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Give It A Bash: Discover Cricket for Kids

Monday, April 24th, 2023

Are you looking for a fun and exciting way to introduce your child to the wonderful world of cricket? Look no further than Give It A Bash, taking place on Sunday, 7th May, from 10 to 11.30am at the iconic Mardyke cricket grounds.

This free event is open to anyone aged 5 to 13 who has never played the game before but wishes to give it a go. Our selection of qualified coaches will be on hand to teach the basics of the game, including batting, bowling and catching skills, in a fun and relaxed environment.

Give It A Bash is the perfect opportunity for children to meet new friends, learn new skills, and have plenty of fun. And who knows your child may discover a lifelong passion for cricket!

So what are you waiting for? Come down to the Mardyke cricket grounds on Sunday, 7th May, from 10 to 11.30am and give cricket a bash. No equipment or previous experience is necessary, just a willingness to have fun and learn something new. We look forward to seeing you there!

Register Now

Give It A Bash: Discover Cricket for Kids in Cork - Sunday 7th May 2023

2023 1st XI Season Preview

Friday, April 21st, 2023

As the 2023 cricket season approaches, Cork County prepares for an exciting and challenging campaign under the leadership of its new club captain, Abubakar Saddique, who takes the reins from Ross Durity. With a wealth of experience gained at both club and interprovincial levels, Saddique will look to lead from the front with bat and ball, having taken 142 wickets at 19.7 in Leinster competition.

Abubakar Saddique - Cork County Cricket Club

Joining the squad as the club’s overseas player is South African Stefano di Bartolomeo, a seam bowling all-rounder from Benoni Northerns CC in the Easterns Premier League. Di Bartolomeo, who is also eligible for the Italian national side, will aim to play his way into their squad for the WT20 Qualifiers later in the summer while also aiming to put in some strong performances with bat and ball for the club in all competitions.

The 1st XI will face a tough start to their Premier Division campaign with an uncompromising schedule of three successive away fixtures in Munster competitions, followed by a trip to Ardmore in the Irish Senior Cup. However, the squad is strengthened with a few new faces who will inject some freshness and necessary depth into the team. Saddique will also be able to rely on the experience and talent of the likes of  Ross Durity, Byron McDonough, Nabeel Anjum among others who will all have key roles to play to ensure the club has a successful season.

Saddique is optimistic about the upcoming season and his role as club captain, stating, “It’s a new season, and as the new captain, I want to instil an aggressive mindset in the squad and look to win back some silverware in Munster and become a tough opponent in a very competitive-looking Leinster Championship.” It promises to be an exciting season for Cork County, and their supporters can’t wait to see what unfolds on the pitch.

Groundsman Matt Reed is also hard at work preparing the Mardyke for what promises to be another action-packed season on the ground, with fixtures at all levels scheduled throughout the summer. In addition, the first T20 Interpro festival is set to take place in early June, adding to the already exciting lineup of matches. Matt’s expertise and attention to detail ensure that the ground is always in top condition, ready for play at all times.

Looking north across the the Mardyke Cricket grounds towards Sunday's Well.

Saddique elected as 2023 Club Captain

Friday, December 16th, 2022

The Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Cork County Cricket Club was held on Thursday, 15th December, with a strong turnout of members in attendance.

The club’s Chairman, Peter Dineen, began the meeting by thanking the members for their support over the past year which was then followed by the Club Secretary’s report in which Kevin O’Sullivan outlined the key achievements of the club. These included winning the Munster Divisions 1 & 4, a Division 3 T20 title, U13 and U15 successes, and extending the club’s sponsorship deal with Blarney Castle & Gardens.

Talha Kayani presented the club’s financial report, which showed a challenging year following the reopening of facilities with the easing of Covid restrictions earlier in the year. Like many other amateur clubs, we face a challenging cost environment with inflationary pressures impacting most of our cost base.

There was also a significant capital investment with the construction of two new net bays which was partially funded by a sports capital grant. The new net bays are a fantastic resource and will contribute greatly to cricket activities at the club.

The AGM moved to the election of team captains with Abubakar Saddique becoming the 2023 Club Captain following the end of a two year stint by Ross Durity. A huge thanks to Ross who guided the 1st XI during a challenging period which saw the impact of Covid and an ever-demanding fixture schedule making a tough job even more difficult. Ross will no doubt continue to be a key figure in the side both as an experienced player and a top-class batsman.

Abubakar Saddique
2023 Club Captain – Abubakar Saddique

Robert Duggan remains as 2nd XI captain while there are fresh faces at the 3rd & 4th XI level with Ashwani Tomar and Rahul Sethi duly elected into the respective captaincy roles. 

