The Clare Champion Clare news, sport, entertainment and local notes
THE Clare Cricket Club will have teams playing Division 1 and Division 2 Munster League cricket in the coming season. They will prepare for the year ahead with a four-day training camp in Ibiza, from this Thursday to Sunday, which will include two games on the local club’s artificial pitch.
The Clare club’s first team won Division 2 of the Munster Cricket League in 2013, while all-rounder Gogi Singh was voted Munster player of the year. The new cricket season starts in earnest against Limerick Raiders on Sunday, April 28. The club is actively looking for new players for the coming season. Experience of playing cricket at any level would be a help but is not essential.
“People get put off by cricket. They think it’s very complicated but it’s a very simple game. One guy throws a ball and then you hit. That’s all you do. It’s a bat and a ball game. There’s obviously different nuances but you can learn it very quickly. You don’t have to be steeped in it at all,” club chairman Richard Morton told The Clare Champion.
The club currently play all of their games away from home, as they don’t have a home ground in Clare. They are keen to change that.
“If anyone owns a large, relatively flat field in the Shannon or Ennis area and are willing to rent to us, please contact a committee member,” the club chairman added.
“Clare is the only Munster club without a regular home field, meaning all our matches are effectively played as away fixtures. Despite this handicap, we went unbeaten throughout the entire 2012 campaign. Imagine how good we would be when we have a proper home,” Richard Morton laughed.
“We need a pitch. It doesn’t have to be anything special at all. We play all over Munster in bits and bobs of grounds on the edges of various fields. It doesn’t have to be fancy at all, as long as it’s reasonably flat,” he reiterated.
While the club has about 30 players at the moment, they are very open to recruiting new members.
“We want to increase the profile of the club and we want more players. We have two adult teams at the moment. There’s a bit of interaction between them, in that some play on Saturday and on Sunday. But we’d like to get two good squads of players together,” the club chairman explained.
Anyone interested in becoming involved with the Clare Cricket Club can contact chairman, Richard Morton at 087 9276000; secretary, Jeremy Mace at 085 7455797 or treasurers, Raj Sahota and Ranjit Singh at 086 1943167. Information is also available on the club’s Facebook page.
