The Merrion Cricket Club AGM took place on 29th October. A number of topics were discussed at the meeting, as well as looking back at the Merrion Cricket’s 2024 season. The following is the report of the Secretary, Conor Austin.
On the Field
As a whole the club can be proud of its efforts on the field in the 2024 season.
In terms of the Open Competitions, the 1st XI had a strong season under the new leadership of the club’s overseas professional from 2023 Sam Harbinson, the squad was also bolstered by the arrival of Peter Francis as the new overseas player from St George District Cricket Club in Sydney. In addition to this 2024 saw the arrival of new members Adam Roslee, Mikey O’Reilly and Jamie Forbes who joined the club as a result of the unfortunate situation that unfolded surrounding YMCA and Claremont Road, all 3 managed to contribute to the team’s success at crucial moments throughout the campaign. While it may have come about in unfortunate circumstances, it was great to have those mentioned as new members of the club. Here’s hoping we can look forward to all 3 contributing to Merrion success in years to come.
Despite a strengthened squad, there was a somewhat mixed start to the season which included a loss in the 1st round of the Leinster Senior Cup in The Phoenix Park and an opening-day league defeat at the hands of Leinster. However, from then on the group grew and excelled, and they went on a run that saw them come within a hairs breath of qualifying for Alan Murray Cup finals day, and making it all the way to the final of the Irish Senior Cup, where Phoenix came out on top at The Mardyke, by a solitary run. The men’s 1st XI also brought their league campaign down to the final day where they played Pembroke at Anglesea Road, where we again sadly came out on the wrong side of a very close encounter, losing by just 9 runs. While silverware may have managed to elude our men’s 1st XI on this occasion, it is clear that they have now set a platform with a diverse and strong playing group that should hopefully be able to bring home cups and league titles in the years to come. It should also be noted that the group did see individual success with Swapnil Modgill managing to claim the all-rounders cup for the Premier League and Senior Cup, as well as coming 2nd in the race for the batting cup, thanks to his season of over 1,000 runs in all competitions. We also saw notable performances throughout the season from Melvin Deveraj in his first year at the club,. After starting the season in the 2nd XI, Melvin ended the year with 44 1st XI wickets and multiple international scalps. This all culminated in Melvin receiving representative honours in September by way of a Leinster Lightning call-up where he claimed 5 wickets in 2 games against the Northern Knights at Oak Hill. Many thanks to Sam Harbinson, Nicky Kenny and Dom Joyce for their work with the 1st team and wider senior squad throughout the 2024 season.
Below the 1st XI results were varied, Peter Forkin’s 2nd XI providing a highpoint, as they mounted a strong title challenge, finishing 2nd in the 2nd XI Premier League, and they were also competitive in the Tillain Cup, reaching the semi-final stage. Their season eventually culminated in success in the Senior 2 Cup final, as they came out on top in a home final against Civil Service 2nds. This was achieved with a youthful squad, and is a credit to Peter, that such strong results were achieved in a team where every player appeared to be able to do just about every skill, never an easy one to balance, for such a young captain, so credit must be given where it is due. We also saw strong seasons had by a number of the players in the team, as Daniel Forkin and Sean Stanton battled it out for the Cricket Leinster all-rounders cup in Senior 2 cricket. With the latter emerging victorious, meanwhile Chirag Poddar, Niranjan Shankar and Franco Marais also all averaged close to or north of 30 with the bat. With the ball, many of those mentioned above excelled, along with Peter Forkin who returned 32 wickets, while Seb Dijkstra also passed the 20-wicket mark.
