Irish down under

Isobel Joyce had a strong start to her career as overseas player in the Women’s National Cricket League down under.

The former Irish skipper made 29, 35 and 30 in her first three knocks for the Tasmanian Roar in the 50-over event, but sadly her side went down in every game. The Roar were silenced by NSW, with test star Alyssa Healy – niece of Test keeper Ian and wife of Mitchell Starc – making a tournament record 159 off 115 balls.

Isobel has yet to take a wicket, but ex-YMCA pro Brooke Hepburn has been on fire, leading the tournament averages with eight scalps, including the first five-for in the competition. Issy’s successor as Irish skipper, Laura Delany, is working on rehabbing her injured knee, and finding the heat very helpful.

Delany is at the same Sydney club as Shauna Kavanagh who made 16 – top score – as Gordon lost by five wickets to Bankstown.

Mary Waldron is also back Down Under, in Adelaide, and last week made 35 for Port Adelaide against West Torrens (no relation) in women’s first grade.

Mary also caused a stir by becoming the first woman to officiate in a Premier Match for almost 40 years. The 32-year-old umpired a West End Premier match between Adelaide University and Tea Tree Gully becoming the first female umpire in the league since the 1970s.

Jenny Gray is wintering in New Zealand and is playing in the Northern Premier League in Hamilton alongside last summer’s YMCA team-mate Anna Peterson. Also playing with – and assistant coach of – the Sonic, is Ireland legend Caitriona Beggs who emigrated to NZ some years ago.

The Sonic kick off their season this Sunday against Galaxy (Power and Velocity are the other teams in this highly charged league).

Graeme McCarter has had a good start with Cornwall in the Hawkes Bay Premier League. The big north-westerner is fourth in the batting leaderboards for the league with 100 runs in three knocks, and 13th in the bowling with three wickets so far.

Phoenix paceman Rory Anders is also in the Land of the Long White Cloud, playing for Whangarei South Prems. After having two games called off, he debuted against the charmingly-named Duracrete Products City Cricket Club. (What are the odds on Atlantic Homecare Phoenix CC?) In his first game he made 7 and, opening the bowling, took an early scalp before returning to end with 2-20 off 6.2 overs.

North County’s Ireland U17 star Jamie Grassi is also playing down in New Zealand but we haven’t tracked him down yet! Over in Australia, a trio of youngsters from the North West have been sharpening their skills.

Aaron Gillespie of Strabane is at Belvoir CC in Wodonga in Victoria, and reports that “It's been an unbelievable experience so far. Weather-wise it wasn't great for the first two and a bit weeks – a lot of rain, bad flooding here, but it's picked up in the past week and is now very nice."

"We've played three games so far and won two.” Playing Provincial First Grade, Aaron has so far taken a wicket in each of those games, totalling 3-67 off 18 overs. He also made 35 in a T20 against New City.

Ryan Gallagher and Mark Snodgrass are also playing in Australia and we’ll have updates on their progress next time.

George Dockrell has been in action with Valley District, a Premier Grade side in Brisbane while training with the Queensland state side and the T20 Bulls. His club debut saw him take 4-59 off 20.5 overs against Redlands. Last weekend he took 10-2-44-0 against University of Queensland.

Sean Terry has slipped back into the form that won him his Ireland caps last summer, making a century for Richmond CC against Frankston Peninsula in Premier Grade in Victoria. Going in number three, Terry made 104 off 108 balls with three 6s and seven 4s. He also made 10 the following day against St Kilda.

Clontarf’s ‘Bobbo’ Forrest is also wintering in Melbourne, with Balwyn CC, and made 21 on debut against Williamstown. Last weekend he turned out against Yarraville, who featured ex-Australia test batsman Martin Love, but scores have been slow emerging.

Nick Larkin hasn’t batted for his club since his epic 206, but is down to bat on the second day against Hawkesbury (404-8) on Saturday.

But the Ireland batsman played a small part in cricket history last week when he came on as a full-substitute for New South Wales’ Daniel Hughes when the latter was concussed by a delivery from Peter Siddle.

Larkin came in in the last over and didn’t face a ball. He kept his place in the NSW team for the Matador One-Day Cup final, which they won for the second year running – another feather in Trent Johnston’s coaching cap – although Larkin was out for 1. Ex-Railway pro Trent Copeland was in the wickets.