AFTER an at times difficult summer, the tide seems to be turning for Phil Simmons. There was good news on Thursday with the rescheduling of the Champions League to December, thereby freeing up Eoin Morgan for the crucial Intercontinental Cup games in Africa the previous month. The young Middlesex star faces a grueling autumn, flitting across to Antigua, back to these parts, then down to Namibia and over to Kenya before finishing up with the Twenty20 in India.
Another boost came on Friday when Boyd Rankin made his debut for Warwickshire and showed why Allan Donald and the county have such high hopes for him. The Bready speedster took 4-80, only losing control of line and length when basher-of-the-moment Graham Napier took him on. Rankin talked to Inside Edge at Stormont earlier this month, where he was a welcome visitor to the Ireland camp and took part in the pre-match drills.
'The recovery has gone very well,' he said, before explaining that at that stage it was up to the surgeon when he could make a return. He played a second XI game last week at Stratford-upon-Avon and was called up for his debut against Essex. Rain wiped out the first two-and-a-half days but Rankin grabbed his chance with what remained of the game. At one stage on Thursday he was bowling while 90 miles away his fellow north-westerner Will Porterfield was batting for Gloucestershire. The Irish skipper's 93 further cemented his place in the county order.
The Irish weather helped foil a most worthwhile event in Railway Union last weekend. The annual Help Together festival organized by members of the Indian cricketing community here was called to a soggy halt when the rains came down to turn the Park Avenue ground into a mini-reservoir. Despite this, funds were raised to help several projects in India including sick and destitute children. The organization has a website detailing its social and sporting activities on www.helptogether.net and further details can be had from Leeladhar on gleeladhar@yahoo.com.
Perhaps CricketIreland ought to set up a ‘Find An Irishman' division such as the FAI were rumoured to have back in the 1990s. They could take a look at France first, where their Under 17 squad last week featured one Robin Murphy. Even money he's playing in North County next summer!
So which cricketer last week joined Warwickshire from an Irish club? When I mention that the Irish club was St Patrick's Athletic, it may confuse you. It seems that Richie Barker, 21, a former England U-20 footballer has been plucked from the obscurity of the National League into the obscurity of the English County Championship Division Two. Barker has been playing a bit in the Lancashire Leagues this summer and won a two year deal after a trial. He is godson of West Indies captain Clive Lloyd and son of Keith, who played twice for Guyana in the 1960s. A few Dublin clubs must regret they didn't spot him during his time in the city. Maybe Merrion could have found room in their top order, where one R Barker already resides.
Another former Irish cricketer making waves in another field can be seen on early morning TVs all week. Carol Metchette, late of Trinity and Leinster, is now a hockey umpire of some renown and has been whistling her way around the Beijing Olympics. Her father, Frank, was a long-time stalwart of the Rathmines club and is still a regular attender at Ireland games.
Finally, a fascinating story from Morgan Dockrell, the indisputable poet laureate of Irish cricket. Dockrell, whose celebrated verse about the 1969 Sion Mills win is frequently quoted, was a member of Merrion in the 1960s when a Dodder flood necessitated the salvage of some club memorabilia. He rescued a bat from the debris and intended to return it when the pavilion was restored.
It was no ordinary bat, however, but one signed by the touring 1938 Australian team, and the England team that pulverised them at the Oval that year.
Dockrell's memory was jogged on a recent visit to Anglesea Road and he remembered the bat that had lain in his attic for 40 years. He retrieved the bat, still in its case, and returned it to a club officer, and it is expected to soon return to pride of place in the clubhouse.
Morgan being Morgan, such an event could not be allowed pass without versification (he did, after all, once pen an ode in honour of Jack Hobbs' box), and he has allowed Inside Edge readers first look at this charming poem.
SEVENTY YEARS ON
Some forty years preserved in Dockrell's attic,
Saved victim of the raging Dodder's flood,
My showcase sinking to a grave aquatic,
Joining the wrecked Pavilion in the mud;
A hand whose owner held me in affection
Today returns me for my resurrection.
My Autographs contain some All Time Greats:
BRADMAN, O'REILLY, HAMMOND, HUTTON, BARNES:
Some, who like FLEETWOOD-SMITH, had tragic fates:
War victims: WALKER, VERITY and FARNES.
This Year of Munich - 1938,
Last pre-War Ashes tour, bears History's weight.