Club News Archives - 2007

If you have a club news item to contribute, we would be grateful if you would email it to us... To make room for new stories on the 'Club News' page, all of our stories will eventually move here to the archives but they will stay available here for future reference... 10/12/2007 First XI league fixtures back online... Further deliberations by the ICU meant some last minute ammendments to the First XI fixture list for 2008 but the season timetable has now been confirmed and these have been added to the fixtures pages again. Visit the "Fixtures Section via the link in the left hand menu or click here. 25/11/2007 Mens' cup and First XI league fixtures available... The 2008 fixtures page has now been updated to display all First XI fixtures (except Clubturf Ulster Cup, and Twenty20 Cup which are not currently available). The cup draws for all mens' teams are also now available via the fixtures section. The remaining league and cup fixtures for these and all other teams will be added as they become available over the coming weeks. Visit the "Fixtures Section" via the link in the left hand menu or click here. 23/11/2007 News and pictures from Club dinner... The Club's annual dinner was held on Friday 16th November and was the usual sociable occasion, allowing the Club to honour its oustanding achievers of the season past. We now have the photographs from the night available, as well as a full list of prize-winners from the night. Full details on the dinner can be found here. . 23/11/2007 1st, 2nd, 3rd & 4th XI cup draws available... Cup draws have now been made for the all Carrickfergus XI's as follows: 1st XI TCH Down Democrat Challenge Cup 1st Round Bye, 2nd Round v Saintfield or Muckamore (H) 2nd XI Intermediate Cup 1st Round v Dunmurry II (A) 3rd XI Lindsay Minor Cup 1st Round Bye, 2nd Round v Bangor IV (A) 4th XI Lindsay Minor Cup 1st Round v Larne IV (H) Full fixtures for these teams will follow when available around a month from now. 11/11/2007 It's a small, small world... Roger received the following email from NCU Treasurer, Dawn Johnston last week: Roger, Just back from holidays in New Zealand where I bumped into a former colleague of yours. I was sitting in a bar at the harbour front in Auckland on the afternoon of my first day when I noticed a guy sitting at a table outside wearing a Carrickfergus CC tracksuit top. Introduced myself (just wanted to double check that it was the Carrickfergus as there are a lot of Irish place names in NZ !) and met your former pro Shane. Really very pleasant guy and he said to pass on his regards to all of you (I assume he is keeping in touch anyway because he was aware that we had had a dreadful season weather wise). Nice to see he was advertising the club on the other side of the world !! Dawn Dawn Johnston Good to see Harbs keeping the C.C.C. flag flying... 11/11/2007 League tables for 2007 season added... The league tables for season 2007 have been added to the League Tables section of the website. The 2007 season was one to be proud of for Carrickfergus Cricket Club with our highest ever finish in the NCU with fourth place in the Premier League. The more eagle-eyed amongst you will notice that the 2006 leadue tables which were overlooked have also been added... oops! Interestingly, the Club's current overall strength in depth is reflected in the NCU club rankings, recently published on the CricketEurope Ulster website, which saw the Club secure 6th place in the NCU. These rankings are based on a weighted measure of the performance of respective clubs' 1st, 2nd, and 3rd XI teams. The ranking is a very heartening reminder of how far the Club has come in the past number of years. 30/10/2007 NCU AGM - Roger elected to Vice-Chairman post... Roger Bell was elected as Vice-Chairman of the NCU at its recent Annual General Meeting. Roger has served the NCU in various capacities for over 30 years, firstly as a member of the Divisional Committee which he became a member of in its first year following the restructuring of the Union in 1975. He became the Club's first representative on the Executive Committee in 1981, and was a member of the Management Committee since its inception. He was also Hon Secretary of the Union from 1990-94. He is expected to fill this post for 2 years, after which he should serve a similar period as NCU Chairman.This is a great honour for both Roger and our Club and we would like to