There were three new faces elected to the committee with Kevin Bray, Pat Donnelly and Sid Joshi coming on board. 

After the election of officers and captains, the floor was opened for questions and discussions from the members. The committee is looking forward to another successful season on and off the field.

A summary fo the elected officers and captains:

  • President: Mortimer Kelleher
  • Chairman: Peter Dineen
  • Secretary: Pat Donnelly
  • Treasurer: Talha Kayani
  • Club Captain: Abubakar Saddique
  • 2nd XI Captain: Robert Duggan
  • 3rd XI Captain: Ashwani Tomar
  • 4th XI Captain: Rahul Sethi

Ordinary members of the committee:

  • Robert Duggan
  • Kevin Bray
  • Kevin O’Sullivan
  • Abdul Jabbar Younus
  • Sid Joshi
  • Diarmuid Carey
  • John Power

North Kildare await in 2022 Irish Senior Cup

Monday, February 28th, 2022

The draw for the 1st Round of the Clear Currency Irish Senior Cup took place over the weekend and sees Cork County drawn at home to fellow Championship side North Kildare Cricket Club.
 
The Irish Senior Cup makes a welcome return after a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 50-over competition sees the top-ranked clubs from the various provincial unions contest the knockout competition.
 
The first round tie will take place on 21st May with a reserve date of 29th May. Looking forward to having cup action back on Leeside! #WeAreCounty
 
2022 Irish Senior Cup - First Round Draw v North Kildare








Cork County Rebels clinch Senior T20 title

Tuesday, June 21st, 2016

The Munster Senior T20 Blast reached an exciting climax on Saturday, 18th June, when the Cork County Rebels clinched their second successive T20 title following a 7 wicket victory over Co. Galway amid wet conditions at the Mardyke.

Finals Day saw the four Semi-Finalists compete for a chance the compete for the T20 title. Cork County, County Kerry, County Galway and Cork Harlequins all converged on the Mardyke to battle it out for a place in Saturday evenings Final. Victories for both Cork County and County Galway saw a repeat of the 2015 showdown.

As the Final approach, the weather took a turn for the worse with a light drizzle becoming more persistent during the County Galway innings after the Tribesmen won the toss and decided to bat. In a reduced match of 14 overs a side, the Galway batsmen set the holders a tricky total of 90 to win as the conditions put batsmen, bowlers and fielders to the test. The main contributions for Galway came from opener S Nasim (23), S Ramnathpur (24) and SQ Khan (22) with Bhatti (3-11) and Brian Kelleher (2-18) doing most damage with the ball.

In reply, Galway took the prized scalp of Stephan Grobler early but an extremely composed partnership from Cork County skipper Chris Banon and teammate Cormac Hassett kept the Leesiders on a par with the Required Run Rate. Durity replaced Banon, after the opener edged one behind to Nasim, and continued the momentum with 14 from 14 balls until he was clean bowled with the result still in the balance. A authoritative display of batting from Abubakar Saddique (16*) saw Cork County home with just 7 balls remaining and 7 wickets in hand.

Semi-Final A

Cork County Rebels 103-1 (Grobler 44*, Banon 36) beat County Kerry 101-8 (U Khan 45, A Cawley 3-8) by 9 wickets. scorecard

Semi-Final B:

County Galway beat Cork Harlequins

Final

Cork County Rebels 91-3 (Hassett 39*) beat County Galway 89-7 (Ramnathpur 24, Bhatti 3-11, Kelleher 2-18) by 7 wickets at the Mardyke. [reduced to a 14 over match] scorecard

Munster-T20-Blast-winners

 








2016 Leinster Division 2 fixtures announced

Wednesday, January 20th, 2016

Cricket Leinster’s Open Competitions Committee has announced fixtures for both Division’s 1 and 2 for the upcoming 2016. Following their relegation from Division 1 last season, Cork County will be seeking to push hard for one of the top two positions.

For 2016, there will be a change to the promotion format with the champions automatically moving up to Division 1 while the second placed side will face a playoff against the club finishing second last in the top division.

Cork County face another tough start to their season with three away fixtures in succession against Rush, Dublin University and Leinster, respectively. Balbriggan commence with a trip to College Park, whilst Terenure go to Malahide, who get their second home game of the season.

Cork County will host Balbriggan in The Mardyke on Saturday 3rd September, and with Balbriggan tipped by many to have a good season, that match could well be instrumental in deciding the top of the league.

