Laois Cricket Club

Much of the information detailed below is sourced from "THE LAOIS NATIONLIST" newspaper archives. Many thanks to THE LAOIS NATIONALIST for allowing us to use this information.

New innings for Laois Cricket Club

Laois Nationalist, Thursday, January 11, 2007

LAST summer during the heights of the cricket season we sent LORNA ROWE out to watch Laois Cricket Club in action and she came back with an enlightened view of a game that the GAA once toyed with promoting as one of their own.

It’s another blustery windy weekend in Laois and I’m out braving the weather in the Portlaoise RFC grounds to check out the worlds second most played game to find out what really is all the hype about. No its not rugby, nor hockey, not even serial drinking in the club’s infamous bar! No, none of the above, but rather the ageold game of cricket.

Despite the aforementioned weather, a genuinely unbiased perspective and relatively little real knowledge of the game I’ve found the afternoon to be entertaining and good craic and I leave knowing that I willl most definitely try take this game up at some stage.

This is a game many have opinions on but few have knowledge on. But, if you’re looking for a family game in tangent with a sport that demands precision, endurance and speed, look no further and read on.

Laois Cricket Club was founded in 1985 having moved from Tullamore and the Midlands Cricket Club 21 years ago. It boasts a healthy member-ship of 60 players from far flung parts of the globe. From Pakistan to South Africa, Australia and India the cricket club nestled here in Portlaise is globally respresented. With extremely keen adult rates per year, alluring membership incentives for students and encour-aging opportunities for the youth this is a club that welcomes all building on recent success in the Midlands Cup on the basis that it not only nurtures players but also makes it possible for any individual, young or old, to give it a try.

But cricket, as the average Joe would advocate, seems to be filled with endless rules and complex procedures. Normally you do need to get into the thick of it and play but today I’ve chosen the decisively easier option of acquiring the help of cricket veteran William Lalor.

With a leather bound cork ball weighing in at a lethal 5 and a half ounces the bowler flings the ball at alarming speeds or alternatively spins the ball to batsman who pulls swifly from hip to the front chest in one movement to send ball and opposition in a furious search of the field. As the ball is being recovered the previously mentioned batsman runs with their partner across the strip to the opposite wicket.

So two hurtle from end to end whilst the opposition mission is to stop them accumuilating runs by hitting the ball of the wicket. A classic player (to me an energy conserver) endeavors to hit the ball over the perimter white line whereby they are afforded four runs without the effort of running better again to get six runs when it doesn’t bounce before going over the boundary.

With the basics aside the rest is logical. A game consists of two parts. Part one: Team A bowls and defends. Part two: Team A playing a major part, it is attractive in its principle.

So who plays? Firstly anyone with two well functioning legs, arms and half a brain can. Laois Cricket Club sports males from the tender age of 13 to the equally tender age of 66. Is it gender exclusive? Absolutely not. Unlike the notions advocated by Aristotle, females receive the same welcome as their male counterparts. All you have to have is the get up and go and ability to crack a ball off a thick piece of wood.

It is a summer sport played from the beginning of April to mid September. Without the demanding time restraints of your usual life as seen in many activities cricket pracise is on Fridays with games on Saturday and Sunday depending on your level.

The grounds are shared with the rugby club with the cricket club coming under the status as tenant during the summer months of Portlaoise RFC. Facilities at the club are many from the basic showering facilities and the infamous watering house to a National Lottery funded artifical astro turf synthetic pitch for bowling, a bowling machine to fine tune batting abilities and practice nets to protect wind-screens and stray children.

To demonstrate the eagerness for fresh faces the club has a good selection of gear for beginners to use if they want to experience the game but are unsure about dedicating their discretionary cash towards foam, wood and hard helmets. With two competent coaches in local man Timmy Crowe, a Leinster cricket qualified coach and South African veteran Rashea Pillay combined with help from some of the clubs more experienced teenagers there is a plenthora of advice and coaching available.

Cricket was orginally founded by our neighbours England. During the colonial empire it spread across the globe increasing in popularity to become the national games of both Pakistan and India.

Although some might think the sport was strict-ly confined to the upper classes that is not nessecarily true. In the late 1800s cricket was the most popular sport in the country and the Gaelic Revival (the foundations of the GAA) pondered including the sport in their array of games given its hold on all peoples. Landlords selected teams from their lands and competed in leagues throughout the area.

In its heyday there was an astonishing 45 clubs in Ireland with a whopping 15 alone in Laois. However, upon deciding to embrace completely Irish games and the introduction of the infamous ban, cricket was shunned as a foreign game and eventually maringalised by Irish society. Thankfully those views seem to be dissipating and with the country’s ever growing multi-cultural appearance there seems to be a renewed enthusiasm for the game.

