The
sight of Ossie Colhoun crouched behind the stumps was a common and feared one
in North West of Ireland cricket and Irish cricket for many years. Colhoun started
his cricket career with the Sion Mills club in the early 1950s and developed
into the most complete and skilful wicket keeper ever seen in North West and
Irish cricket - consistent brilliance at club level and international level
was his trademark.
He
first played for Ireland in 1959 and in a twenty one year period he went on
to play a further 86 international matches of which 76 were played in succession.
In one international match he had 7 dismissals (all catches) while his overall
total of dismissals for Ireland was 186, which included 42 stumpings.
Ossie took his hundredth victim for Ireland behind the stumps in the Ireland v Wales international on 19 July 1971 and equalled the Irish record of 60 international appearances when he played for Ireland v MCC at Lords towards the end of July 1978.
He
played against touring teams from Australia, India, Pakistan and West Indies
as well as several County sides. He turned down an offer to join Gloucestershire
in the mid nineteen fifties at the age of 28. He also toured the United States
of America and Canada with Ireland and visited the West Indies and Israel with
a North West of Ireland representative side.
In addition to a long and successful association with the Sion Mills club, Ossie also played 58 Guinness Cup matches for the North West, claiming 64 victims - 52 catches, 12 stumpings.
Ossie Colhoun retired from international cricket in 1980 while he played on with the Sion Mills club for a further number of years and then eventually finished his local career with the Brigade club.