Club News Archives - 2009

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... 27/12/2009 Carrickfergus draw Armagh in NCU Challenge Cup... The First XI team have drawn Armagh at home in the NCU Challenge Cup. Full draw details can be found here. 07/12/2009 Paul Stirling signs for Middlesex... Our warmest congratulations go to Carrickfergus cricketer, Paul Stirling, who has just been signed on a three year deal by Middlesex. Paul has been involved in the past with the county's Youth and Second XI teams and this full-time contract is just rewards for some notable batting performances for Ireland this past summer against Test, Associate and County oppositions. Ireland will continue to have first call on his services for the coming season so hopefully we can look forward to some more barn-storming performances for his country. Obviously Paul will be an enormous loss from a Club point-of-view but, as with all of our young players, we want nothing more than to see him reach his full potential and he certainly has every attribute to be a success at the very highest level. The story has been widely reported and a selection of links are below: Cricket Ireland Middlesex C.C.C. BBC Sport 07/12/2009 Thirds and Fourths drawn together in Cup... The 3rd XI have been drawn at home to the 4ths in the 1st Round of the 2010 Lindsay Minor Cup! Roger, as NCU Chairman drew out the away teams to the great amusement of those present at the draw. The new 3rd XI captain Paul Graham commented, "At least we are at home!" Although the match is due to be played on Saturday 15th May, it is hoped that it will be possible to move it to Sunday 16th so it can be played at Middle Road. The full draw for the NCU Lindsay Minor Cup 2010 can be found here. 19/11/2009 News and pictures from Club dinner... The Club's annual dinner was held on Friday 13th 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 (our thanks go to Davy Wight for those), as well as a full list of prize-winners from the night. Full details on the dinner can be found here. 19/11/2009 2010 Irish Senior Cup draw made... Carrickfergus Cricket Club have been drawn away to Leinster side The Hills, beaten finalists in 2007, in the 2010 Irish Senior Cup. The Hills' most famous player is the Australian born former Ireland opening batsman Jeremy Bray, one of Ireland's 2007 World Cup heroes, while also included in their ranks is the South African all-rounder Albert van der Merwe, formerly with Derriaghy. The tie is scheduled to take place at Carrick on Saturday 8 May, but may be switched to The Hills ground at Milverton, which is near Skerries in north Co. Dublin, depending on Middle Road's recovery from drainage works. The full draw is available here. 19/11/2009 2010 Irish Senior Cup draw made... Carrickfergus Cricket Club have been drawn away to Leinster side The Hills, beaten finalists in 2007, in the 2010 Irish Senior Cup. The Hills' most famous player is the Australian born former Ireland opening batsman Jeremy Bray, one of Ireland's 2007 World Cup heroes, while also included in their ranks is the South African all-rounder Albert van der Merwe, formerly with Derriaghy. The tie is scheduled to take place at Carrick on Saturday 8 May, but may be switched to The Hills ground at Milverton, which is near Skerries in north Co. Dublin, depending on Middle Road's recovery from drainage works. The full draw is available here. 27/10/2009 Roger elected as NCU Chairman... Warmest congratulations to our Vice President and Hon Treasurer Roger Bell who has been elected to serve as Northern Cricket Union Chairman. Roger has served on various NCU committees for over 30 years and this is nothing more than well-deserved recognition for his tremendous contribution to both Club and Union over the years. This is a great honour for both Roger and the Club and we are all very proud of this deserved achievement. Roger will serve a two year term in the role, and will also become a Director of Cricket Ireland at their AGM in February. In addition to Roger's election, the main Rule changes at the NCU Annual General Meeting were as follows: The Match1/ Match 2 regulations currently used in the Premier League and Section 1 have now been extended to all 50 over cricket (without Duckworth Lewis applying). This will therefore apply to our 2nd XI from next season. Weather effected rearranged League matches (Match 2) may now be reduced down to a mimimum of 5 overs a side using Duckworth Lewis method. Weather effected re-arranged Cup matches may now be reduced to a minimum of 20 overs a side (was 30 overs) Match 2 evening matches may now start later than before. The notice of motion to reduce the number of teams participating in First and Second Division Sections from 10 to 8 was narrowly defeated as it failed to get the required 2/3s majority. 