www.dundalkdemocrat.ie Dundalk Town, Tuesday, March 8, 2011 57 The Chequered F1ag CRICKET Dundalk Cricket Club Dundalk claim Irish win A Formula One blog by Stephen English EVERYBODY likes to claim a Dublin last April. www.stephenenglish.ie bit of credit for an historic win Dundalk returned the but we in Dundalk do have at compliment to Derek by Phoney War nearing its conclusion least three connections with the presenting to him a book of Paddy stunning Irish cricket victory Kavanagh’s poetry when later he WHILE the Formula 1 season was originally planned to start in Bah- last week over the ‘auld enemy’ brought his YMCA charges to the rain this weekend the ongoing strife in the Gulf left organisers with England on the sunbaked turf of rolling plains of Dromiskin in no option but to cancel the opening race of the season. As a result Bangalore. June. Derek Dockrell’s support the tams will be in Barcelona for one last test session before freight- World Cup record breaking has been just one example of ing their cars to Australia for what will now be the opening round of centurion Kevin O’Brien’s that generosity of spirit so typical the 2011 season. brother Gerry was a student in within Ireland’s cricketing In motorsport there is only one constant, the clock. It never stops DkIT a number of years ago and community. ticking and it is the race against time in the development war of the gained an Honours degree in Well, we may as well try to winter that sets the scene for the entire season. Generally in recent Accounting. Gerry, now President claim some sort of influence on years the team that starts the year in front goes on to take the titles. of Railway Union Cricket Club, the Irish success! While, at first glance, it seems that the teams have been given an was very generous in inviting our Visitors to the ground in extra two weeks to tweak their cars before Melbourne, time has local fledgling Dundalk Cricket Dromiskin this summer will effectively run out on any major upgrades that can be implemented Club for a match on Railway’s witness more of that Irish before the season opener. hallowed lawns in Sandymount, cricketing generosity and Dublin last August. camaraderie. Those big white Barcelona test will paint a full picture Paul Mooney, member of the sight screens on the boundary This means that what we see on track this week at the Circuit Irish team that humbled mighty and the mobile covers used to de Catalunya will give us a great indication of what to expect in Pakistan in the all-singing, all- protect the wicket from inclement Melbourne. As a result it worth considering what has occurred in dancing 2007 World Cup in the weather are a present free, gratis testing up to this point and take stock of where teams are relevant glorious Caribbean, is the brother and for nothing from Lurgan CC CricketerS diVided Members of Dundalk Cricket Club watching the Ireland v India to their expectations ahead of whet looks set to be another hotly of John Mooney who hit the in Co. Armagh. Dundalk, indeed, match last Sunday on the Big Screen in the Spirit Store down on the Quay. With a contested season. winning runs against England. has accepted an invitation from wonderful mix of nationalities in the club, there was much intra-club rivalry as the Testing has long been seen as a “phoney war” because it is Paul studied Business Studies in Lurgan to play a Friendly at their exciting World Cup game in Bangalore unfolded. Front L-R: Michael McEvoy, Mithun impossible to know the precise fuel loads and setups of each car. DkIT around the same time as ground on Sunday April 24th. Mathews (Kerala, India), Brian Morris, Maqsood Ahmed (Islamabad, Pakistan). At Are teams looking to set a fast time to increase their profile with Gerry. Meanwhile, after some early back: Brendan Watters, Bertie Mulholland, Danny Stuart (Tasmania, Australia), Ken potential sponsors? Or are teams “sandbagging” and holding off And YMCA’s Derek Dockrell, springtime indoor cricket games showing their true potential by lapping with a heavy fuel load. McDonald, Bobby Mehta (Mumbai, India), Ollie Burton (Cayman Islands), Derek father of 18 year old schoolboy in Oriel Park, the club will be Turner, Scott McDonald, Ian McEvoy, Eddie Bosano Andrews (London, England), Jiwan These questions will not answered until the cars roll out for testing the Dromiskin wicket starlet George who skittled Jodhani (Nepal), Boomeeswaran Shanmugam (Chennai, India) and Sunil Kumar (New qualifying at Melbourne but throughout testing thus far there England captain Andrew Strauss over the coming weeks after the has been some clear indications that Red Bull and