The Leinster Division 2 fixtures involving Cork County are as follows:

April

Saturday 30th Rush v Cork County

May

Saturday 14th Dublin University v Cork County
Saturday 28th Leinster v Cork County

June

Saturday 4th Cork County v Malahide
Sunday 19th Terenure v Cork County
Saturday 25th Cork County v North Kildare

July

Saturday 9th Balbriggan v Cork County
Saturday 16th Cork County v Rush

August

Monday 1st Cork County v Leinster
Saturday 6th Malahide v Cork County
Sunday 21st Cork County v Terenure
Sunday 28th North Kildare v Cork County

September

Saturday 3rd Cork County v Balbriggan

You can view the full list of Leinster Division 2 fixtures on the Cricket Leinster website.








County cruise to Munster Senior Cup Final victory

Saturday, September 5th, 2015

Cork County swept County Kerry aside to clinch the 2015 Munster Senior Cup in the refixed match at the Mardyke. The victory is their 4th Senior Cup in the last six years and helped make up for their unfortunate elimination in last season’s competition.

Bowling first the Leesiders were soon on top with openers Andy Wootton (5-20) and Junaid Amin (2-16) turning the screw on the Kerry top order who were soon on 21-5.

Wicket keeper Uddin was the only Kerryman to make it into double figures as the rest of the batting order failed to establish any partnerships and were eventually bowled out for just 60.

In response, Kerry made early inroads by taking the wickets of openers Russell and Durity but Hassett (31*) and Grobler (16*) steadied the ship and saw Cork County home with 8 wickets to spare.

Munster Senior Cup Final:

County Kerry 60 all out (Wootton 5-20, Amin 2-16, Cawley 2-18) lost to Cork County 63-2 (Hassett 31*) by 8 wickets at the Mardyke. scorecard

2015 Munster Senior Cup Winners

2015-09-05 15.03.59








Noel Cantwell – The International Cricketer

Wednesday, March 11th, 2015

Cork City Council to open the “Noel Cantwell Way” on the Mardyke in CorkOn the 13th March 2015, Cork City Council will commemorate the sporting career of Noel Cantwell by renaming one of the roads connecting the Mardyke with the Western Road “Noel Cantwell Way”.  This is close to where Noel and his brothers grew up and very close to the famous Cork County cricket ground on the Mardyke.

The achievements of Noel Cantwell’s soccer career are, of course, very well-known including achievements such as captaining West Ham United to the Division 2 title in 1958, captaining Manchester United in the FA Cup victory of 1963 and being part of the 1965 and 1967 Division 1 League winning sides.  He played 36 times for Ireland, scoring 14 goals in his career.  He later managed both Coventry City and Peterborough achieving success with both clubs.

This article concentrates on Noel Cantwell’s cricket career which is, perhaps, less known but no less successful although his opportunities on the cricket field were restricted by his soccer commitments.  Noel, and his brothers, Frank and Gerry, were one of a number of families who grew up in the late 1940s and 1950s in and around the Mardyke area and who became leading lights in Cork cricket focused on the Mardyke.  Others from this era included Jim and Tom Kiernan, Pat Dineen, Jim Fitzgerald, Con Odlum, Danny Duggan, Noel and Dermot Giltinan and Billy Bradley to name but a few.  The three Cantwell brothers played their club cricket with Cork Bohemians, played with Cork County in friendlies against Dublin, Northern Irish and English opposition and all three played for Munster in Interprovincial matches in this period.  Cork Bohemians were probably the dominant club side in Cork and Munster in this period winning the Senior League on six occasions in the 1950s.  Frank also played in the South v North fixture in 1952 which was effectively an Irish final trial but only Noel would go on to play international cricket for Ireland.

Noel Cantwell was a left handed bat and a right arm medium paced bowler.  Contemporary accounts describe him as being a fluent stroke maker and a brilliant fielder.  While Noel himself downplayed his ability as a bowler, he is noted as “having the habit of taking wickets at club level when most needed”.  Noel Cantwell played five times for Ireland in the period 1956 to 1959.  Of the relatively few matches played by Ireland in that period (generally three or four matches per year), quite a few were played in late August or September when his soccer commitments would have ruled him out of contention for selection.