1951
Abbeyleix Cricket Team
Back: Alie Grant; Edward Dooley; Michael Byrne; Mick Curran; Tommy Dooley; Ned Toole;
Middle: Tom Muldowney; Paddy Kennedy; Reggie White; Sean O'Brien; Sean Finlay;
Front: Fr. Nottingham; Joe Hutchinson

1986 Leinster Junior Cup Winners
Portlaoise Cricket Club win their first Leinster Trophy
Back: Trevor Wardrop; Tony Johnson; Roland Bradley; Neville James; Ivor Stanley; Jack Ozenbrook
Middle: Khalid Hamid; John Burns (c); John Russell; TIm Crowe;
Front: Robert Allen; Lee Bradley

1990 - Wallace and Dick O'Neill Cup Double
Left: First II - Wallace Cup Winners
Right: Second II - Dick O'Neill Cup Winners

1992 - Schoolboy Team vs. Mullingar
Back: David Little; Tom Cosby; John Ozenbrook; Sam Birch; Mark Ozenbrook; Gordon Gee
Front: Peter Walsh-Kemis; Clive Wardrop; Keith Little; Roy Galbraith; Roy Dempsey

1998 - Leinster Intermediate Cup Winners
Back: Adam Deverell; John Ozenbrook; Trevor Wardrop; Roland Bradley; Noel Ryan (President); Clive Wardrop
Front: Gordon Allen; Willie Gibbs; Peter Lewis (c); Mark Ozenbrook; Tom Cosby; William Blackley

Is Portlaoise the most successful cricket club in Ireland?

Laois Nationalist, Tuesday, October 01, 2002

When all three teams in the same club win promotion in the same year, and cap the season by winning two cup competitions, it is worth making the claim to the most successful club in the game.

Promotion was not the firsts target following their rise to Senior 3 last year, so their second place in the league was a bonus.

They travelled to Malahide requiring a win to make absolutely certain. They made a solid start, after winning the toss and choosing to bat, with Mark Ozenbrook striking a crisp 18. However, the loss of quick wickets left the team at 63 for 4 after 20 overs.

Captain Willy Gibbs scored his second 50 in successive innings. He was ably supported by Nick Ward. Little fell with nine overs still to go, Portlaoise risked not using their full 50 overs and leaving themselves exposed. But not for the first time this season the tail wagged and Tom Cosby (40) put the tiring Malahide bowlers to the sword. Gibbs fell for an excellent 77, Woodward (22) and Cosby added 49 from 26 balls.

It took a piece of good fortune and individual brilliance to make the break through. Mark Petriw was bowling with pace once again and was in search of 50 wickets for the season, when a fierce cut towards third man saw John Ozenbrook take the catch of the year. The very next ball saw Nick Ward take a simple catch behind the stumps to leave Malahide at 23 for 2.

After this, Malahide’s batsmen impressed but lacked conviction. They eventually reached 154 for 9 (having started with only 10 men). Petriw was the leading wicket taker.

The seconds and thirds had both triumphed in their respective leagues before the start of this weekend’s matches.

The former beat Knockbrack, who, batting first, made 184 for 3 from their 50 overs. Portlaoise, revelling in their assured promotion, achieved the target for the loss of 8 wickets. Skipper Damien Brennan has gone two years in league cricket without defeat. Indeed, he only lost one match this year, and that was the Leinster Cup final.

The thirds capped their season with a win away at North Wicklow. They made an impressive 258 but I believe lost more balls than wickets as their batsmen hit to all corners. This was the team’s second year in League cricket, so to win promotion so quickly deserves a lot of praise.

The youth of the side must have their mention because of the immense enthusiasm with which they played their cricket. The Clondell brothers, Tom Conroy and Blane Bloomfield all played some excellent cricket and developed their games well but Donal O’Mahony has a special mention.

It is often said batsmen save matches and bowlers win them. The batting honours have been shared this year. Trevor Wardrop remains the pivot with consistently solid performances, while Roland Bradley and Tom Cosby picked their moments, amassing 900 runs between them.

The bowling was anchored by Chris Finn who did not miss a single match all season. His strong and persistent line troubled many batsmen.

Unlike the seconds, there is no question how the firsts achieved promotion. As a batsmen from CYM said, “I was waiting for the second string bowlers to come on, but you don’t have any!” Six players, Mark Petriw, who took 49 wickets, Willy Gibbs, Mark Ozenbrook, Johnny Yasim, Iain Woodward and more recently Reshad Khan, opened the bowling in one game or another.