Ferrari are still in last week’s historic win, has winter spell. Delhi, India). the pacesetters and that the likes of McLaren and Mercedes are been a great friend to Dundalk There may be some budding just as much. The club is getting Those Taverners games are struggling. Cricket Club since its inception. Kevin O’Briens out there who together a Ladies team as well. It played at a very restful pace. After the first three tests of the year, both Red Bull and Ferrari George went on to bag the world’s would like to come out to the is never too late to start. Contact Before all that takes place there seem to have a clear advantage, somewhere in the region of 0.4s best batsman Sachun Tendulkar ground and whack a few shots. Derek Turner at 087-2627893 or will be some serious coaching per lap, over the chasing pack. Both teams have enjoyed, by and in last Sunday’s game against No experience is required. Like all [email protected]. evenings in the magnificent large, bullet proof reliability and as a result their drivers have been India. Derek has been tireless the best things in life, you learn There is not only Leinster indoor cricket centre in North able to clock up the most mileage of any teams on the grid. With in his encouragement of and on the job. Cricket is one of the League Cricket and Cups for County Cricket Club in Dublin. this extra seat time comes the opportunity for their drivers to test support for Dundalk CC’s efforts, few games where grandfather, Dundalk CC this year, but also The first session will be on various setup options and explore the potential of their new cars. and invited the Club to play father and son can play in the Friendlies and those wonderful Tuesday week March 22 at 7pm. When this is contrasted to the likes of McLaren it is startling to its inaugural match on YMCA’s same team – and grandad is often Friday evening Taverners games. All are welcome. see just how unreliable the new MP4-26 has been. The team have wonderful ground in Ballsbridge, the best. Ladies, cricket is for you completed less than half the amount of mileage as their title rivals, and most of their time on track has also seen the car struggle for pace. GREYHOUND RACING Dundalk Stadium The team’s drivers, Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton, have both said that they have been hampered by the reliability woes but that once the team cure that they are confident that the new car is an improvement on last year’s title contender. It remains to be seen if that is the case but the Woking based Eleven weekend winners wear team should be given the benefit of the doubt due to their past prowess of developing a car throughout the year. Mercedes on the other hand have done little in the past to make one believe that the white sheet at Dundalk they can suddenly start moving up the grid. By Joe Carroll Mercedes look set for another poor season THE white jacket was the one to be togged out Raffaele Selleres wins at Dundalk Stadium Mercedes have struggled throughout winter testing thus far in at Friday night’s meeting at Dowdallshill. with the new car clearly seconds off the pace. Ross Brawn came out And it was good on the following night, as and said this week that the team will be bringing a major upgrade well. package to Barcelona but that if the team are to be competitive it Seven winners ran from the trap 3 box will need to find somewhere in the region of one second per lap. on Friday night,, scoring over four different Obviously this is a massive amount of time to find. But even if distances from the sprint to the 600, while they do make such strides there is no guarantee that they would there were four twenty-four hours later. even be competitive; their opposition will also make large gains But punters didn’t really latch on. Only before Melbourne. Looking back on the history of the Mercedes one of the winning eleven started clear team in their various guises since 1999 and one thing becomes favourite, and another was joint-fav. clear-they struggle to develop a car. Among Friday’s seven winners were the Since the team’s first year as BAR in 1999 they have consistently local trio Trans Superior, Belleair Avalon been unable to close the gap to the leading teams on the grid once and Cruppney Rebel, while Tiana’s Star, the season begins. Their inability to develop their car better than running for Knockbridge’s Gary Hilliard, competitors saw the team fall to the middle of the grid for much of carried the four sheet to victory and Aintree the last decade; the only exceptions being in 2006 and 2009 when Crow was successful for the Darver and they started the year at the front of the field.