17 May 2001
The reaction of the cricket fraternity in the North West has changed from what was initially shock on Saturday, when the squad was announced, to one of anger, at what is regarded as shabby treatment, as the week has progressed. The fact that the North West will have only one player in Canada, Decker Curry, is a source of great disappointment to both officials and players in these parts. The fact that most of the fixtures in the North West have been scheduled to avoid clashing with the tournament now seems to have been a pointless exercise. In addition the restructuring of the league into sections of eight teams with the possibility of an All Ireland League in the future now looks to have been a waste of time when the selectors have so obviously ignored the claims of the North West based players.
Joe
Doherty, the North West chairman, is particularly vocal in his condemnation
of the selectors' choice: "Yet again the North West has been treated deplorably.
Despite having won the All Ireland Cup in the past five years, we are again
being treated as the country cousins, boys from the sticks who can be treated
poorly. We feel we are being dragged back into the dark ages when only truly
outstanding players from the North West could gain international recognition."
The main points of concern are the inclusion of three players who have yet to prove their fitness. Ryan Eagleson and Mark Patterson are recovering from long term injuries and their overall fitness remain in doubt. The real shock was the inclusion of Jason Molins who had initially declared his unavailability and did not attend any of the training sessions on which Ken Rutherford had placed such emphasis.
The official view is that there can be no doubting the pedigree of both Mark Patterson and Ryan Eagleson, who have played county cricket with Surrey and Derbyshire. As for Molins, he has performed well in the trial games. The exclusion of Mark Gillespie has left the player bitterly disappointed, and his reaction was one of disbelief when players were included who had yet to prove their fitness in what will be a punishing tournament. There was undoubtedly a lot of pressure, both internally and externally, for Andy Patterson to be included ahead of Allan Rutherford, and he too must be angry after the sacrifices made.
The make up of the selection panel is always going to be against the North West with having only one representative against two each from both the NCU and the LCU, but they must persevere. The best way initially would be, yet again, to have an all North West Irish Senior Cup Final.