extend our warmest congratulations to Roger on his election and this richly-deserved recognition of his many years of faithful service to the NCU. The delegates at the AGM approved the new administrative structures as set out in the Union's Development Plan.The Executive and Management Committees are replaced by a Board of Directors, and there will be four Directorates to run the Union's main areas of activity. Other rule changes effecting the Club which were passed at the AGM were: A rule has been introduced emphasising that it is the Captain's responsibility to familiarise themselves with the NCU Rules and Bye-Laws and to ensure that their teams comply with them. There will no longer be a cut-off date of 30 June to rearrange Match 1 in Premier League matches. This will now apply instead to all of the first scheduled matches between clubs. Premier League Match 1's can now be reduced to a minimum of 20 instead of 25 overs where overs have been reduced, and bowlers overs will now also be reduced in proportion. The shortening of 2nd XI matches where playing time has been lost due to weather is now permissable, the reduction of one over for every 8 minutes lost being allowed. The 2nd XI will now also be permitted not to re-arrange matches abandoned or postponed in September if both teams agree. Waringstown's customary proposal to ban overseas professionals was heavily defeated, while Bangor withdrew their proposal to award teams 2 points each in the event of a No Result. A full report on the NCU's 2007 AGM can be found here. 20/10/2007 Report from Club Annual General Meeting... The Club's members gave a vote of confidence to the main officers and captain who led them to another very successful year both on and off the field, at last week's Annual General Meeting. President Leslie Thompson, Vice President & Hon Treasurer Roger Bell, Hon Secretary Roy Parkhill, and Club Captain Ryan Eagleson were all re-elected unopposed. Ivan Walker moves up from being a Management Committee member to Assistant Hon Secretary, with new committee member Gary Thompson being elected as Assistant Hon Treasurer. David McKillen, Wallace Luney, Michael Ross and John Stewart all retain their places on the Management Committee, and are joined by newly elected Philip McKnight. The one remaining Management Committee place will be filled by co-option. Scott McClenaghan stood down from the Management Committee and his position as Assistant Hon Secretary due to business committments but will continue to administer this website. 20/10/2007 Irish Senior Cup draw made... The draw for the 2008 Irish Senior Cup has been made, and Carrickfergus will travel to the north west on Saturday 10 May to play Strabane. The full draw can be found here on the excellent CricketIreland website. 06/08/2007 Glenn Shimmon selected for NCU U-12's... Young all-rounder Glenn Shimmon has been selected for the NCU Under-12 team to play their North-West counterparts at Bready on 7th August. Glenn, who is a pupil at Carrick Grammar School, is a right-handed top-order batsman who scored his maiden fifty for Carrickfergus Cricket Club Under-13 team this season, and is also a useful left-arm medium-pace bowler. Our congratulations to Glenn for making the team and our best wishes for the match tomorrow. 26/07/2007 Cup semi disappointment... Sorry folks - been away for a while with work! Obviously the Cup Semi-Final was a massive disappointment all round, both in terms of the result and the nature of the defeat. There were probably few people disappointed more, however, than our kind match sponsor Global Travel of Keeburn Industrial Estate. Pictured below is Roy Gribben, handing over a cheque to Club President, Leslie Thompson, with Jim Ritchie also pictured (click to enlarge). The valuable support of local businesses like Global Travel is vital to our efforts to develop cricket locally and, although the day might not have turned out quite as planned, we would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge Global Travel's support and thank Roy for their contribution to the Club. For anyone who wants to re-live the experience, photos have been posted on the Cricket Ireland website here. Click to enlarge... 