The runs came from everyone, (or no-one on occasions!); there were notable knocks during the season particularly John Ozenbrook’s 97 against Old Belvedere at Togher.

The success of the club has come about for two reasons; first, the continued success of the club attracts new members, but second, and this is by far the most important, is the continued development of the home grown talent.

2007 - First II celebrate after defeating Mullingar in the Wallace Cup Final at Wilson's Hospital

2000 Artificial Wicket installed at Togher

Togher on a dry day !!!!!! (1998)

Portarlington cricketer batting for six and hoping to make Irish team

Laois Nationalist, Thursday, August 03, 2006

NATAL, South Africa, is a cauldron of cricket. Steeped in tradition, the country has produced such marvellous names as Graeme Pollock and Hanse Cronje. It’s also the birthplace of Armand Smit.

The dawn of satellite television brought with it many diverse viewings. Winter sports, darts, athletics and cricket; the Irish public have never seemed to warm to the latter. It’s hard to know why cricket never took off on a larger scale in Ireland. It’s played, but is usually within small pockets of communities.

Armand is a member of the Laois Cricket Club, based in Togher, Portlaoise. He has been described as the greatest talent to emerge from the midlands in years and has already represented his province.

Armand is a living example of all that’s great about sport as he is living in an area devoid of sentiment for his game but stands up for what he believes despite of this. The Portarlington based fast bowler is very proud of his heritage as he charts his earlier years. “I grew up in Natal and I attended a cricket school. All the schools down there are either rugby or cricket based as they are the national games. I was about six when I took the game up seriously and the area gave me an immensely good grounding,” Armand said.

Portarlington has never been known as a cricket hotbed so moving over from the sunnier climate, away from the game he loved was never going to be the ideal career move.Armond battled away and although he said there were “only a few lads involved in the town,” he gathered them up and made the trip to Portlaoise.

The season is now in full swing, starting in the middle of April it runs until the second week of September.Portlaoise made a good start to the season but are weary that they must keep the run going as last season’s fall away led to relegation.“Last year we started well and put up a very good fight. We couldn’t keep going and inevitably we went down. We were relegated to senior 3 and I feel that we will be well able to get promoted this year as each and every player is up for the fight,” Armand said.

Cricket has always confused the most ardent of Irishmen, from a googly to a duck and an innings to an LBW. We stare in bedazzlement and wonder, ‘what’s this all about?’ Armond best describes himself as an all-rounder who has a flair for bowling.

“I bowled for Leinster last year and I really enjoyed it. There are many different positions on the field such as a batsman and a fielder. Bowlers are very important but it is vital that your fielders are top quality too. Cricket is a great team game as each position needs different qualities,” he said.

“There are two types of innings, a batting innings and a bowling innings. The name of the game is to place your five strongest batsmen at the start to clock up the runs. When a team is batting they only have one player on the field so you could say that would be their defensive innings.

“The team batting is the team scoring as the runs are clocked up and down the crease by the batsman.“If you are batting and you score 200 runs all out then the other team must eclipse this when it’s their turn to take the innings.

“Whenever cricket comes up in a conversation most Irish people say ‘I won’t play that English game’, that’s a stupid comment to make. Soccer is an English game and look how many are playing it,” Armand said.

Ever passionate about the sport he loves and always shooting from the hip Armand has three years of senior action under his belt. He has just put paid to his teenage years on Saturday last as he turned twenty and with the new decade comes a desire to succeed on a higher level at the game he loves.

“Playing for Leinster was the greatest honour I have received to date. I had never played at provincial level before and it was really nice to receive the call. I made my debut when I was 18 for the Leinster schools and I progressed to the U-19s the following year. Last year’s U-19 side were a great bunch of lads as we captured the only Irish tournament we played in.

“We also played Surrey, one of the leading counties in English cricket, and narrowly lost. That was an outstanding achievement,” he said.After talking to Armond Smith my opinion has changed about cricket.

Where once I may have flicked purposely on to the next station I may just pause and take a little in the next time it’s on view.

It’s become a national pastime to detest cricket and if you stop and think, how can you hate something you know nothing about? Cricket resembles a game of chess on grass where two armies battle to oust the other, a form of human battleship.

“I really want to play for Ireland some day and I’m going to give it my best shot,” Armand said.Just as cricket continues to grow, so will the fortunes of this young man spearheading the assault on negative attitudes and championing the cause for the one sport that Irish people seem destined to banish to the wilderness.