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DUBLIN – Josh Little and Arlene Kelly were the big winners at the 11th Clear Treasury Irish Cricket Awards on Friday night in Dublin, as they were respectively named Men’s and Women’s International Player of the Year for 2022.
Little had an outstanding year, becoming only the sixth player to take a hat-trick at an ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, against New Zealand in the Super 12 stage. His excellent performances throughout the year were recognised when he was named in the ICC T20I Team of the Year and became the first active Irish cricketer to be offered a contract to play in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Kelly, who only made her Ireland debut in June, made an immediate impact as she was part of the side that beat South Africa in their opening T20 international at Pembroke. She was the highest wicket-taker in every T20 international series during 2022.

George Dockrell and Gaby Lewis were named Inter-Provincial and Super Series Player of the Year respectively, while Cade Carmichael and Jane Maguire won the Emerging Player of the Year awards.

In club cricket, Cork Harlequins were named Club of the Year, while David Delany and Amy Caulfield won men’s and women’s Club Player of the Year.

There were three inductees into the Irish Cricket Hall of Fame: Bob Lambert, Stella Owens, and Andre Botha, while Paul Reynolds was awarded the Outstanding Contribution and Service to Irish Cricket award.

Other award winners on the night were Simon Galloway (Volunteering Excellence Award), Brian Kelleher (Outstanding Contribution to Coaching), Declan Earley (Club Cricket Official of the Year), and Eglinton Cricket Club (Groundskeeping Team of the Year).

Each winner received an engraved award designed to the iconic Irish brand, Waterford Crystal – an organisation that is proudly extending its generational links with cricket.

Presentations were also made on the night to recent international retirees, William Porterfield, Kevin O’Brien, and Peter Chase, all who had long distinguished careers in the Irish jersey.

The evening also saw a special acknowledgement of the work of Gareth Thompson in driving women’s forward at CSNI Cricket Club and across the Northern Cricket Union.

FULL LIST OF AWARD WINNERS

Clear Treasury Men’s International Player of the Year

Winner: Josh Little

Runners-up: Andrew Balbirnie, George Dockrell, Harry Tector

Process: This was a peer-nominated award, with players all awarding 3-2-1 rankings to their teammates after each game.

Hanley Energy Women’s International Player of the Year

Winner: Arlene Kelly

Runners-up: Laura Delany, Gaby Lewis, Orla Prendergast

Process: This was a peer-nominated award, with players all awarding 3-2-1 rankings to their teammates after each game.

Cricket Writers of Ireland Hall of Fame

Inductee 1: Bob Lambert

Citation: Our posthumous inductee is a titan whose career for Ireland spanned an incredible 38 summers. He was first capped as a teenager in 1893, and was 56 when he bowed out in 1930. In all that time Ireland played just 71 matches, but our inductee played in 51 of them, scored almost 2,000 runs and taking 173 wickets. His finest innings is said to be a century against the Philadelphians in 1908, and with his off-breaks he took 3-3 and 7-11 against Scotland in 1910. His performances for Ireland caught the eye of Dr WG Grace who invited him to play for London County, the Doctor describing his batting as “perfection”. He was called up late for his final cap, against MCC in 1930, and bowled 27 overs unchanged, taking 4-102. His record in all matches is jaw-dropping, with an estimated 37,000 runs and 101 centuries, four of which came for Ireland. In 1895 and 1896 he scored over 2,000 runs and took 200 wickets each season and continued to dominate the sport in Leinster for three decades. He was 44 when the Leinster senior league began in 1921, and he celebrated by winning the batting cup with an average of 217. He won seven league titles with his club, Leinster, and retired after the fifth of his club’s eight-in-a-row in 1932. He was Leinster delegate at the founding meeting of what became the Irish Cricket Union and was ICU president on three occasions as well as fathering two international players.

Inductee 2: Stella Owens

Citation: Our inductee sprang to prominence at the age of 11 when she won the player of the match award in the Leinster Women’s Senior Cup final, the first of many trophies she won with Clontarf. As there was no girls cricket at the time she played on the boys sides and became such a feared opponent that a rule was introduced banning mixed sides – she was the only girl playing at the time. Our inductee was an exceptional fast bowler and was 17 years old when Ireland played their first international back in 1983. She took Ireland’s very first wicket and ended with 11 overs 6 maidens 1 for 8. Her career was hampered by injuries however and she played just 35 matches over the next decade, reinventing herself as a fluent batter who could tear an attack apart. She later moved to work in Belfast and played inter-provincials for Ulster. But for several seasons she was one of the most feared bowlers in women’s world cricket and a giant in the history of our game.

