WHILE the “youngest” senior Leinster club is more than a quarter-century old, there are plenty of newbies in junior cricket. And the provincial towns are where much of the growth has been seen over the past decade.
Two of the newest of all will contest the RSA Junior Cup final this Saturday in Terenure. Greystones made their league debut in 2012, when they won Division 12, and this is Slieve Bloom’s first season.
The Wicklow side now have three teams in the RSA Leagues, and are top of Division 7 and Division 11, while their 3rd XI lies 4th in Division 13.
Greystones 2nd XI turns out in Saturday’s final, and currently lie four places ahead of Slieve Bloom in Division 11, but they have yet to play each other in the league.
The Junior Cup has been competed for since 1910, and this year is the centenary of the first hat trick of wins, by the Royal Hibernian Military School in the Phoenix Park. It’s safe to say they won’t be winning it again. (The only other hat-trick was by the Rush 1st XI in 1937-39.)
Of the 103 finals, only 11 have been won by teams outside Dublin, which of course will be the case this year. It took more than 40 years for the first – Co Longford in 1952, but the most successful county outside the capital is Co Wicklow, which has seen three different clubs win the Junior Cup (Arklow 1953, Bray Parish 1969, North Wicklow 1997 and 2006). Provincial top dogs Mullingar, Halverstown and Laois have each won the trophy twice.
Slieve Bloom is a brand-new club, stretching their legs for the first time in Division 11 and based in the Co. Offaly town of Kilcormac. They picked a poor year to introduce a new sport to the small town, whose hurling club became All Ireland champions in 2012. And while the mountain range that gives them their name contains the oldest – and once the largest – peaks in Europe, they have weathered back to small hills.
The cricket club was formed when some kindred spirits met at a christening, and picked up a few more after a fracture in the Athlone club. They played last season in the Connacht Senior League but stalwart Mick Schnackenberg says that “Leinster Cricket was always the plan”.
Soccer club Frankford FC rented out their pitch in March last year, and within a month their first game was played. This season they have installed a concrete base and mat. Some early “issues” have been overcome and they side has started to win.
The side, with players from Ireland, England, Zimbabwe, Pakistan, India, USA, South Africa and Sri Lanka, comes from all over the midlands, with several among the medical and nursing staff at Tullamore hospital and others from the Ericssons software campus in Athlone.
Club captain is Imtiaz Ali Kalyar, who travels up from County Cork. The fact that he hasn’t been able to play in any of this year’s cup run is taken as a good luck charm and the team will be instead led by Philip Auret. The vice-captain is part of a talented family of midland cricketers and scored the club’s first century in 2012. Son Tristan became Slieve Bloom’s first representative player when he was selected for the Leinster U11 squad this season.
This season they have recruited two more from Athlone, Shazad and Ravi. The latter will play his last game on Saturday as his work permit/visa is up and he is going home to India.
Three players have made large scores in the cup run – Philip Auret (85) and Jameel Awan (88) in round one in the 90-run win over Swords 2nds, and Ravi Tandon (85) in the 95-run quarter-final win against Clontarf 5ths. In the semi-final against Pembroke 6ths Auret (55no) and Awan (54no) saw SBCC home with an unbroken fifth wicket century stand.
Dinesh da Silva had a match-winning 4-4 off 5.3 overs against Swords, and took 2-10 against Clontarf. He missed the semi-final but could make a crucial contribution in Terenure.
Greystones’ cup run saw them beat North County 5ths by 5 wickets, Wexford by 75 runs in the N11 derby, and Clontarf 6ths by 5 wickets in the semi-final. Oddly, not one player has made a fifty in the three games, although Ashley Kempton, Grattan Evans and ‘Rocky’ Singh have come close.
Singh has taken five wickets too, but leading scalp-taker is Eoin Lenehan, formerly Old Belvedere, who has 9-46, including 4-14 in the semi-final.
The Wicklow club’s skipper is Paul Daniel, who is playing his first season. The club’s rapid expansion has seen them add a 2nd and 3rd XI this year, and Paul explains “We have really struck a chord with the people in the town, and are starting to attract players from all over Wicklow, even from as far away as Kildare and Tallaght.”
Like several provincial clubs there is a good mix of locals and expats, with New Zealand, Australia, England, India, Pakistan and South Africa all represented on the team. We’ve a good balanced side”, said Paul, “our policy is that everyone should have a chance to make a contribution. Often we’d play a team where the same four do all the batting and bowling – our top order usually wouldn’t bowl and our bowlers go in low down in the order. It means we have great strength in depth and know that we have plenty of people to turn to if needed.”
Greystones have had a settled side through the cup run, but lose the now-starred Quentin Roux for the final (replaced by Ashley Kempton) and the injured all-rounder Brian Pappas. Look out for 15-year-old Mohammed Saleem who has a great future ahead of him, while Simon Rice has taken more wickets than anyone else in Leinster competition this summer.
Simon will hope to take at least one wicket on Saturday – his first would be his 50th of 2013 – and spearhead the seizure of the RSA Junior Cup. After more than a century, it will find a new home for the next 12 months.
Line-ups
Greystones: P Daniel (capt), G Evans, E Lenehan, A Kempton, D McNamara, M Singh, S Sidoya, S Rice, M F Saleem, N Thompson, D Ryan (wkt). Reserves: A Longstaff, J Stewart
Slieve Bloom: (semifinal line up) Ravi Tandon, P Maloney, VJ Raghavan, P Auret (capt), N Myers, J Awan, S Munawar, M Schneckenburg (wkt), M Grobbelar, S Roche, T Fox