CRICKET: With the establishment of Ed Joyce in the Middlesex team, the way has been cleared for other Irish players to get their opportunity in England without the old pervading prejudices and snobberies holding them back. Niall O'Brien (Kent), Andy White (Northants), Boyd Rankin (Middlesex) and Eoin Morgan (Middlesex) are all getting a chance to show people what they can do at that level.
But this greater level of success for Irish players does not happen by accident and the underage programme that these players have come through in Ireland has stood to them as they seek to ply their trade as full-time cricketers.
O'Brien, Morgan and others such as O'Brien's brother Kevin, who is on the ground staff at Lord's, have come through Leinster development training and coaching, which has afforded them the opportunity to play with and against the best young players around. And there is certainly no shortage of success for the youth of the province.
The under-13s and under-15s are the interprovincial champions while the under-13s are currently in Wrexham having been invited to play in the Welsh District Championships this week. It is a great opportunity that was engineered for them by the Leinster development officer Brían O'Rourke. There are also development tours for Leinster's under-15s (to Staffordshire), under-19s (to London) and under-21s (to Durham).
"It's all about player pathways," says O'Rourke. "We are producing more good players now. We really need to get them through the system and give them plenty of opportunities as they get older and keep them keen." He adds that these tours are only possible through generous sponsors such as Lewis Hohn Williams.
Some of Leinster's young players are shaping up very well. The likes of Graham McDonald and Andrew Balbirnie of Pembroke and Shane Getkate of Malahide are pushing for places on their clubs' first teams while still only in their mid-teens.
"We are at a certain stage in our development programme now," says O'Rourke. "The batters we are producing are of a very good standard. I do admit, however, there is a gap in our production of good fast/opening bowlers," he says.
"What we have now is a very structured and organised coaching programme in the province with a lot of work at under-11 level. With the older ones we have recently started talking to them about the tactics of the game, what to do in certain match situations," he says.
O'Rourke is also involved, along with Brian Kelleher and Vinnie Savino, with the coaching of coaches and he is always encouraging players or former players to take the ECB level one coaching course.
"We have to match the increase in players with an increase in the number of coaches," he says.
Since O'Rourke took over as development officer in 1998, he has introduced the game to more than 100 primary and secondary schools in Leinster, exposing thousands of children to cricket in its various forms. Watching Niall O'Brien playing for Kent first team or seeing Eoin Morgan helping the Irish under-19s to qualify for the World Cup in Sri Lanka next February is the fruit of his labours and that of the large number of paid and unpaid coaches around the province.
I received plenty of correspondence on the lowest totals people can remember in junior cricket.
In the mid-1980s Civil Service Seconds were bowled out for seven in a league match against Adanstown. According to club stalwart Gerry Kelly the opening pair put on the seven between them and then there were eight ducks. Apparently, the opening batsman was out for five and went straight to his car to listen to a hurling match. He came back to the pavilion around the time he thought tea would be to find he had missed the rest of the match. The place was locked up and everyone had gone home.
jfitzgerald@irish-times.ie
