Cricket: It looks like the Lewis Hohn Williams League is doomed. The league, which has always been in the shadow of the Leinster Senior League, has never really captured the imagination of the players or spectators in Leinster cricket and will undergo changes for the 2005 season that amount to a vote of no-confidence for the ailing competition.
Some club players have been complaining that they have too many matches to get through in the season and so, next year, it looks like the Leinster Cricket Union will adopt a new league structure that will reduce the number of games while making way for a new-style Alan Murray Cup, similar to the Twenty20 Cup in English cricket.
It is proposed that the LHW League will have four sections of four teams, with the Munster Reds and junior club Laois invited to join the existing 14 (although as yet no acceptance from those clubs had been received by the LCU). So each club will play three games with the top team in each section going into the semi-finals. If Laois and Munster decided not to take part, there would be two sections of four and two of three, meaning four clubs will play just two games in the competition.
Meanwhile, the Twenty20 Cup (a working title seeing as it has not been officially christened) will operate over three Saturdays with four sections of three teams. On the first Saturday, the three teams in each group will play each other with the bottom sides dropping out.
On the middle Saturday, the teams will be whittled down to four with the semi-finals and final taking place on the last Saturday. It is thought that for 2005, it will all take place around the time of the ICC Trophy in June/July.
As in the English version of the competition, all games will be played with white balls, black sightscreens and coloured clothing and it is hoped that host clubs will lay on entertainment for spectators and their children in order to turn it into a fun day out for all the family.
The Leinster Senior League - currently sponsored by Whitney Moore & Keller - will remain unchanged from its present format.
Most clubs and their players will be in favour of this new schedule although it may have serious ramifications for Dublin University CC. If Trinity decide not to take part in the Twenty20 and end up in a group of three in the LHW League, they could play just two league games in the season plus one in the Conqueror Senior Cup.
It will be interesting to see how this new structure works in practice next year although it looks like the days of the LHW League are numbered.
Always on the look out for the unusual and quirky, this column was contacted last week by a member of Wexford Wanderers CC who wanted to know if the club's first team had set a record. During a match in Middle A on August 21st, Wexford were set a target of 232 to win after Clontarf 3rds had batted first at Castle Avenue. Wexford then proceeded to knock off the runs without loss (Simon Orme made 124 not out while captain Frank Anderson was unbeaten at the end on 94 and there were 15 extras). Can anyone recollect a bigger run chase for no wicket than that or, indeed, a higher first wicket partnership in junior cricket?
jwfitzgerald@eircom.net
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