Republic of Ireland captain Noel Cantwell and England captain Bobby Moore Noel Cantwell made his debut for Ireland in a three day match against Scotland which took place in Edinburgh from 30 June to 2 July 1956.  Ireland escaped with a draw after Scotland scored 411-6 declared in their first innings.  Ireland were bowled out for 276 and, after Scotland declared their second innings on 56 for 1, made 76 for 4 in their second innings having been set 191 to win.  Noel performed very capably with the bat scoring 31 in the first innings and was 17 not out in the second.  He also bowled his only spell for Ireland in the Scottish first innings bowling 2 overs for 13 runs and no wickets.  One of his teammates in that match was Ian Lewis who, although mainly associated with YMCA Dublin, played a number of seasons with Church of Ireland CC and Cork County in this period.

In 1957, West Indies played Ireland in a two day game in Belfast, which was drawn, and in a one day match in College Park on July 12.  Noel Cantwell came into the side for the one day match in which West Indies scored 140 for 7 before bowling out Ireland for 61.  Noel was out for a duck on this occasion – his only consolation being, perhaps, that he was caught by Frank Worrell and bowled by Gary Sobers – two of the greatest players in West Indian and World Cricket history.  Other West Indian greats who played in that match were Rohan Kanhai and Wes Hall.  Gary Sobers took 5 wickets for 43 in 18 overs in that match.

On 16/17 July 1958, Ireland played New Zealand in a two day match in Belfast.  Ireland scored 130 and 179 while New Zealand recorded a score of 208 in their only innings with the match ending in a draw.  Noel top-scored for Ireland in the first innings with 40 runs but was out for 7 in the second innings.  On 18 July, the sides met again in College Park.  New Zealand scored 182 for 4 in reply to which Ireland scored 121 for 3 in yet another draw.  Noel was run out for 6.

In reporting on the New Zealand two day match, Wisden stated that “Ireland were saved from collapse by Cantwell who, after showing very sound defence, hit boldly”.  After that game, Noel was offered professional terms by Essex but he declined on the basis that he did not want to spend the whole year in England.  He obviously enjoyed his summer time and cricket in Cork.

Noel’s final game for Ireland was against Lancashire on 1/2 July 1959.  Ireland scored 146 and 75 while Lancashire scored 204 for 8 and 18 for 1 to win by 9 wickets.  Noel scored 25 and 11 in the game batting at Number 4.  Probably the best known player in the Lancashire side was Ken Higgs, the future test seamer, who bowled 11 overs in the match for 6 runs and 1 wicket.

Noel Cantwell’s career batting figures for Ireland were thus:

Innings 8
Not Out 1
Highest 40
Total Runs 137
Average 19.57

 

He also held three catches in the matches in which he played.

Noel Cantwell was undoubtedly one of the best Irish soccer players in Irish sporting history.  He was also certainly one of the best cricketers to come from Cork.  Had his sporting career progressed differently and he had concentrated on cricket as his first sport, he might have blazed a trail for the Ed Joyces and Eoin Morgans of our time and have been a star player in English County cricket and Test cricket.

David Griffin
February 2015








Stephan Grobler to return as overseas professional in 2015

Monday, December 1st, 2014

Stephan Grobler returns for 2015Cork County are delighted to announce that South African Stephan Grobler has agreed to return as overseas professional for the 2015 season. Stephan was an instrumental part of the Club’s successful campaign last summer culminating in promotion to Cricket Leinster Division 1 scoring 675 runs at an average of  67.50 including two centuries. Recognised as one of the leading overseas professionals in the Leinster competitions, Stephan excelled with both bat and ball as formed part of a formidable bowling attack with the likes of Morne Bauer, Andy Wootton and Abubakar Saddique.

The Cork County top order also proved to be a dominant force with Grobler forming important partnerships with Ross Durity and Morne Bauer in particular. The Club had no hesitation in offering new terms for the 2015 season on completion of last summer’s agreement and are delighted to welcoming Stephan back to the Mardyke to lead County into the challenging season ahead which sees the Club competing in the most competitive league competition in the country. Stephan also made a significant contribution off the field by assisting Ross Durity by overseeing the development of the Club’s youth system. #CCCC #WelcomeBackSteph

 








Groundsman Matt Reed featured in Aug/Sept issue of Pitchside Magazine

Thursday, September 11th, 2014

Cork County’s very own resident Kiwi and groundsman, Matt Reed, was interviewed for the August/September issue of Pitchcare Magazine. It’s well worth a read with Matt discussing his ongoing work and ambitions for the Mardyke: “With cricket growing strongly in Ireland, and especially with Cricket Ireland pushing towards a first class structure, my club aims to be the first choice venue for matches held outside of Dublin and the North.” #CCCC

 

Full issue available at: http://media-cdn.pitchcare.com/O/uJFldo5m7DzblM1anFIz.pdf