A new season in upon us. It is not clear if it is global warming, the expansion in the number of teams or the influx of cricketers from abroad who would play all year round if they could, but cricket seems to start earlier each year. League matches commence in two weeks time. Friendlies and schools matches even sooner.
A lot has happened over the winter. For those who have kept in touch through the Cricket Leinster website and on social media, you will know that there has been some re-structuring of both the Open and Women’s competitions. The main change in the Open Competitions is the additional of a ninth team [compensating for the half-season played by Dublin University] in Division 2. But with new teams entering there has been a fair amount of re-jigging necessary throughout the divisions. All the fixtures are up – so check it out.
There have also been important changes for the Womens Competitions. Division 1 matches will continue to be played on Thursday evenings, but an extra team has been added to bring it up to an eight-team league. The matches kick off on 1st May with all teams in action – Leinster, Malahide, Clontarf, North Kildare, Pembroke , Merrion, The Hills and YMCA. A sixth team has also been added to the Pilkington 40 Over competition which now consists of North Kildare, Pembroke, Leinster, Merrion, Fingal and YMCA. The other good news is that there is a new club playing in the Women’s Competitions – Greystones. They have their league debut in D3 on 20th April against Rush II.
The RSA [Live Scores] Match Centre will be in operation again this year. Thanks to the support received from RSA over the past number of years it is hoped that there will be expanded coverage this year in Open D2 and Womens D1.
The other big news [http://www.cricketleinster.ie/news/player-registration] is the introduction of direct registration of players through the Cricket Leinster website. If you aren’t already sorted out you should check with your club about their registration arrangements. You need to be registered before you play your first match, so don’t delay.