Inductee 3: Andre Botha

Citation: Our final inductee came to Ireland as a teenager from South Africa, recruited by legendary coach John Lyon to play for the Clontarf club in Dublin. He struggled to settle but his cricket did the talking, finishing third in the Leinster batting averages and fifth in the bowling, ensuring he won the Samuels Cup as best all-rounder. The following year he made 920 runs and scored a match-winning century in the cup final. He moved to North County in 2001 just as his qualification to play for Ireland was secured. New coach Adrian Birrell was quick to get him into the side and over the next decade he played 141 times for Ireland, scoring 3,606 runs at 27.74 and taking 176 wickets at 21.99. He would undoubtedly have got more had a series of injuries robbed him of many caps and eventually forced him to retire after the 2011 World Cup.

Our inductee played many notable and important innings for Ireland, including the Irish record partnership for any wicket of 360 shared with Eoin Morgan, one of five centuries scored in the Intercontinental Cup. His finest hour arguably came with the ball, his stunning spell of eight overs, four maidens, 2 for 5 playing a huge part in Ireland’s famous win over Pakistan in the 2007 World Cup. He won five Irish Senior Cups with North County before moving to Terenure and when he retired from club cricket he had the record 25 centuries in 313 games, as well as 12,000 runs and 464 wickets. He has since become an international coach and spent 2022 leading Balbriggan to the top of the Championship and this year to the Premier League title.

Gibney’s Outstanding Contribution and Service to Irish Cricket

Winner: Paul Reynolds

Citation: Paul has been playing cricket in Leinster since the mid-1990s. There is no doubt however that his biggest contribution to cricket in Leinster has been on the administrative side. When the Senior Competitions Committee and Junior Branch was merged in 2009 Paul was the first Chair of the Open Competitions Committee. He took on significant roles in the areas of statistics, player registration and website design/support. He continued all of those roles up to the current day, while also at various stages holding roles on the grounds committee, on the LCU Executive, on the Cricket Committee as Honorary Secretary and on the Cricket Leinster Board. Most recently he has held the roles of Cricket Leinster Company Secretary and Chair of Cricket, roles which he has served with distinction at a time of great development in cricket in Leinster. Other formal roles previously held include Executive Committee member, Open Competitions Committee Chair and Grounds Committee Chair.

Paul is a universally recognised name to all clubs in the province. Over the past 10 plus years it was invariably him that first answered an email about a player registration, gave access to a club administration to the CL website functionality, set someone up to act as an electronic scorer (and then helped them operate the software), fixed a starring list, added a youth player to a parents registration or generally acted as a one-stop-shop for a club administrator with a question. All of this work has been done by Paul on a completely voluntary basis. At the same time Paul was raising a family, playing, coaching, helping run his own club and lately Umpiring to an International standard. As Chair of the Cricket Committee Paul holds a vital volunteer role in the governance of the game in the province. While working towards the strategic objectives of Cricket Leinster for cricket, Paul needs to manage the (sometimes) competing demands of the various competition committees as well as supporting Accreditation, Grounds and Coaching committees. His roles as member of the Board and Company Secretary are vital in terms of contributing to the good governance of the game in the province. He brings to the board an up to the minute knowledge of the club game and competition operations, as well as well over 20 years of club administration experience. Paul is a central part of the volunteer “workforce” of Cricket Leinster.

HBV Studios Inter-Provincial Player of the Year

Winner: George Dockrell

Runners-up: Gareth Delany, Andy McBrine, Graham Hume

Process: This was a commentary team-nominated award, with players all awarding 3-2-1 rankings after each game.

Arachas Super Series Player of the Year

Winner: Gaby Lewis

Runners-up: Amy Hunter, Arlene Kelly, Bhavi Devchand

Process: This was a commentary team-nominated award, with players all awarding 3-2-1 rankings after each game.

Waterford Volunteering Excellence Award

Winner: Simon Galloway

Citation: Simon has, at times almost single-handedly, kept Sion Mills Cricket Club afloat, usually in the most challenging of circumstances. Sion Mills plays a unique part in Irish cricket history, hosting the famous win against West Indies and an All-Ireland winning club on many occasions. In recent years however it has suffered from vandalism of both the ground and the facilities due to anti-social behaviour in the village. Playing numbers also reached an all-time low in 2018 with few volunteers and it looked as though the club would have to fold. However, Simon refused to give in and has led a recovery of the club. He organised a group of volunteers to carry out ground improvements, increased playing numbers and created a feel good factor about the club again.

Coaching in primary schools has started and they hope to rebuild a youth structure within the club again. This hard work has paid off with considerable improvement on and off the field. Simon led them as captain to a 2022 League 2 Title and League 2 Cup win. From a dilapidated building in 2018 and struggling to even field one team, they now have a refurbished clubhouse, a 1st XI that won promotion in 2022 and hope to enter a 2nd XI in League 4 this year. Simon represents the true meaning of volunteering and performs it at grassroots level with a genuine passion for the club and the community it represents.