In 2024 the 3rd XI took up their spot as the only 3rd team in Division 4, under the stewardship of Nitin Shrama, and while a 6th place finish may appear disappointing on the face of it, we remain the highest ranked 3rd team by quite some distance and there was plenty of learnings to be taken from the campaign. The 4th and 5th XIs both secured their places in their respective leagues for 2025 towards the back end of the season and this will allow them to rebuild for next season and look to push higher up the table. The 6th XI finished mid-table in Division 14, an improvement on their 2024 performance while also reaching a T20 cup semi-final. While, it was great to see so many youth players taking their first steps into adult cricket playing in the 7th XI as they finished a strong 2nd in division 20. Huge thanks go to Hansel D’Souza for captaining of the team, and his work creating such a positive environment for the players to enjoy their cricket in. Hopefully, we will see many of these players making their way up through the teams in years to come. While I am on the subject of Hansel, I would also like to take this opportunity to express gratitude for the work he does for the club, not only as a captain, but also his efforts scoring, as team secretary, managing the kit, and the technical side of things that I can’t even claim to begin to understand, so to Hansel, goes a massive thanks from everyone at the club for all your efforts. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all of our scorers, who give up their time week-in, week-out and follow our teams around the province and make cricket possible for all our playing members.
On the field in Women’s cricket, we saw a mixed season of results. It was however, a season that provided excellent opportunities for some of our younger players to develop as they move up the teams, with 50 players playing at least once throughout the season. The 1st and 3rd XIs both came 3rd in their respective league while also reaching cup semi-finals, meanwhile, the 2nd XI reached a cup final where they lost to North Kildare, having beaten a strong Rush 1st team in the semi-final, as well as securing a mid-table finish in their first season back in division 2. While it is obviously disappointing not to see the success of recent years be repeated in 2024, it must be noted that the women’s 1st XI were particularly hampered by the unavailability of proposed overseas player Modestar Mupachikwa, who was unable to gain entry to Ireland due to visa troubles. I’d like to thank Isobel Joyce, Celeste Raack and Ciara Squires for their tireless work in helping deliver the club’s women’s cricket program, and long may it continue to thrive.
The youth section was once again under the watchful eye of the club’s Youth Development Officer Michael Hingston. We are now nearly 3 years on from this appointment and the positive results are there for all to see. As was the case in 2023 Merrion were competing for silverware again in both boys and girls cricket, with the U15 Girls, U17B Boys, and U13B Boys winning their respective leagues, while we also saw an overall increase in participation with our number of youth members rising from 220 to 280 in the space of the last 12 months. This success and the high level of satisfaction with training sessions are a credit to Michael and all those supporting him, whether that be youth committee members, team managers, or parents who commit to driving their children from ground to ground throughout the summer months. Our thanks go out to all those mentioned, in particular, youth committee chair, Christian Dijkstra, who has announced he will be stepping down after tonight’s meeting. Christian’s work will have a lasting impact on the youth section of the club, due to all the work he has done, but most notably his role in the development of the full-time YDO position which has been held by Michael Hingston since its inception, so to Christian our thanks go out.
We also have three social teams, the Taverners, the Veterans, and the Cavaliers, that play out of Merrion. Thanks, in particular to Ronan O’Kelly and Alan Parkinson for their continued management of the Taverners and Veterans sides respectively. Despite the significant ground pressure seen this year at Anglesea Road, Merrion managed to play host to 19 games of social cricket, with 14 of these taking place on the main ground, an overall increase on last year’s figure. When comparing ourselves to other clubs in the locality it is clear that we are well ahead of many of our neighbours in terms of both the number of social teams we have, as well as the number of games of social cricket hosted by the club.
The 2024 season also saw a notable retirement and the end of one of the club’s most decorated careers, after nearly 3 decades of 1st XI cricket, Dominick Joyce brought down the curtain on a 1st team career that included 343 senior games for the club, over 7,500 runs, and nearly 200 wickets as well as countless trophies both team and individual. A few years ago Dom begun to step into coaching and in addition to his strong work with Leinster Lightning, The Leinster Bolts and the Irish U-19 Women’s team, this year he found the time to take up a coaching role within the club as a high-performance coach and assisting with the management and coaching of the men’s senior squad, where hopefully he can continue to bring along the young batters of the club for years to come.
