Above: 2ndXI who won at Ardmore in the Ulster Plate
Its been a couple of weeks so we’ll not try and note everything that has happened since the last update, but merely give a sense of the current position.
And in a nutshell, its hitting crunch time for those still in the mix-up in certain competitions.
The M1s departed the Bob Kerr at Phoenix – what looked like a very tricky tie on paper proved just that – Ally Shields dug in with a patient 56 but with only Mo Aahil’s 33 as support the 172 total looked inadequate and so it proved, as Phoenix knocked it off with plenty to spare. Reality is we’re not at that level yet – the Dublin side have invested heavily and brought together a squad full of international and interpro players and are doing well in the strong Leinster comps.
The NCU Premier League battle however remains very tight with most sides in the top half still harbouring title ambitions, including us! It seems like a long shot when you look at the strength in depth in some quarters, but with the ‘anyone can beat anyone’ nature of the race so far you just never know, with neither a victory or a defeat season defining just yet. Premier League HERE
Wins against CSNI and Carrick in recent weeks have set up a massive game with long-time rivals Waringstown at The Green this Saturday (11am) – what a day it would be to get one over their star-studded lineup which includes South Africans Tom Mayes, James Cameron-Dow and Graham Hume, and Indian Bilawal Bhatti. Long gone are the days when the men from The Lawn used to aim jibes at our multi-cultural line-up with people from far-flung places such as Ballymena!
Fingers crossed for some fine weather and a classic home win…
The M2s remain in the hunt for silverware thanks to an ultimately comfortable 74 run win at Ardmore in the Ulster Plate. With J1 survival looking increasingly assured thanks to a league win over CSNI (Photos HERE), the side can look forward to a semi-final against fellow NCU side Muckamore on Sunday July 21, when all roads will lead to Moylena with a place in the final up for grabs.
The M3s have won 3 out of 4 recently to keep themselves right in the shake up in J4 – next two games are league leaders Inst home and away, ones skipper Crothers is particularly looking forward to…
Photo Gallery M3s v BISC HERE
Quiet period for everyone else but with plenty youth cricket going on in the background most players are still getting their cricketing ‘fix’.
Its also been very pleasing to see a number of our youth players in representative action in recent weeks but we’ll wait for the full season to play out before reporting an exhaustive list of who played for whom and did what.