Shapoorji Pallonji Outstanding Contribution to Coaching

Winner: Brian Kelleher

Citation: Brian Kelleher qualified as a Cricket Coach in 1981, and he remains active to this day. In fact, the term “active” does not do justice to his talent or application. Brian continued his own education pathway, qualifying as a Senior Coach in 1985, an Advanced Coach in 1989 and as a Staff Coach (later ECB Staff Coach) not long afterwards. At this stage he was the highest qualified coach educator on the island. Those roles allowed him to act as a Mentor to up and coming coaches and to Verify and approve qualifications for those taking courses locally. Also in 2010 the responsibility for running the ECB Courses in Ireland moved under the auspices of Cricket Ireland. Brian was instrumental in making this change an effective one, both in terms of structures for development but also the establishment of a coaching body to encourage information sharing and other benefits.

At this stage there were 283 qualified coaches on the island with records showing 185 of them based in Leinster. Brian was appointed Director of Coaching for Cricket Leinster in 1990, succeeding Vinnie Savino. He also advises the Cricket Leinster cricket committee on coaching matters, supports the development officers in their work and personal development, oversees and accredits all Coach Education activities in the province (and on the island) and manages the suspect bowling action monitoring process for cricket in Leinster. Brian is a role model for all involved in cricket in Ireland and in coaching specifically.

Butlers Club of the Year

Winner: Cork Harlequins Cricket Club

Short-list: Athlone Cricket Club, Balbriggan Cricket Club, Fox Lodge Cricket Club, Lisburn Cricket Club

Citation: Cork Harlequins have shown outstanding levels of achievement both on and off the field. A community based club which relies entirely on volunteerism, they have continued to expand due to community engagement and youth development. They are the first club in Munster to introduce a 5th adult team in Munster Cricket Union (MCU) domestic leagues, for 2023 they will be fielding 5 MCU adult teams as well 1 adult side in Cricket Leinster 1. Just 4 years ago Quins had 3 adult teams 70 members and now enjoys a membership of 150 plus. The club has a thriving academy with over 50 girls and boys playing cricket. The club draws its players from all backgrounds and communities with the widest of diversity. Active in the local community the club supports players from direct provision, develops programmes with multiple schools and runs both summer and winter academies for all age groups and genders.

Cricket opportunities exist throughout the year due to Quins partnership with Douglas Community School where both parties developed their indoor 3 bay training facility. Their ground committee have overseen massive improvements. All senior games are played on quality grass wickets. The club heavily invested in equipment and infrastructure purchasing sightscreens, a heavy roller and full square covers and continuing to invest in the excellent outfield. Youth has been the cornerstone of Harlequins development and success. The majority of the squad have pathway developed through all age groups at the club and concurrently Munster Representative pathways. Eight of the Harlequins squad played for the HEAT in the 2022 Future Series Interprovincial winning side. In 2022 Harlequins won an unprecedented treble of the Munster Senior Cup, Premier League, and T20 League. They also progressed to their second consecutive All Ireland T20 final.

Turkish Airlines Men’s Club Player of the Year

Winner: David Delany

Short-list: Ross Adair, Brandon Kruger, Abdul Shafique, Jared Wilson

Select citation: David of Clontarf Cricket Club was one of the stand-out individual performers in Club Cricket in Ireland for 2022. David won both the Cricket Leinster Marchant Cup (as top batter in the province) and the Samuels Cup. To consider the level of achievement in winning both of those awards, it is worth considering the calibre of others to have done so in the last 25 years: John Anderson, Anton Scholtz, Andre Botha, and Jeremy Bray. The Marchant Cup is the Cricket Leinster Award for the batter with the highest average in top level competition. David was the comprehensive winner of this award in 2022, with a batting average 12 runs higher than the next best placed. With 847 runs in the season at an average of 65.15, including 1 century and 7 x 50s there is no doubt that David’s was the prized wicket of the season.

David also won the Samuels Cup for Allrounders for the 2022 season. As well as being the leading run scorer he also took 30 wickets at 15.93. While he narrowly missed out on the Bowling Award this was a true all-round performance and he was a worthy winner of the Samuels Cup, in what is the most competitive club league on the island, with a significant proportion of International & Inter-Provincial players appearing on a regular basis. David’s form was of course replicated at Inter Provincial Level, being a regular star of the highly successful Munster Reds Inter-Provincial Team. It is an obvious encouragement to all club players that consistent performances (re) open the door to representative honours.