27/10/2009 Carrickfergus season in review... The NCU review series of articles continues on the CricketIreland website with an entertaining and interesting take on the season that was from a local perspective. Check it out here. 24/08/2009 Under-13's reach League Final... Congratulations are due to the Under 13's who have reached the final of the NCU Under 13 league, which will be played on Wednesday 26 August at Eaton Park Ballymena, starting at 2 pm. The lads won their Section of the U13 league with an unbeaten record, winning all five matches. In the semi final they beat Lisburn by 4 wickets at Wallace Park in an exciting finish with only two balls to spare. The team for the final is: PT Aston (captain), Adam Fittis, Lewis Benson, Gavin Richards, Ben Kane, Andrew Palmer, Nathan Long, Cameron McClurkin, Andrew Forbes, Robbie Fulton, Matthew Campbell, and Andrew Luney (12th man) A bus is leaving the club at 12.30 on Wednesday, and any supporters wishing to travel should contact Roger as soon as possible. 24/08/2009 Photos from victory over Bangor... The First XI's crucial victory over Bangor at Upritchard Park has been featured in a photo gllery on the excellent CricketIreland website. Almost 50 photos from the match can be found here. 24/08/2009 New drainage works planned for Middle Road... The Management Committee of Carrickfergus Cricket Club has approved the contract for a new £15.7k secondary derainage scheme to be carried out this autumn on the outfield at Middle Road. The drainage has been a problem for a number of years and in particular during the last three unseasonably wet summers. The work will be carried out by Clive Richardson Civil Engineering and Sports Ground Contractors, and is due to commence, weather permitting, in the third week of September, and will take two weeks to complete. The works to be carried out will include: A new drain to be placed at the foot of the embankment at the top of the ground; Sand slitting the entire outfield to a 250mm depth at 2m centres; Sandgrooving the entire outfield 75mm deep and 25 mm wide at 200 mm centres; Gravel banding the last 3m of the bowlers run-ups on each side of the square, and a number of connections through the square; Vertidraining, top-dressing with 150 tons of sand, and re-seeding and fertilizing entire outfield. Mr Stephen McNally of Clive Richardson's commented the he believes that the main drainage is in good condition and that these secondary drainage works will be enough to give a well drained outfield without drying out the surface too much and effecting grass growth 05/07/2009 CricketIreland article on Stirlo.. The Newsletter's Richard Bullick has written a recent article on Stirlo which features on the CricketIreland website. Read it here. 05/07/2009 Gavin makes NCU U-13 squad... Congratulations to Gavin Richards who has been selected for the NCU in the Under 13 Interpros to be played in Dublin this week. Read full squad details here. 05/07/2009 Photos from recent Inst and Ballymena matches... Our thanks go to Bert Martin for the follwing photos from the recent league victory over Ballymena (in which Paul Stirling notched up 150 runs) and the cup quarter-final defeat against Instonians. Ballymena Match A watchful Paul Stirling batting. Paul Stirling driving on the up. Paul Stirling with the slog-sweep. A watchful Michael Gilmour. Gavin Ewing plays forward. A watchful Gavin Ewing. Eagey prepares to strike. Eagey walks off at end of innings - job well done. Instonians Match Eagey and Stirlo in deep discussion. Frostie prepares to strike. Gavin Ewing walks back to his mark. Matt Mangam in his delivery stride. 28/06/2009 Central Primary triumph in Kwik Cricket... The annual Subway Kwik Cricket tournament took place on 22nd June 2009, at Carrickfergus Cricket Club with Central Primary triumphing in the final against Victoria Primary. A full tournament report is available here. 21/06/2009 U-11's win Plate Final... Carrickfergus won the Under 11 Plate final carried over from the 2008 season, when they beat Laurelvale by 7 wickets at Shaw's Bridge on Monday. Laurelvale batted first and scored 82 for 9 in their 20 overs, with opener Jamie Curran top scoring with 23. Ben Kane, Andrew Palmer and Simon Scott each took two wickets for Carrick. Carrick's openers Matthew Campbell and Andrew Forbes got them off to a flying start with 20 runs coming off the first two overs, and although they lost three wickets on the way, after this the result was never really in doubt. The Carrick batsmen continued to bat positively and passed the Laurelvale total in just the 14th over with Ben Kane unbeaten on 25, and Simon Scott 19 not out. Carrick captain Andrew Palmer received the trophy and both teams received medals from NCU President Ian Gourley after the match. Both Clubs are very grateful to tournament organiser and sponsor Norman Shannon of Norman Shannon & Co Solicitors for an excellent evening which finished with a very enjoyable supper in the Shaw's Bridge clubhouse. Click the thumbnails below for full-size pictures: . . 