As usual over the past few years we set targets for landmarks that players may be in sight of. As the season proceeds we keep an eye on their progress to achieving these targets and, when they do so, celebrate that success with them. In setting these landmarks we look at runs in multiples of thousands and wickets in multiples of hundreds. From time to time we may look at catches or wicket keeping dismissals but these tend perhaps to arise less frequently.
This year we had 27 batsmen with targets varying from 3,000 to 8,000 runs and 6 bowlers with targets between 200 and 600 wickets. There is also one fielder approaching 100 catches in the field.
During the month of June the following players reached various targets.
CM Armstrong
Early in June saw Conor reach his target of 8,000 runs, the largest run scoring target any player had set for him this year. He achieved that figure when he scored 23 runs against North County which brought the number of runs he has scored to 8,012. Conor made his debut in senior cricket in Leinster for Rush in 1995. Subsequently he played for Malahide for one year until moving to North County in 1999, where he has remained since. In all he has played 318 Matches in scoring these runs, at an average of 30.01. He has scored 10 centuries and 46 fifties. Conor has represented Ireland on 27 occasions.
C Morgan
Colm is the longest playing of our target achievers, having first played for CYM (now Terenure) in 1988. He subsequently played for Trinity, splitting his time with CYM. He achieved the target of 6,000 runs recently when he scored 51 against Clontarf in Terenure, bringing his total of runs to 6,038. In all, so far, Colm has played 313 Matches and scored his runs at an average of 21.34. He has scored 5 centuries and 27 fifties.
AD Poynter
The last of this month’s target achievers is perhaps the season’s most successful batsman to date this year. Andy, a man surely with Clontarf blood in his veins as a nephew of Deryck Vincent, first played for Clontarf in 2006. He was born in London but came back to play for Clontarf and in due course for Ireland. He started this season needing a fraction under 300 runs to reach 3,000. He reached that mark with 54 against Merrion on 14th June, his fourth half century this season out of 7 innings to that point. This brought him to 3,047 runs. In all he has played 95 matches and has scored those runs at an average of 41.74. He had also scored at this point 5 centuries and 23 fifties. Since then he has started off clearly seeking to make a good start towards his next target, with two undefeated centuries in one weekend, albeit only one of which counts in his drive towards 4,000. He has also represented Ireland 54 times to date, and has scored in excess of 800 runs for his country so far.