The Story So Far...
Our new Professional finally arrived in time to play against Carrickfergus on 24th May, having missed the
first four weeks of the season. He is Shadab Kabir, a Pakistani Test cricketer, who bats right-handed and bowls
off-spin. We now know that it is not straightforward to get a visa to allow someone to travel from Pakistan.
The 1stXI are having a good season, although it started with an unexpected defeat against Cliftonville. We
have followed that with three league victories against Derriaghy, Carrickfergus and CIYMS. Unfortunately, we
have relinquished our grip on the Clubturf Ulster Cup which we won last year, going out to Strabane.
A bye in the first round of the Challenge Cup was followed by a win overBangor, and then a tie against
North Down at Comber, both teams scoring 191 for 9 wickets. This means a replay at Shaw’s Bridge on 21st June.
Killymallaght were beaten in the first round of the Irish Senior Cup, Rory McCann scoring 139, which meant
facing Leinster in the second round last week. The current dry spell must have caused some pitch preparation
problems as the match was abandoned by the umpires after 6.3 overs with Leinster on 23 for 3 wickets. The pitch
was deemed too dangerous to continue. The replay will probably be on Friday 24th June at Rathmines.
The Twenty20 Cup has a new format this year with the group stages taking placeas a round robin event. We
face Derriaghy and CIYMS at Derriaghy on Sunday 22nd June, starting at 10.30am
The 2nd XI have not started well and have lost five out of their six leaguefixtures. There was a fine win
against senior opponents Donaghadee in the Junior Cup, thanks to Ross Martin’s 100 not out, but they could not
repeat the dose against Portadown in the next round.
The 3rd XI have also not begun their league campaign well with one win out of four, but wins over Armagh
and CSNI III have put them into the semi-final of the Lindsay Minor Cup. Richard McKibbin’s 142 not out v Armagh
in the cup enabled the team to successfully chase a mammoth total of 265 for the loss of only one wicket.
It is a similar story with the 4thXI. One league win from four starts is shaky, but a bye, and a victory
against CSNI in the Minor Qualifying Cup have enabled them to reach the semi-final stage too. In a high scoring
game at Cranmore, Niall Alexander and Harry Martin both scored 99 in a total of 298 for 9 wickets, which led to a
74 run victory. The new synthetic pitch at Cranmore has produced three matches with more than 400 runs in each
game. Pity about the bowlers!
Two wins out of five is the 5thXI record so far with Darren Ross’s team featuring lots of schoolboys.
The Mid-week team has hit some wet Tuesdays and have one loss to date.
Batsmen haven’t been having all the fun this year. James Shannon and Ben Wylie have both taken ‘five fors’
for the 1st and 2ndXIs respectively. In addition, Billy Dale continues to defy the years with a hat-trick
against CIYMS.
As you may gather we are having difficulties with the website at present. Philip Dawson who was running
the site has not had the time to attend to it as we all would wish. So Trevor Walker and I will try and bring
you all up to date over the next few weeks (Trevor is on holidays now so the summary is all I can muster at the
minute). Please be patient while we try and sort the site out.
If you have anything that you feel should be included please contact Paul
Dickson.
