THE new season has commenced after a long winter enlivened by the stirring exploits of the national teams on foreign fields. The exciting Sri Lankans visit Dublin this month, while the Inter-Provincials will continue to provide their new dimension to the sport, with Trent Johnston’s Lightning sure to carry on where they left off.
In the club scene, as every season there are plenty of newcomers to excite and invigorate. Interestingly, only two of the 14 incoming professionals haven’t played club cricket in Ireland before.
Perhaps the most significant newcomer is a very familiar face making a return after several years down under. However, Dave Langford-Smith has opted not to rejoin Phoenix where he soldiered for eight seasons, and instead joined his local club, Terenure. ‘Lanky’ has also acted as a something of a magnet for the club which lost several players to the Park some years ago. Now Conor Kelly has returned and Corey Dickeson has also joined from Phoenix.
Langford-Smith spent the winter playing with Sawtell in the Coff’s Harbour league in northern New South Wales. He played nine matches at first-grade, taking 21 wickets at 12 with a best of 6-26 against Coff’s Colts, and scoring 46 against Diggers.
Terenure are one of two RSA Division One clubs to do without an overseas pro, but YMCA do have a current first-class arrival however, albeit one who carries an Irish passport. Peter ‘PJ’ Moor plays for the Midwest Rhinos in the Zimbabwean competitions, having spent the 2012 summer with CIYMS in Belfast where he averaged just over 15 with the bat. Moor played for Zimbabwe at the 2010 Under 19 World Cup but it is understood he has Ireland ambitions. In five first-class games this winter he made 314 runs at 34.9, while also making 104no against Tuskers in a List A 50 over game.
Railway Union welcome back Patrick Collins for a fourth summer, after a quiet season in Brisbane First Grade with Western Suburbs when he missed some games due to an operation. The Leinster Lightning player played 10 games in Premier Grade, scoring 261 at 21.75, with 117 against Wynnum Manly, and took four wickets at 29.75. The Hills also have their 2012 and 2013 pro back, wicket-keeper bat Nicolaas Pretorius.
Merrion have also rehired Brett Thompson from Port Elizabeth, a former South Africa Under 19 player. In the Under 19 World Cup he played alongside Craig Kieswetter and Wayne Parnell. Over the winter he played for Nelson Mandela Metropole University 1st XI (Port Elizabeth Premier League) and Old Grey CC. Merrion also welcome Deon Carolus as coach, a former Eastern Province and Griqualand West bowler whose 228 FC career scalps include Faf de Plessis and Richard Levi. Carolus, now 35, played his last game in the big-time in April 2013 and came to Ireland where his wife now works.
Pembroke have brought back Jono Cook, an opening bat/leg-break bowler who played with the club in 2008 when they got to the final of the overs league and won promotion from Section B. He played over the winter for Keira, who won the 1stGrade Premiership in New South Wales. Cook scored 537 at 38.4, and took 63 wickets at just nine. He also made a brisk 103 in a T20 against Trent Johnston’s first club Dapto.
Clontarf have rehired Zander Van Der Merwe, who followed Andre Botha to the club last season after spending 2012 with Terenure. Zander, who played forGauteng U19s, finished top of the Gauteng premier averages in both time (36 wickets at 5.17 in 93 overs) and T20 cricket (7-51 in two games). His club, Krugersdorp Highschool Old Student Association (KHOSA), was coached to the league title by Botha.
Finally, the only RSA Division One pro without Irish experience is Tim Affleck, who has a good record in Sydney cricket. His CV already boasts Mossman, Auburn, Western Suburbs and North Sydney, and now he will join North County. This winter he played three first-grade games for North Sydney. Scoring 35 runs at 8.75, and made a high-score of 99 for the club in second grade.
DIVISION 2
IN RSA Division Two, Reinhardt Strydom has returned to the club where he started in Ireland in 2001, via Old Belvedere, North County and YMCA, and Malahide have also picked up several players who have moved here to work. Perhaps the most interesting is a fully-fledged international cricketer with no less than 22 caps. He even played in an ICC Twenty20 competition in March – although not in Bangladesh. Alessandro Morris (31) is an off-spinner from the Cayman Islands who is working in a legal firm in Dublin. He took six wickets in seven games at the WCL Division 7 in Kuala Lumpur last month, but his best return for his country was 6-13 in 3.3 overs against the Bahamas.
Malahide have also picked up a young, highly-regarded Kiwi called George Deans, who is here on a job-placement in a leisure centre. Another offie, he also opened the batting for Wairarapa in the final of the Cave Cup when they lost to Marlborough. The 19-year-old has just left Rathkeale College.
The only other New Zealander (almost everyone has an Aussie or a Saffer) is Josh Tasman-Jones, who returns to College Park after a successful 2013. The former Auckland U21 player had a good winter with North Shore in Auckland, scoring 593 runs at 28.3 and taking 30 wickets at 15.8. The students have a new freshman with county underage experience in Will Von Behr from Dorset.
Balbriggan have nabbed the much travelled Etesham Ahmed, and he is joined at Harper Park by fellow Karachi man, Muhammad Farrukh. Like ‘Shami’, ‘Fez’ is a former Pakistan Under 19 player, and he also played 34 first-class games for Karachi between 1997 and 2009. Farrukh spent three summers, 2010-12 in the NCU at Downpatrick, which is less than 80 miles from Balbriggan if he misses his old mates.
Lynal Jansen is another “lifer”, and returns for his eighth season at Rush. The player coach took Paarl to runners-up spot in the Boland Premier League in South Africa, scoring 97 at 13.8 and taking 4 wickets at 23 in eight games.
Phoenix has been notably unlucky in its recruitment of overseas players in recent years, so in a bid to change their fortune they have hired a man whose nickname is “Lucky”. Emmanuel Peterson is a useful young batsman who plays First Grade in Queensland. In his third season with South Brisbane, he scored 561 runs at 31.2k.
Leinster too return to the tried and tested, asking back Adam Ward for a second campaign. In 2013, when the club was relegated, he played nine games and scored 307 runs at 34.11, including two 50s, and took four wickets at 76. The former Victoria U15 and U17 player turned out in the A Grade in Victoria for Rochester Tigers, scoring 373 runs at 31 and taking 30 wickets at 10.17, including 7-28 in the league final against Tongala.
Finally, Cork County have recruited Stephan Grobler, a familiar name to some from his time as pro with North County in their double winning year of 2003 when he took 35 wickets at 17. The leg-spinning all-rounder went on from there to play 30 first-class games for Gauteng, Boland and SW Districts between 2005 and 2011. Last summer Stephan played for Moorside CC in the Saddleworth & District Cricket League in England where he averaged 48.72 with the bat and 17.42 with the ball.