14/06/2009 Jordan makes NCU U-15 Inter-Pro squad... Warmest congratulations go to Jordan McClurkin who has been selected for the NCU Under-15 squad for the Inter-Provincial series. For full details of the squad, go here. 31/05/2009 Photos from fine victory over Instonians... Ian Johnston has very kindly made available some action shots from yesterday's fine 53 run victory over Instonians. Bails fly as Neil Hamilton of Instonians is bowled. Instonians Captain Eugene Moleon bowling to Ross Gelderbloem. Carrickfergus players celebrate a run-out in Saturday’s Premier League win over Instonians. Additional action shots taken by John Boomer have been posted on the ever-excellent CricketIreland website and John has kindly given permission for us to link to these shots here. 15/05/2009 Photos from Clontarf Senior Cup defeat... Ian Johnston has been kind enough to get permission from photographer, Deryck Johnston, to reference the fantastic action photographs he took last Saturday at Clontarf. Our thanks go to both gents. Click here to open the Flickr album. 06/05/2009 Paul makes Ireland Twenty20 squad... Congratulations are due to Paul Stirling on being selected for the Ireland Twenty20 World Cup squad. Following recent innings of 51 v Worcestrershire and 80 v Leicestershire in the Friends Provident Trophy Paul has forced his way into the Ireland T20 squad and the Club wishes him well in the tournament which takes place in England in June. Ireland release Twenty20 squad. 06/05/2009 Paul makes Ireland Twenty20 squad... Congratulations are due to Paul Stirling on being selected for the Ireland Twenty20 World Cup squad. Following recent innings of 51 v Worcestrershire and 80 v Leicestershire in the Friends Provident Trophy Paul has forced his way into the Ireland T20 squad and the Club wishes him well in the tournament which takes place in England in June. Ireland release Twenty20 squad. 03/04/2009 Details of exciting new Club signings... No fewer than eight new signings will give our 1st XI squad a very new look for the 2009 season. As well as new professional, the former Zimbabwe Test player Gavin Ewing who we already profiled, the squad has been strengthened considerably with the addition of seven other new faces, all of whom are now profiled in the Player Profiles section. Read more here. 25/03/2009 Snehal pictures from Grasshoppers' tour... Message from Roger after the recent Grasshoppers' tour which saw him meet up with long-time Club friend and supporter, Snehal Parikh: Hi Scott Snehal sent these photos taken at Bombay Gymkhana club during the Grasshoppers tour. There is a photo of Snehal and his 16 year old son Sharan who is a very promising leftarm spinner with the 3 Carrick tourists, Andrew Cowden, Michael Turkington and myself. There are also photos of me with Snehal and with Sharan. Maybe you could put these on the website for those interested to see. Cheers Roger Click the thumbnails below for full-size pictures: . . . 17/03/2009 Club appoints Gavin Ewing as new professional... The Club is delighted to confirm the appointment of former Zimbabwean international all-rounder, Gavin Ewing as Club Professional / Coach for the 2009 season. Gavin was a proven performer at first class level before he fell out with the Zimbabwe Cricket Union at the beginning of the 2005/06 season. Further details and background information on Gavin can be found here. 26/02/2009 Club devastated to learn of loss of Roy Parkhill... The Club was shocked and deeply saddened today to learn the news of the loss of our great friend and colleague, Roy Parkhill. Roy had been a loyal servant to the Club, serving as Club Secretary and First XI Scorer for many years and had the utmost respect of all who knew him for his warmth and integrity. Tributes and condolences have already been coming in from as far afield as India and New Zealand as well as, of course, Roy's many friends from around the NCU. Our thoughts and prayers are with Roy's wife, Maureen, and children, Clare and Iain, at this sad time. 15/02/2009 Youth fixtures now available... The 2009 fixtures page has now been updated to display all league and cup fixtures for the youth teams. Visit the "Fixtures Section" via the link in the left hand menu or click here. 25/01/2009 Additional fixtures now available... The 2009 fixtures page has now been updated to display all Second, Third, and Fourth XI fixtures. Youth and Twenty20 fixture will follow when available. Additionally, a couple of ammendments to the First XI fixtures have been added (Lisburn away moved from Monday 4th May to Saturday 25th July and Woodvale away moved from Saturday 25th July to Saturday 12th September). The date for the First XI Ulster Cup match has also been reflected on the First XI fixtures page (Strabane away on Sunday 24th May). Visit the "Fixtures Section" via the link in the left hand menu or click here.