A CO MEATH WINNER FOR THE 2021 'FIND A FAST BOWLER' AWARD

Right arm seam bowler Lorcan Craik has joined Ireland quicks Josh Little and David Delany in winning the prestigious Cricket Leinster Youth ‘Find a Fast Bowler’ competition. 

2021 marks the 16th year of the competition, which seeks to identify young, talented quick bowlers within Leinster and to support their development towards representing their clubs, Leinster at inter-provincial and Ireland at international level.

In a year where COVID has damaged youth sport across the world, this award is not only proof of the determination in Leinster to overcome whatever challenges are put in front of us. A sign that the amount of young, talented cricketers in Leinster continues to grow, the Leinster coaches reported this year that the current group was the strongest field to select a winner from.

Meath Sports Partnership who have engaged with Cricket Leinster in several productive development initiatives around the county, were the first to send their congratulations.

Lorcan’s club coach Killian Molloy welcomed the message it sent as to the quality of cricket development in County Meath and the potential that Lorcan has when he considers the previous winners: “Congratulations to Lorcan on winning such a prestigious and iconic Leinster award.  I remember the first time you came to the club and seeing that you had some serious talent.  We all hope you see the names like Josh Little and dedicate yourself to matching their levels, and that you continue to progress as a young, fast bowler”.

In another first, Lorcan received an extra special prize from the 2011 winner, and current Ireland international Josh Little, of an opportunity to collect his award while training with the Leinster Lightning squad.

Due to ongoing cricket commitments in the Abu Dhabi T10 league with the Northern Warriors franchise, with Dambulla Giants in Sri Lanka, and of course with Ireland, Josh is unable to meet with Lorcan this month to present the award and instead came up with what he believes is a far more inspirational offer.

Josh added, “I am sorry I cannot present the award in person this year, but I hope that Lorcan works hard with his Leinster Youth coaches this winter, so he can join me and the Lightning squad as a special guest in April, to not only collect his award but show us why he has won the award”.

Leinster Lightning Coach Nigel Jones was pleased to see Josh support the Leinster Youth Pathway and be a role model to what is a vital part of the Leinster Lightning success achieved in Inter-Provincial cricket since its restart in 2013.

“I have heard some exciting reports on Lorcan's potential and I was pleased to see JL (Josh Little) offering his support to our Leinster boys pathway programme recently - it is important that our senior men’s players are visible and engaged in our underage programmes, for when time and schedules allow.

Inspiring the next generation is hugely important to the Leinster Lightning squad and undoubtably more can be done in this area too. I hope that we will be able to offer greater opportunities to our underage players in 2022 and I look forward to following Lorcan’s progress along with many others next summer in our underage programmes.”

Introducing Lorcan Craik

Fact File:

Name: Lorcan Craik

Age: 12

Club: Knockharley CC / Balbriggan CC 

School: Dunshauglin Community College

Height: 174cm

Favourite Cricketer: 
Ireland – Paul Stirling 
World – Pat Cummins

Started playing: At 6 years of age

Representative Honours: 
u11’s: Leinster
u13’s: Leinster, Irish Cubs

Best Bowling: 4-12 vs Malahide

Other sports played: Rugby - Navan RFC Under 14’s

Find A Fast Bowler Past Winners
2006 - Darren Nicol (Terenure)
2007 - Padraic Flanagan (YMCA)
2008 - Andrew Sheridan (North County)
2009 – David Delany (Clontarf)
2010 – Rory Anders (Phoenix)
2011 – Josh Little (Pembroke)
2012 – Cian Nulty (Balbriggan)
2013 – Charlie Johnston (YMCA)
2014 – Mikey O’Reilly (YMCA)
2015 – Ben Brownlee (YMCA)
2016 – Daniel Thorne (Rush)
2017 – Mark Tonge (Leinster)
2018 – Reuben Wilson (Phoenix)
2019 – Eoin Birch (Balbriggan)
2020 – Mathew Weldon (The Hills)
2021 – Lorcan Craik (Knockharley)

Photos courtesy of Deryck Vincent & Barry Chambers.