Leinster Lightning Pathway - Season Review 2020

At the end of a curtailed cricket season, Leinster Lightning Head Coach Nigel Jones sat down to reflect upon what will hopefully be remembered as a unique year.

Jones is quick to acknowledge that 2020 has been an unusual and very difficult one for everyone. With a lockdown in place throughout the Spring, uncertainty was the prevailing emotion. Concern over health and safety was paramount, never-mind considerations over whether there would be a
possibility to play any cricket over the summer.

“There was no question that we were all very grateful to get back out in the middle this summer. Being able to spend time with teammates and playing a sport you love can sometimes get lost in the hustle of performance sport. It certainly wasn’t a lost lesson this season and huge credit must go to both Cricket Leinster and Cricket Ireland for their efforts in ensuring competitive Cricket was possible in 2020” said Jones.

“During the challenging months of April, May, and June, it was important to continue to engage and offer support to our performance squad players.”

This contact included the perennial Zoom calls of that first lockdown, but Jones made sure to keep them interesting and engaging.

“Our senior and emerging guys had put a lot of hard work in over the winter months on skills and developing their games, so it was important to try to limit the loss in momentum and to keep inspiring where possible.

“We were fortunate to have New Zealand’s Ross Taylor join us on a Zoom call to talk to the boys about his playing experiences, life in lockdown, and give his thoughts on the game. He shared some great insights around what he believes has helped him to become the player he is and what he looks to for inspiration. Ross was also brilliant at answering a number of questions the lads had around their own games too.

“Our very own King (Kevin O’Brien) was another player that we tapped into during lockdown. These workshops provided a great learning opportunity for our emerging players to pick the brains of one of Ireland’s finest.”

While these sessions were real positives and broke the monotony for the players, the coaches and players had one thing on their mind. They were all very keen to get back out there and play, particularly with the warm, sunny weather of April and May. One of the major silver linings of the pandemic in 2020 was that it encouraged creative thinking between the various invested parties to ensure meaningful cricket was provided, not only for the Leinster Lightning squad but those involved in the Bolts pathway too.

“Following some early discussions with Pete Johnston, Cricket Ireland’s Academy Performance Manager the concept of an Intra-regional T20 series was developed. Pete was instrumental in securing central funding and bringing the concept to life. Kudos to him on this.

“From my position,” continued Jones, “it was vital that we were able to provide this level of cricket this year. The prospect of losing a season for those with Leinster Lightning and Bolts aspirations had the potential to set some of our players back considerably.

In the end, the four match Intra-regional series followed by the North v South fixtures provided a great opportunity for 25-30 of our most promising emerging players. I’m very clear on the importance of getting more cricket into these blokes, the more time we invest into them the stronger our system becomes.

“Essentially you start to create a double positive by strengthening playing standards at club level while also developing greater depth feeding into the Leinster Lightning squad - it promotes healthy competition while challenging those in possession to continue to work hard and push their games forward.”

Nigel Jones also wanted to acknowledge the partnership work with Cricket Ireland in supporting training ground opportunities in 2020.

“Given the nature of the pandemic and how this impacted on training protocols and resources this season, it became clear that our best chance of maximising player contact time and reach was to all try to pull together.

This collective approach provided a number of benefits, one being the inclusion of a number of younger players into the mix.”

The opportunity to impress the Head Coach and spend time around established Leinster Lightning players at these sessions was a great opportunity for the Leinster youngsters and Jones has noted one or two to watch out for in 2021. (a piece on these players will follow soon)

Before drawing a line under 2020 however, Jones is keen to highlight and thank the cricket community within Cricket Leinster.

“There’s a lot of people to thank for this season and I’d like to openly acknowledge the collective efforts of many, and also the continued support of the Leinster Lightning team.

“I look back on the summer with a real sense of togetherness, from clubs providing and preparing their facilities, to volunteers offering invaluable support to make cricket possible. Again, thank you to everyone who gave their time and expertise. We are undoubtedly stronger together and this ethos couldn’t have been more prevalent this season.

“We are very fortunate to have such a supportive and passionate cricket community in Leinster.”