Our 1stXI squad will benefit greatly this year from the addition of two talented and enthusiastic young cricketers from the Southern Hemisphere.
Liam Hayman is from the Hamilton area of the North Island, New Zealand, and travels courtesy of his Irish Passport having enjoyed a productive season with his home club Morrinsville Piako.
The 19 year-old off-spinning all-rounder was a pivotal figure in the side’s 1-day trophy success and 2-day runners-up spot, which resulted in him be selected to play a number of games for the Waikato Valley representative team.
Liam is a fully qualified coach and will spend the summer at The Green not only developing his game on the field, but helping out off the field with our youth academy and on the grounds.
We look forward to his arrival, via Auckland and Los Angeles, into Dublin in a couple of weeks time.
Stevie Saul’s arrival at indoor nets a few weeks ago was unexpected, but a welcome piece of good fortune.
The 20 year-old Zimbabwean had been looking at his options for playing cricket this summer having moved to Northern Ireland to study at the University of Ulster in September, and having struck up a positive conversation with Director of Cricket Bret Mulder, has committed to playing at The Green.
This is good news for us as a little further investigation revealed that Stevie is an accomplished player, having represented his country at the 2022 U19 World Cup in the West Indies.
Primarily a top order batter, Stevie could lay claim to being the complete all-rounder as he is also comfortable with the wicket keeping gloves on and rolling the arm over to bowl a few leg-breaks!
Having played the last couple of seasons for Grayshott CC in Surrey and before that for the prestigious Peterhouse School in Harare, we look forward to welcoming him into the North Down fold this year.
* Playing for the club is, as always, subject to registration being approved by the NCU.