02/07/2007 Matthew selected for NCU & Ulster Schools... Congratulations to Matthew Palmer who has been selected for the NCU Under 15's and for Ulster Schools Under 15's. This week he travels to Dublin with the NCU team for the Under 15 Interpro series, while next week he goes to England on the Ulster Schools Under 15 tour. 26/06/2007 Chris and Michael make Ulster Schools squad... Congratulations are due to Chris Campbell and Michael Gilmour who have both been selected for the Ulster Schools tour to the north of England from 2-5 July. Chris has also been selected to play for Ulster Schools v Southern Schools at Rathmines on 27 & 28 June. Full squad details can be found here. 18/06/2007 Coops is Challenge Cup "Man of the Match"... Roger sent through this snap of Barry Cooper who was the recipient of the "Man of the Match" award, having scored a match-winning 107 not out in Carrickfergus' 116 run quarter final victory over Bangor on 9th June in the TCH Down Democrat Challenge Cup. Pictured is Coops receiving his Man of the Match award from NCU Vice Chairman Wylie McKinty. Click to enlarge... 14/06/2007 Campbell and Gilmour in Ulster schools trial... Congratulations to two of our 1st XI's most promising young players, Chris Campbell of Belfast High School and Michael Gilmour of Ulidia Integrated College, who were both selected to play in the Ulster Schools trial at Castle Grounds last week. Michael wwas subsequently selected to play for Ulster Scools v MCC on Tuesday but match was abandoned at an early stage due to rain. 14/06/2007 6 Carrick players in Schools Cup Final... Congratulations are due to local school, Belfast High School on reaching the Schools Cup Final which takes place at Muckamore on Wednesday 20 June. The team contains 5 Carrick players, captain Andy McCurry, Chris Campbell, Luke Orr, James McManus and Adam McAteer. They will meet one of their Club colleague in the form of Craig Livingston, who will be playing for opponents, Instonians. 14/06/2007 Gary Scott selected for Belfast U-14's... Gary Scott has been selected in this year's 13 man Belfast squad for The Lord's Taverners Inner Cities Under 14 Cup sponsored by Ford Motor Company. The young Carrick allrounder who is a pupil at Carrick Grammar School, has been performing very well with both bat and ball this season, and is one of a long line of Carrick players to appear in this tournament. The first of the qualifying round matches, against Edinburgh, takes place at Middle Road next Thursday afternoon, 21 June, with the second qualifying match v Glasgow being played at Prestwick CC on Monday 25 June. The tournament proper will take place as usual at Arundel in West Sussex, this year from 13-16 August. The Club wishes Gary and the Belfast team well. 14/06/2007 Challenge Cup Semi-final Draw... The draw for the semi-final of the TCH Down Democrat Challenge Cup took place on Tuesday and Carrickfergus will host Waringstown on June 30th. The other semi-final sees Instonians host North Down. Pictured at the Semi-final draw for the TCH Down Democrat Challenge Cup are L-R Kieran Moloney, CEO TCH Democrat Media; Peter Hanna, Waringstown; Ryan Eagleson, Carrickfergus and Ivan Anderson, President Northern Cricket Union. Click to enlarge... 05/06/2007 Photos from Saturday's victory over CSNI... Roger has forwarded on some photos from Saturday's welcome victory over CSNI which John Boomer has kindly permitted us to post on the site so our thanks go to him. Pictures can be found here. 29/05/2007 "Man of the Match" photo from Cup match... Congratulations from all at the Club to young Mathew Palmer who has been named in the 12 man U-15 NCU squad for the Inter-Provincial Series to take place in Leinster from 2nd - 4th July. Club captain, Ryan Eagleson, will be accompanying Matthew as one of the coaches for the squad. Full squad here... 29/05/2007 "Man of the Match" photo from Cup match... Michael Gilmore, sent through this snap of Andrew Cowden, who took 5 for 10 and scored 31*, receiving the Man of the Match award from the NCU's Bryan Milford after Carrickfergus' 10 wicket victory over Derriaghy in the TCH Down Democrat Challenge Cup on Saturday. Click to enlarge... 