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CONTACT
North Down Cricket Club
Castle Lane
Comber, Newtownards
Co. Down
Telephone: 02891878306 (Pavilion)
Colin McCaughey, Secretary: 02891874320 (h): 07879 614370 (mobile)
Ian Shields, Webmaster: 02891872425 (h): 07792 231762 (mobile)
NORTH DOWN CRICKET CLUB
North Down Cricket Club is one of the oldest clubs in Ireland, founded in 1857. The Club is situated close to the shores of Strangford Lough in the town of Comber, famous for Thomas Andrews, designer of 'Titanic', whiskey, potatoes and cricket.
Currently the Club fields four Saturday/Sunday XIs, Midweek XI, Colts XI and u-11, u-13 and u-15 sides.
Over the years many exceptional cricketers and personalities have played the game at North Down with great success.
In total North Down have won the Senior League 18 times, sharing it twice with Waringstown in 2005 and with Cliftonville in 1896, the latter a fact strangely omitted from the NCU records; the Senior Challenge Cup 31 times including an historic tied match against Lisburn in 1994.
The Bob Kerr Irish Senior Cup has been won 3 times and the Ulster Cup twice.
Since 1999, 6 Senior League wins (one shared), 6 Senior Challenge Cup wins and an Ulster Cup victory have made it arguably the most successful period in the club's history ranking alongside the success of the eighteen nineties and the nineteen twenties/ thirties.
The Club places a heavy importance on its youth policy and this has paid dividends with a number of the current senior squad having come through the ranks.
Six former players are now umpiring in the senior ranks and the club has a number of highly qualified coaches available to work with our promising young players. All the Junior sides have had major successes during the last decade with special mention going to the u-13s who won the Banogue and Irish Cups in 2007 and the u-15s who won the Graham Cup in 1995 and the Colts who swept all before them in 1996 and 1998.
The future looks bright with the continuing success of the '100 club' helping to finance the clubhouse refurbishment, the success of which has allowed us to invest in much needed ground equipment.
Our sesquicentennial year in 2007, brought a great 'double' for the 1st XI and an unforgetable Gala Dinner at the La Mon Hotel. A Special watercolour of The Green was auctionned at the Gala and the club produced an exceptional book 'One Shot More for the Honour of Down' written by Ian Shields.
'One Shot More for the Honour of Down' tells the story of the club and in it, the author, Ian Shields, brings to life the history of the trophy laden Golden Eras, the devastating War Years, the tragic Titanic disaster and the personalities and events which have contributed to the club becoming the most successful in the Northern Cricket Union and one of the most successful in the history of cricket in Ireland.
Hopes are high that on and off the field of play this great club will continue to flourish.
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