Development
The 2024 season saw some major developments with respect to facilities at Anglesea Road and significant investment was made in equipment with which to service this. The club decided to invest in the installation of an additional hybrid wicket which has once again proven very satisfactory with players. While the decision was also taken to purchase a new roller to aid in preparation of pitches at the club, the committee engaged with Richard Ding Sports in this process to purchase an electric roller specifically designed for cricket, in both its weight and the distribution of that of that weight. This was a move away from the road roller used in the past, which, while it served us well for many years, I can safely say it owes us absolutely nothing. The E-Roller is the first of it’s kind in Ireland and after some early teething problems with the steering kit, it has proved a very beneficial purchase. At a club like Merrion, there is always an endless list of possible development opportunities, the club is now in a strong financial position and also has the incoming monies from the telephone mast which Andrew will cover later on in more detail. it will be down to the new committee to identify areas for further capital investment and execute these projects, while also remaining prudent in the use of this capital. This is no doubt a tricky task, but makes for potentially exciting times ahead.
As I talk about the roller and hybrid wickets… I was told when I was writing this that I should probably mention the ground staff. Finding a way to word this that doesn’t make me sound stupid has been quite the challenge, so I’d like to place on record my thanks to Dale McDonough for his continued management of the operations of GM By Choice as well as all the staff, in particular our own Peter Forkin, Adnrew Doheny, Mikey O’Reilly and Daniel Forkin for their work throughout the year.
Financial Matters
The Accounts for 2024 will be circulated at the Spring General Meeting once our own risk and audit committee have completed their work in preparing these accounts for audit, and they were audited externally by Carney Walsh & Co. In the interim, Eddie has provided a basic overview of the cash position of the club tonight, and it shows that we are in a strong place going into the new year.
There were a number of positive notes on the financial side of things, the club remains debt-free, and the club’s bank balance is strong, despite a scare with a large electricity bill in mid-summer throwing things up in the air somewhat. Eddie will go into slightly more detail on the cash position of the club under AOB, but it is safe to say the club is in a far better financial position than it was when he took over as treasurer around 18 months ago at a moment’s notice. I thank him very much for his work in the role, and also for the support he has given me in my first year as secretary, especially last winter, when I decided it would be a good idea to get elected to the position, and then scoot off to the other side of the world for 6 months.
A brief note also on the RDS Horse Show, it was another record year thanks to Alan Parkinson and his team, so to Alan on the field as well as Sean and Arlene Stanton in the office, we send our thanks.
Social Engagements
This year saw Tim Purdy step on to the management committee as the new chair of social. The work Tim and his committee have done cannot go unnoticed, we saw multiple events staged with great success, such as the quiz night, curry night, wine tasting, as well as the trip to Sai Reddy’s new restaurant Andhra Bhavan, these added greatly to the enjoyment of the season and many thanks to Tim and all of the social committee for their work throughout the year.
With respect to the bar, it was a more turbulent season. Late June saw the departure of Leroy’s, who had been the club’s caterers since the start of Covid, while they had also operated their coffee dock on the grounds for a number of years. Former Leroy’s employee, Andrew Conory then came on board as club manager at the start of July, to fill the void that was left. Regretfully this arrangement recently came to an end, meaning the club is once again without a permanent bar management solution. The new committee will have to engage in a full-scale process to rectify this issue ahead of the start of next season. In the interim if anyone would like some casual bar work at the club, or knows anyone that may, please reach out to myself or Paddy Byrne at your earliest convenience.
Governance of the Club
In terms of the governance of the club, the company formation project continues to progress, which has a lot of moving parts involved as I’m sure anyone can imagine. When the new committee comes together, the plan will have to be, to look to complete this work in as timely a manner as possible, so it can be presented to members to vote on, hopefully at a Special General Meeting this winter. Our thanks go out to Michael O’Hara for his assistance on this project, as he has helped us navigate the often-intimidating legal world, with far more ease than we otherwise may have been able to.
Support
I would just like to finish up by thanking all the volunteers in the club, those on committees, captains, youth managers, selectors, scorers, and those that take on particular responsibilities for all their effort and support. I would also like to take this as an opportunity to once again thank Eddie, but also Andrew, for all the hard work they have done for the club over recent years, in their roles as officers of the club as both step-down form their respective positions tonight, as will become clear, during the elections later on. As is always the case, we need more people to help out with a wide range of activities, in many roles of varying size. So, if you can help in any way, please do not hesitate let myself, or another member of the Management Committee know, all help is welcomed and appreciated.
Thank you very much!