SENIOR CUP DAY PASSES AND THE ONLY SURPRISE IS THAT WE STILL LOOK FOR SURPRISES

No doubt the North West executive will have been a relieved bunch at the weekend as all but one of the second round ties in the Northern Bank senior cup were played to a finish, despite the indifferent conditions.

Had those matches been forced into midweek that would have scuppered plans to play this weekend's league fixtures and with a full programme pencilled in for this coming Saturday, the same day as the cup quarter finals, and another full programme 24 hours later, this could have been another fine mess.

Thankfully however we were spared the conundrum but this cup schedule needs a serious shakedown as it had threatened to make a mockery of the season. The one remaining tie involving Sion Mills and Donemana will now go ahead this Saturday at the same time as the other three quarter finals and if Donemana win they will then play Fox Lodge the following day.

Should Sion cause an upset then the fourth quarter final will carry over to Saturday week, creating yet more fixture problems. Given what we've seen this weekend and indeed for as long as most of us can remember however, it's likely that, weather permitting we'll know the semi final line up on Sunday night.

In last week's piece we discussed the fact that it is coming near the time when the North West needs to completely re-evaluate the entire local structure and nothing we saw this weekend did anything to change that view. The simple fact of the matter is that the gulf in quality between Division 1 and 2 in the local league is as wide and unabridged today as it has ever been.

We look for potential banana skins every time we reach this stage of the senior cup and yet does anyone remember the last time it happened? On average there are usually about 5 Division 1 versus Division 2 ties every season in the senior cup but bar The Nedd beating Limavady about 20 years ago I'm struggling to remember the most recent upset.

In the main the Division 2 clubs won't make a song and dance about it because it's a day out and gives them a chance to pit their skills against teams that they wouldn't normally play but there were enough hunched shoulders on view at the weekend to suggest that they don't really get much out of it. It may be different for the younger players at some clubs who would relish the chance to play against the Currys, McBrines or Gillespies of this world but for the senior players who have found their niche or simply want to go out and enjoy a day's sport there doesn't appear to be a whole pile of fun in it. If you want to take things a stage further and look at the picture realistically you would have to reason that the second tier of North West cricket isn't populated entirely by the next best set of teams outside the top flight in any case.

Down through the years there has been an issue of not allowing so called �second strings� to take their rightful place in the pecking order and the problem is to do with �stacking�. The starring lists for each team contains only a handful of names and clubs always seem to look at each other with deep suspicion when the lists are presented at registration.

As a group we have always been wary of even modest change therefore it is unlikely that it will ever happen, but surely the simple solution would be to ask clubs to categorise their squads into first, second, third and so on. Players can move up the grades within their own clubs on the same basis as the starring list but the Union could then set its own parameters for dropping down, ensuring that stacking second and third elevens couldn't happen.

There is definitely an issue with any club having two teams in the same league which would need to be clarified but surely to goodness it shouldn't be too difficult to have teams playing where they belong. At the minute we have a handful of yo-yo teams who are capable of winning Division 2 but not of staying in the one above and although not likely to sit well with plenty, the eight team Premier Division and a re-jig of the clubs outside of that is the only solution.

We have to get people to leave the politics behind and ask those who really matter; players, umpires and club officials what they think of things like earlier start times and ideas for moving the sport here forward. During one of the many rain interruptions this weekend the issue of 12 o'clock starts came up and a leading player at one of our top clubs asked why he had never been asked for his opinion and why no player that he knows has ever been asked either.

The simple answer is that the issue has perennially been dealt with via a series of nods and winks but you can bet your bottom dollar that if and when Elite cricket is established in the North West, early starts will be heralded in as part of the victory parade. Unfortunately the only people who can change things are club reps but it would appear that not all of them are consulting with their own players.

It may or may not change soon enough anyway but it does no harm to throw the options out there. The truth of the matter is that there is little to be gained by keeping doing what we're doing; clubs being promoted and immediately setting their sights on winning two matches that might just keep them in a league in which they can't compete.

Going back to the senior cup however and come Sunday night we will be down to the final four. Why that should be I have no idea as the final is still the best part of two months away. On a competitive basis however it may be time to look at re-inventing the �Senior B� cup; a tournament that was flirted with briefly about 10 or 12 years ago.

Despite the fact that we have only two senior divisions the reality is that we have three senior tiers hence the benefit of a competition featuring the third group. If and when we go to elite cricket those eight could be joined by the top four in the next strand and we could retain the current Northern Bank format of four preliminary ties in an open draw.

That would mean a chance for say Strabane and Brigade to be drawn in a preliminary tie and maybe Ardmore and St Johnston escaping and being drawn against each other, giving one the opportunity to play in the semi final. In the current format they are simply fodder for the top clubs. The rest could then be entered in the Senior B Cup, allowing them to participate in a competition that they have a chance of winning, or at least one that they wont be heading into like lambs to the slaughter.

Finally this evening there seems to be some confusion as to the schedule of re-arrangements for the coming week. The Fixture Secretaries have therefore confirmed the following dates for Division 1 and cup matches-

Ongoing (31 May to 2 June)- Billy Henderson Properties League- Eglinton v Glendermott, Limavady v Coleraine.

Saturday 4 June- Northern Bank Senior Cup 2nd round- Sion Mills v Donemana as well as the quarter final ties- Limavady v Strabane, Brigade v Bready and Coleraine v Eglinton.

Sunday 5 June- Northern Bank Senior Cup quarter final- Fox Lodge v Sion Mills or Donemana. Billy Henderson Properties league- Coleraine v Bready, Eglinton v Strabane. Bob Kerr Irish Senior Cup 1st round- North Down v Brigade, Civil Service North v Bonds Glen.

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday 6 June- Billy Henderson Properties league- Fox Lodge v Donemana. Obviously the league games scheduled for this Saturday, 4 June, will be re-arranged within the next week and we will confirm those dates for you next Wednesday.