There's a huge week of cricket upcoming with Division 1 action between Creevedonnell and Donemana as well as Bonds Glen v Glendermott but the focus of attention all week will be on the International front with competition at three different venues. Monday sees the start of a four-day game between Ireland and South Africa "A" at Sandel Lodge while the following day at Magheramason the Ladies' T20 European Qualifiers get under way. The host country will be joined by Scotland and The Netherlands for three full days of competitive action starting bright and early on Tuesday morning and continuing through until Thursday evening when Bready CC will host a presentation evening.
There are two scheduled games each day starting at 9.30 am and 3 pm and when the T20 tournament has finished, Ireland Ladies will then play Scotland Ladies in a 50-over game on the Friday at the same venue. Cricket followers around the region are encouraged to come along and support all the games and the same invitation is extended to Strabane Park on Sunday when the South Africans finish their tour with a 50-over match against Phil Simmons' side. Admission is free to all the games so if you have some time to spare in the coming week why not head to one of the venues and lend your support.
One of the biggest talking points of the past week has been the decision of Boyd Rankin to retire from International cricket and it is ironic that everybody has had their say except the big man himself. Obviously I'm no spokesman for Boyd but I know from talking to Bob in the past that the strike bowler is fiercely proud of his involvement with Ireland as indeed is the entire family.
It seems fair to assume that Boyd is aware that there are plenty in front of him in the pecking order to play full Internationals for England and while there may now be opportunities to play for the Lions, his decision seems to simply revolve around an improved County contract. Quite why anyone should look to fault him for that I have no idea. The life-span of any sportsman or woman is reasonably short and no doubt Boyd will want the opportunity to return home when his playing career at the very top level has come to an end. And whether we like it or not finances are one of the main considerations in any such decision.
Who knows how many contract offers there will be in the future and for a guy who has been blighted by injury in the past couple of seasons this has surely been too good an opportunity to turn down. So while the big man is of course a huge loss to Ireland and he no doubt leaves with a heavy heart maybe a small dose of reality is required in certain quarters.
I was up at the North v South game at Bready on Sunday and while the new form of Inter-Provincial competition is still in the fledgling stages there was certainly plenty of quality on view on both sides. There is absolutely no doubt that we need some form of cricket to fill the void between domestic and International standard and the Inter-Pro series, in whatever format it may be is the only conceivable option.
Whether there is enough in it with just the North v South set up is open to debate; I believe there may be more meaning to regional squads however there were obvious difficulties there in the past. Key to it all is the importance placed on Inter-Pro's by CricketIreland therefore it was encouraging to see almost a full committee as well as a host of coaches, including head coach Phil Simmons in attendance.
If players know that involvement in any inter-regional series is an integral part of International consideration then there is far less likelihood of needing to make 46 phone calls to get a North West team. Before leaving Bready I hope you won't mind if I also mention two very important ladies that I forgot to thank for the wonderful hospitality during the senior cup final. Every time I go to Magheramason I can always count on Marcella Crumley and Betty Bunting to help me keep this wonderful physique and I somehow forgot to mention them. Sincere apologies ladies and I hope that doesn't cost me any sandwiches next time.
Finally for now an invitation to players, officials and indeed anyone involved with North West cricket to take stock of the mass of changes that have been introduced into the sport here in the past 12 months. Some may have worked for you and others maybe not but as always there is an annual opportunity to have your opinions considered.
The various committees will soon be sitting down to look at all the available evidence and to consider rule change requests from a host of sources however the deadline for submissions is drawing near. Any group that has a proposal is therefore asked to email it to Jim Lindsay at your earliest convenience but no later than 31 August for inclusion in those considerations.