In the ten year (eleven seasons) that this summary covers, there has been a huge change in the quality of professional used in the league. It may be of no coincidence, that as the performance of our pro has declined over the last ten years (or at least maintaine dthe same position), our league position has delcined as the strength across the province has dramatically increased.

In the all-conquering side of 1998, Henderson Wallace essentially scared the opposition with bat and ball, and the league and cup double was achieved with ease. However the standard is such that unless a professional is now an established first class player, he is unlikely to dominate in the way Hendy did.

Top of the pile, is the current Ireland captain, Australian Trent Johnston, who played for us in 2001. At this stage of his career he was probably more of a bowler who could bat, but developed quickly into a hard hitting batsman of the highest class. His 4 centuries in that year remains a record for the club. He now plies his trade for Clontarf

Close behind TJ though, is Adrian Murphy who came to us from the West Indies (via South Africa) the preceding year, after we had experienced relegation in 1999. After an unfortunate club bust-up mid-season, Murph was thrust into the captaincy, and still managed to average 53. Still playing in Leinster for Railway Union.

Third on the list in terms of batting average is Hendy Wallace. After spending most of his career with Eglinton in the North-West, Hendy, moved south and was an instant hit. Wit hthe bat he was destructive, and whilst never hitting a ton in his two seasons, he hit 10 50's, placing him 4th in this 10 year period (club stalwart Mark Jones has 26!). Unfortunately, injust in Hendy's second season saw his impact lessened, and after the euphoria of 1998, the team finished bottom in 1999, and was relegated to Section B (where we have remained ever since).

Fourth on the list is John Moffat, an Australian who played as an amateur in 2001, and returned as professional in 2002. His performances were probably ellipsed by Trent in 2001, but on reflection, his stats stand up to inspection. His top score of 98 was in a mammoth 354-3 to beat Railway by 3 runs. Now playing as a pro in South-East England.

Next on the list is Donovan Lentz, who currently has played for two seasons in 2003 and 2004. Primarily a bowler (or at least that's what we thought) Lentz slowly found his stride, and scored 8 50's in his two years. He has since played first class cricket in Border, South Africa as a batsman.

The sixth pro on the list is the pro for 2005, Bronwell Williams. Due to financial pressures for in this year, it was decided to only employ a professional for the last two months of the season, and as a result, Bronwell wasn't given too much of a chance to shine. He won his first game (after stepping off the plane in Cabra against Old Belvedere - what a welcome to Ireland!) virtually on his own with a good 70, but struggled somewhat afterwards. Still a respectable average of 32.14. My point made at the beginning of the article, concerning the improving standard of pros, is that most of the better ones were averaging over 50 last year.

Finally we move to our first professional in this peiod, Paul Cron, who came here from South Africa as a callow 22 year old, and has never left Ireland. Paul is/was a quick bowler, who was a pretty decent batsman, but never really given a chance to bat, in what was a pretty strong side at the time (1996-97). Of his 41 games, he only batted 23 times, and was not out in 11 of these, proving a reliable bat in the lower middle order. He finished with an average of just over 17.

 

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