MIDLANDS CRICKET UPDATE - JUNE 2022

It has been a busy few months in the Midlands area, where there has been extensive work done during the winter in schools, as well as an increase in coaches in the region. As well as this, there are exciting new developments in the delivery of new activities throughout the Carlow, Kilkenny, Laois, and Athlone areas.

Cricket in Schools:

There has been a full series of coaching visits to schools across the region, delivering to all class groups and sizes. It has been exciting to see so many pupils who took up cricket during the 2021 season, continuing to play cricket at their schools, either during their breaks, or in their PE sessions.

As well as lessons in the schoolyard, there were several inter-school “blitz” competitions, where schools came to their local clubs, and played against other schools in the area, who have also had cricket sessions during the school year.

Throughout the school year, there have been sessions delivered at 21 schools in the Midlands area. Schoolyard sessions, teacher training classes, as well as inter-school cricket competitions has been delivered to include:

-Kilcleagh NS Castledaly

-Athlone NS

-St. Cynocs Senior NS Ferbane

-Rashina NS Ballinahown

-St. Mary's NS Bagenalstown

-Ballinkillen NS

-St. Brigid's NS Bagenalstown

-Paulstown NS

-Askea Boys NS Carlow

-Askea Girls NS Carlow

-Bishop Foley NS Carlow

-Carlow ETNS

-St. Fiacc's NS Carlow

-Kilkenny School Project NS

-Model School Kilkenny

-St. Canices Co-Ed NS Kilkenny

-St. John’s Senior NS Kilkenny

-Cosby NS Stradbally

-St. Coleman's NS Stradbally

-Clonenagh NS Mountrath

Midlands Underage Series 2022:

As part of their further development of youth cricket in the Midland clubs, Cricket Leinster has finalised dates for the Midlands Underage Series.

The series involves several clubs in a locality coming to one venue, and playing several games against each other on the day. The rules for the series are an improvised version of Cubs regulations in the CL league, to allow for a shorter game format.

There will be six events in total, with three in each region (North & South). There are eight clubs participating in the series, including Knockharley CC and Bagenalstown CC.

The dates for the series are as follows:

- June 26th - Carlow CC

- July 10th - Mullingar CC

- July 24th - Kilkenny CC

- August 7th - North Kildare CC

- August 21st - Laois CC

- August 28th - Athlone CC

Each of the participating clubs will be supplied with a number of CL branded cricket sets and all participants will be provided with branded t-shirts to recognise their involvement.

Simon Hawkins from Bagenalstown CC feels that the series will be an exciting addition to their season: “We are delighted to be taking part in a great initiative from Cricket Leinster. It is a good chance for our players to put their training into game practice, in a safe and fun environment. From our previous experience, we feel that the kids love playing the “blitz” style format, so this series will be really exciting for our players. We would like to thank Cricket Leinster for organising the Midlands Underage Series throughout the summer.”

Coach Education:

With the increase in participation in youth numbers right across the Midlands area, one of the needs that clubs had in the region was to have more fully qualified coaches.

Cricket Leinster were pleased to have delivered a ‘Coaching Cricket’ course at Carlow IT in March, for local Midland club members to support their coaching journey. It was great to have experienced tutors such as Brían O’Rourke and Michael Hingston to be a part of the course, and the attendees were able to get quality and practical information from them.

There were seven coaches who completed the course, coming from clubs such as Bagenalstown CC, Athlone CC and Carlow CC.

By attending these courses, clubs will have the opportunity to deliver safe and fun sessions for their youth members and improve the standard of cricket in the area. 

Women’s Cricket:

In May, CricHIIT sessions were delivered at Laois CC, and this was part of starting the new season for the women’s section in Laois CC. CricHIIT is a fun exercise programme, which is designed to encourage women & girls to try cricket by combining HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) principles with basic cricket skills.

The participants learned about some of the basic batting shots (drive, cut and pull), as well as bowling with a jump, along with some fielding skills such as catching and throwing.

It was great to have Cricket Leinster’s Women’s Development Officer Isobel Joyce, along with Irish international Orla Prendergast, come to Laois to deliver the first session of the programme.

Across the four sessions that took place, there were over 20 attendees that came to The Abby in Stradbally to participate in the CricHIIT programme. 

Any queries regarding cricket in the Midlands area please forward to Bernard O’Mara at bernard.omara@cricketleinster.ie