21/05/2007 Photos from Lisburn Bank Holiday victory... Gideon was kind enough to forward on some photos from the recent Bank Holiday victory over Lisburn, a selection of which can be found here. 10/05/2007 Jacobs to Northants, Coverdale to Carrick... The Club received a shock on Saturday night when Davy Jacobs revealed that Northamptonshire County Cricket Club wanted him to join them as a substitute overseas player for Australian Chris Rogers who had sustained a broken thumb. Northants' other overseas player is Davy's Free State Eagles colleague Johannes van der Wath who had recommendeed him to the county's coach, the former England allrounder David Capel. Carrick decided not to stand in Davy's way so long as a short term replacement could be found, as this could be a a great opportunity for him to progress his cricket career. Northants came to Carrick's rescue by releasing ther highly promising young 2nd XI allrounder and captain Paul Coverdale to play in all league matches during Davy's absence, which is expected to be for around a month. The deal very quickly worked out for both parties, with both players helping their sides to Bank Holiday Monday victories. Davy Jacobs 88 was top score in Northants' Friends Provident Trophy match against Scotland. Paul Coverdale was an instant succss for Carrick in their win over Lisburn, hitting a fine unbeaten 55 runs, conceding only 15 runs in his 8 accurate overs, and fielding superbly and effecting a brilliant run out. Paul Coverdale on Cricinfo 07/03/2007 Matthew Palmer selected for NICA Academy... Congratulations go to Matthew Palmer who has been selected in a squad of 12 top-rated young Northern Irish players (both NCU and North-West) for an NICA Junior Academy taking place in La Manga in Spain. The squad leaves this Friday (09/03) and will undergo an intensive training camp through until next Wednesday with two matches also planned against local teams. Carrickfergus skipper, Ryan Eagleson, is one of the coaches accompanying the team. We all wish Matthew the bwest of luck on the trip. 21/02/2007 Davy Jacobs to return as Club pro... The Cricket Committee was delighted to announce at last week's Management Meeting that the Club has been successful in securing Davy Jacobs to return as Club pro for the coming season. Many of you will be familiar with Davy from his last tenure as Club pro in 2005 but Roger has pulled together a comprehensive update on Davy's progress since then, which can be found here. A recent interview with Davy can also be found on the "World A-Team" website, here. 21/02/2007 All league and cup fixtures now available... Andrew Cowden has fired through what will be his final update from Oz before his return home. Thanks again go to Andrew's dad, Harry, for passing this little update on. Get the update on his progress here. 21/02/2007 All league and cup fixtures now available... All league and cup fixtures for mens' and youth teams are now available on the fixtures page, here. 17/01/2007 First and Second XI league fixtures available... First and Second XI League fixtures are now available alongside the cup draws on the fixtures page, here. The First XI face a tough start to the season, opening up with a trip to Downpatrick (April 28th) and then hosting champions Waringstown at Middle Road the following week (May 5th). The Second XI also face a tough early season test - after the first two weeks off, their first fixture sees them travel to newly relegated Cooke Collegians II which could prove to be a good early benchmark to their promotion hopes after finishing runners-up last year. 11/01/2007 Full cup fixtures summary now available... The draws for all cup competitions are now complete and they haven't been wholly unkind on the First XI. They have drawn newly-promoted Derriaghy away in the Second Round of the Challenge Cup (26th May), the Ulster Cup draw of 2005 has repeated itself with another First Round draw against Bready (21st May) with the tie this time at Middle Road, and the Irish Cup draw also sees the team face North West opposition in the shape of 2000 Irish Cup winners, Donemana at Middle Road (19th May). In other draws, the Second XI face Muckamore II's at home in the Intermediate Cup Second Round (2nd June). The Third XI team have drawn Dunmurry III at home (12th May) in the Lindsay Minor Cup. The Fourth XI are away to Bangor V's in the Minor Qualifying Cup. Full list of currently available Cup fixtures can be found here. 11/01/2007 Ulster Cup draw news... Those of you who didn't (like some poor sods) spend Christmas with the magical "puking flu" will probably already be aware but the draw for the Ulster Cup took place shortly before the holiday and Carrickfergus has drawn Bready with the match to be played at Middle Road on the 20th May. Full details on the rest of the draw and a full list of other first round match-up can be found on the excellent new Ulster Cricket website.