the comments you have made in your post regarding match lengths- however I don't think that the fact the umpire in question had tattoo's (whether ghastly in your opinion or not) is relevant or points towards "typical sloppiness" in the game.

Would you have all players sporting tattoos banned from playing the game because it offends your sensibilities or doesn't fit the old image of gentlemen cricketers?

I could list several top test players who have tattoo's...

I refer to my previous posting of 12 May.

The following posting was mostly written during Oct/Nov last year, but I do not think it has dated too much.

At the moment I am convalescing from quite a serious operation. House bound and in a certain amount of discomfort, means there is plenty of time to reflect on the cricket season just completed and on the state of the game generally, as I see it. Some optimistic noises have been aired such as, "Successful Annual Dinner, and AGM," and "Cricket in Good Place." Nevertheless I am far from convinced.

One incident from last season, a particular low point so far as I am concerned, stands out because it typifies, in my opinion, much of the malaise that our game is in at the present time. It concerns a chap who went out to umpire at a junior match ( not a match involving TCC). He looked as though he had just stepped off the beach at Tenerife. He was very tall, sun burnt, wore flip flaps, no socks, shorts, a loose open multi coloured garish shirt, shades, a mobile phone in one hand, an ear piece in one ear, and the most outlandish hat imaginable. He also had sinister looking tattoos on an arm and a leg.

Going out to umpire dressed as a "beach bum" and with such "distracting accessories," which is not unique, and not forgetting the ghastly tattoos, is I feel typical of the sloppiness or casualness, that has crept into our game in recent years, particularly at junior level, where the overs have been reduced so much that the game is barely worth playing. What sort of message does this send out to our young players, and what do the parents, who sometimes appear at junior matches, think? However much one might like to pretend otherwise, appearance and what we wear does matter. Just ask our local politicians, the gents in their sharp suits and the ladies in their smart jackets and statement jewellery.

It was not ever thus. Back in the day when Templepatrick was a Parks Club playing at Mallusk, and playing 45 overs cricket (proper cricket), things were very different. I was one of the main organizers at that time. I had a check-list of all the necessities for each match. On that list there would always have been two umpires' coats. Mallusk was a busy place then. There would have been four matches there every Saturday, each progressing in a most dignified manner, with all of the umpires properly dressed, wearing white coats and concentrating fully on the task at hand. Where did it all go wrong?

I do not think we have too far to kook. The shorter games of 30 overs duration, and increasingly now of only 20 overs, are in fact different games and create a different mind-set within the players. Cricket is both a team game and an individual game, and if all of the players are to be meaningfully involved, then the game must be of sufficient duration. As the Americans say, there is no free lunch. Everything has its cost, and the cost of playing shorter games is that they do not provide sufficient cricket for a relatively large number of the players.

Is it any wonder that many of them do not seem to be enjoying it? For too many players it appears to be nothing more than a joyless chore, and the body language often suggests that they could not care less. They do not play with as much passion as they used to, and my feelings are that a lot of them are only going through the motions because they are not sufficiently involved, and their minds are therefore elsewhere. During the second innings, batsmen are hurrying away as soon as they are out. And the tea, if there is a tea is often taken at the end. This is to rush things along even more, and further players are scurrying off without even bothering with the tea. An inverse time law would seem to apply: the less cricket there is to play, the less time people have to play it.

To be continued.

The Lone Umpire..

'Mark this and mark it well
a fine, upstanding deed,
he journeyed far to ring the bell
so others may succeed

With rumour rife of ill-health
a sporting constitution in decline,
some chose the sanctuary of wealth
rather than dig in and mark time

But two cricket clubs of invention
from nearby, boarding lands,
knew cure was better than abstention
thus employed new hands

Arranged a game, a rival match
down by the factory ground,
encouraged newcomers, bat, bowl, catch
so they flocked from far around

A problem then became apparent
organized chaos may ensue,
but fears allayed by arrival of a gent
dressed in attire of navy blue

Proceedings quickly fell into place
those unsure soon got it right,
for this gentleman with gifted grace
guided each with unfettered oversight

Now few are born with midas touch
though all deserve a chance,
and the lone umpire knew as much
that's why his forthright stance

So if your club is undermanned
don't hide behind the door,
negate with resources found at hand
then like the lone umpire...You'll know esprit de corps'

Re: Ballymena man

Maybe Andy did make a mistake in your game. But I'll bet there were a few wrong decisions given by all umpires in the games at the weekend. That's because umpires are human and make mistakes. Andy comments on a lot of things on this forum that I disagree with but he is honest as the day is long and if he didn't give a batsman out it's because he didn't hear a nick or the batsman didn't hit it.

You should be ashamed in naming an umpire in these circumstances. They do the job for the love of the game, get paid a pittance for what could sometimes be a 10 hour day and then have to face these sort of comments from someone who hasn't got the balls to name himself.

Just think where the game would be without neutral umpires.

Re the comment from a Ballymena man blaming an umpires decision for our loss v Laurelvale....as captain, I must admit this is really poor!! Suggest the individual who put this up, shuts up! Score more runs, take more wickets - that's how you win!
Apologies from BCC

ballymena man . ill tell you what happened in our game againest BISC one of our lads deff nicked it didnt walk (i wasnt impressed as i coached him and all u17 and told them all to walk ) and wasnt really costly but we then needed 2 to win the 9th wicket young player walked when umpire admitted he didnt hear it nearly cost us the game but i was proud he walked and id say same if we lost. Club captains and coaches should try influence players on walking then it would help the umpires who are there to help us in a tough job . I no one thing id have ANDY or any umpire that none as i had step in on sunday for 16 overs at square leg in must win game for us and the situation didnt test me but there was few scenarios that im glad i didnt have to test my honesty . PS twice this year Byron Woodruff walked of the glove when umpires said were not giving him great to see and im sure if he umires remember these calls and your bound get extra benefit of doubt in close lbws run outs etc.We need support our umpires not have cheap DIG at them

Andy kennedy cost ballymena the match against lauravle by not giving what was a clear nick to the keeper out.

James, i completely get where you're coming from in relation to the selection of Morgan Topping as he has not played very much for Waringstown this year and if so, has not performed to the best of his ability which i think we all know he as.

As a player in section one who was at the game on Sunday, i cannot see any of those players playing in the knights that you highlighted. The standard is on a completely different Level and none of them would be capable to hold their own. Curtis probably has the best chance but when your bowling to Ed Joyce iam sure Curtis would have went for a few runs as well, like the other bowlers

Playing Morgan i tend to agree with as Jonty see's him as a player that will be playing for the knights in the future and throwing him in on Sunday due to an injury will only help in his development. Yes he went for a few runs, but who didnt? Morgan wasn't originally selected and a phone call on Sat Night/ Sunday Morning to ask if he could play, i don't think he could really turn it down.

I think its a game if we're honest that the NCU were not favourites for with the list of Internationals in the Leinster team, therefore playing Morgan will be a big stepping stone in his development.