Halverstown Cricket Club holds Annual Awards Night
Halverstown held their annual Quiz and Awards night in O'Connells Bar, Kilcullen, on December 6th where President Hubert Beaumont summed up the mixed season they had before presenting Halverstown League Player of the year Award to John Threadgold.
John took an all time Leinster League Division 12 record haul of 28 wickets, as well contributing over 200 runs with the bat.
Having been promoted last season after winning Division 13, 2018 was always going to be tough particularly with the loss of two star players, who went to play at a higher level. Halverstown's wins were hard fought- and in each of them John Threadgold was part of the winning partnership- and their defeats almost always narrow and often unlucky.
However, finishing last but one leaves them contemplating life back in Division 13 next season. Nevertheless team spirit was always high and some of the individual performances were outstanding. Indeed they had 3 players named in the Division's Team of the Year- which did not include John Threadgold despite his amazing wicket taking record. The Leinster Cricket Union's web site records the following description of Halverstown's season:
“Remarkably for a team who finished in the relegation places, they ended up with three players on the Team of the Year - two batsmen and a wicketkeeper. Three batsmen scored over 200 runs: top scorer was Umer Naru with 238 runs, averaging 40 per innings, followed by fellow Team of the Year recipient Richard Greene with 228 runs at 38. Clive Wardrop played only four matches, below the Team of the Year minimum, but averaged 77, scoring two centuries in the space of eight days. Hubert Beaumont became the third Halverstown player on our team, leading the wicketkeeper standings with 10 catches and 2 stumpings, the most dismissals ever in a season by a Halverstown keeper”.
Halverstown has a second team, Halverstown Oaks, which plays friendly fixtures and its Player of the Year Award recipient was Kevin Hodson of Newbridge. Kevin is a bowler and turned in a fine economy rate of conceding just 3 runs an over during the season as well as chipping in with a handy average of 14 with the bat. An enthusiastic cricketer and excellent fielder, he also played frequently for the league team.
The Quiz was won by Treasurer Barry Ashmore's team, making it a doubly successful night for him since the event brought in much needed funds! Chairman Tim Ronaldson thanked everyone for coming but special thanks were due to Secretary Stuart Conroy of Kilcullen who set the questions, acted as quiz master, scorekeeper, adjudicator and most other organisational jobs too!
Halverstown is looking forward now to the 2019 season, keeping alive a long tradition which will see it turn out a cricket team for the 135th consecutive season.
New players, whether beginners or experienced, are very welcome at Halverstown, which plays on the beautiful Harristown estate in Brannockstown, Co. Kildare. Contact Oaks Captain Des Drumm at 086 2241761 or [email protected] if you are interested.