Turkish Airlines Women’s Club Player of the Year

Winner: Amy Caulfield

Short-list: Alana Dalzell, Leah Paul

Select citation: Amy is the captain of Muckamore 1st XI and has been a catalyst for growing the game both at her club and around the Northern Cricket Union (NCU) for the last six seasons. Amy is also the captain of the NCU senior team and had a standout year with selection for the Dragons in the Super series coming as a result of her outstanding domestic performances over the last number of seasons. Amy is a seam bowling allrounder who was one of the outstanding players in the NCU domestic game during the 2022 season. With the bat she scored a phenomenal 414 runs at an average of 69.00 for Muckamore Cricket Club to dominate the batting charts. Amy picked up the women’s Premier League Batter of the Year and All-rounder of the Year awards at the NCU Annual Awards in October 2022. Amy’s contribution to cricket in 2022 does not stop with playing. She was co-opted onto the NCU Board in February 2022, has sat on the NCU Domestic Cricket Directorate for a number of years and is also a prominent member of the newly established NCU Women’s Committee.

Clear Treasury Emerging Men’s Talent Award

Winner: Cade Carmichael

Citation: The 20 year-old Instonians allrounder made steady progress throughout 2022. He made his debut for North West Warriors over the summer, and was also part of the Ireland Development squad that took on Gloucestershire’s 2nd XI in a 4-day Red Ball game in June. He also played for the Ireland Academy side against England’s U19s, where he scored 92 with the bat.

Beauchamps Emerging Women’s Talent Award

Winner: Jane Maguire

Citation: The 20 year old made her T20 International debut in the thrilling victory over South Africa at Pembroke, and went on to take 10 wickets in 10 games. Jane was part of the successful Ireland squad that qualified for the 2023 ICC T20 World Cup, as well as the victorious team that won the T20I series against Pakistan in Lahore.

KB Sports Hub Club Cricket Official of the Year

Winner: Declan Earley

Citation: Limerick Cricket Club’s Declan Earley is one of the youngest cricket umpires in Munster. He has attained this position over the last eight seasons, from being an occasional umpire in his early days. He achieved this by being very keen to develop his on-field skills by watching others, taking advice from more experienced umpires, taking on board and working to improve based on feedback from Umpiring Observers and on-field colleagues. In January 2022 he attended the IACUS Level 3 Umpire Training Course in Belfast and was recently elevated to the IACUS CI Reserve Panel for the coming Season.

Declan is highly regarded and respected by all our MCU clubs, who are very pleased when he is appointed to stand in their matches. He acts as a mentor for new umpires and is universally praised by them for the helpful advice and support he gives them. He is also a certified tutor for the delivery of the IACUS Level 1 and Level 2 courses, to which he brings his pedagogical skills as a primary-school teacher to both on-line and face-to-face sessions. Declan’s demeanour and attitude both on and off the field is exemplary, yet when circumstances arise where umpiring on-field duties require stern disciplinary action, and/or the submission of disciplinary reports are required, he does not shirk from his responsibilities in this regard either.

Tildenet Groundskeeping Team of the Year

Winner: Eglinton Cricket Club

Citation: The clubs team of volunteers have invested a huge amount of their lives into keeping the village venue in its pristine condition for all levels of cricket In 2022. The club hosted, Interprovincial matches, Tri-Series training sessions (Ireland, Pakistan, and Australia), two-day North West Senior Cup – with the biggest attendance in over 50 years – and various training session for North West Warriors, Super Series and Youth Inter-Provincial teams. They are willing to accommodate all levels of cricket and understand the importance of it being a team effort rather than one person working on the grounds. The feedback from all coaches, players and umpires has been excellent, with good quality grass wickets along with the outfield.In 2022 they were one of the first non-international grounds in Ireland to invest in hybrid pitches with the view of hosting more women and girls games at their ground.

Special recognition: Club Coaching

Honouree: Gareth Thompson

Citation: Gareth Thompson has been the main catalyst behind the rapid rise of the women’s game within CSNI CC and is a significant contributor to the women’s game across the NCU. He established, and has led, a women’s coaching structure within CSNI for several years, and in 2022 that commitment really started to pay off with the club teams achieving some outstanding results. This included the senior team achieving a clean sweep of NCU domestic trophies and reaching the final of the All-Ireland T20 Cup competition. The second team also won the Gallagher Challenge Plate.

The club had an amazing five players playing who made their debuts in the Super Series during the 2022 season with a further four club members playing for the Irish junior age group teams. Gareth’s vision, commitment and passion has led to a massive growth in the women’s game at CSNI where the club fields teams at every age level and currently has two senior teams and are looking at the possibility of introducing a third team in the 2023 season. Gareth is also a coach within the NCU’s women’s development pathway and plays a pivotal role in the development of the next generation of talent. Gareth is also a member of the NCU Women’s Cricket Committee which was established in 2022 to support the drive to enhance the women and girls’ game across the NCU.

Craig Easdown
No
Connaught