Eight wonderful days of cricket blitzes were held for pupils in both 4th & 5th classes during the month of May and also newly started Girls Blitzes for 5th/ 6th Classes. The events were full of fun and enjoyment with children being offered competitive games and learning more about the game.

Overall, 17 schools attended the blitz’s with 40 teams and over 700 boys & girls gaining valuable playing experience. The teachers who accompanied the teams were most impressed with the ‘Kwik Cricket’ playing format and many have already expressed interest in setting up games themselves involving local schools. Always a good sign for the further development of the game.

For the first time we were delighted to run 2 blitz’s for 5th/6th class girls in Malahide CC and Corduff Sports Centre. School participating were Balrothery NS, Castleknock NS, St Andrew’s NS, Milverton NS, St George’s NS, Swords ET and Balbriggan ET. Castleknock NS won the Dublin 15 event and Milverton NS won the Malahide event. Due to the success we will be running the girls blitz’s on an annual basis and it was great to see over a 100 girls participating.

The Swords/Malahide blitzes were held at Malahide Cricket Club with Oliver Plunkett’s NS, St Andrew’s NS and Holy Family NS participating. Oliver Plunkett’s NS won both the 4th and 5th class blitz’s.

The Rush blitz was held at Rush Cricket Club and involved teams from Rush NS, Loughshinny NS, Milverton NS, Balrothery NS, St Mologas NS, St Catherines NS & St Patrick’s NS. The 4th class blitz (sponsored by the Dolan family and running now for 14 years) was won by Balrothery NS from Balbriggan and the 5th class blitz was won by Milverton NS.

The Dublin 15 blitzes were held at the Corduff Sports Centre with Tyrrellstown Educate Together, St Patrick’s NS (Corduff), St Patrick’s NS (Diswellstown), Castleknock NS, St Mochta’s NS and Castaheany Educate Together participating. The 4th class blitz was won by Tyrrelstown Educate Together NS. Unfortunately the 5th class Blitz had to be cancelled after the 1st round of matches due to heavy rain. All these West Dublin schools have recently been introduced to the game through the LCU ‘school coaching visit’ programme supported by Fingal County Council.

Overall the festival of cricket blitz was a great success, further promoting the game of cricket with lots of new children showing an interest in the game. The development of cricket in Fingal keeps growing which is a wonderful boost for sport in the region.

Special thanks to the Fingal County Council & Cricket Leinster for their continued support. Also the cricket clubs for the use of their grounds and all the coaches (Ben White, Tommy Doheny, David Delany, Cameron Shoebridge, Alan Reynolds, Nicolaas Pretoruis & Kamal Merchant) who contributed to the success of these events.

Reinhardt Strydom
Fingal Cricket Development Officer