A fascinating insight into the most formidable team of modern era

It was last Tuesday night at 9pm when we started a four-way call on the video conferencing tool Zoom, with myself in the chair, asking questions of Russell, the hard-hitting opener, long-time captain Peter Shields and David Kennedy, the Ballymena-born batsman who spent five hugely successful years at Comber.

I knew within a matter of seconds that the 45-minute limit was never going to work, but even I hadn’t anticipated it stretching to one hour 17 minutes, and it could have been longer. My attempts to prevent Russell from voicing an opinion on questions directed to the other two panelists failed miserably.

The show is online here on our website for those who haven’t seen it yet, and a number of fascinating topics were discussed.

Firstly, Shields highlighted that while this team won its first Section One crown (now Premier League) in 1999, it had been in the making for a while. Along with Shields, the likes of Joe Montgomery, Ryan Haire and Marty Moreland were coming up through the system. I remember captaining a Waringstown under-19 team against them at The Lawn, probably in 1996, when Montomgery was captain. The talent was there and they already had that competitiveness that was to stand them in good stead for such a long time.

However, almost all great teams in local cricket need to be supplemented by ‘outsiders’, and North Down initially had Andrew White making the short move from Ards and Taimur Khan arriving as overseas professional. Russell rightly described Khan as the best ‘pound-for-pound’ professional the NCU has ever seen.

As an all-round package with longevity, no other professional has matched Khan’s sustained impact.

I wanted to probe his imperious record against Waringstown, a run sparked by a controversial moment at The Lawn in 2000. North Down needed just one to win a league match between the sides with Khan on strike on 99, and with the game effectively over, a leg-side wide was bowled to deny the Pakistani a richly-deserved hundred.

Waringstown lost the match, but went on to win the top flight that summer, however Khan won the war. I heard how Khan sought out the dates of the Waringstown-North Down matches each summer, and inevitably he delivered almost every single time, if not with ball, then bat, or more often than not, with both.

As someone heavily involved with Waringstown at the time, I was conscious of the simmering ill-feeling between the two teams. Russell was right to claim that some Waringstown players (not all) sometimes avoided a post-match drink in the bar if they had lost but also admitted that his own team weren’t blameless either.

Russell highlighted that North Down took things too far at times, most notably in the years following ‘Connell-gate’ in 2006. The fast bowler, who had come from New Zealand, was eventually deemed ineligible after a process that played out like a dramatic television court drama. North Down were well ahead in the title race but still finished second to Waringstown despite being deducted a whole host of points. I felt Waringstown were right to pursue the matter at the time but judging by the boos at the NCU dinner that year as we collected the trophy, not everyone agreed!

David Kennedy provided a revealing insight into the pain of his own international disappointment with Ireland. With Ballymena have been relegated, he moved to Comber to boost his Ireland chances but only ended up winning one international cap, no reflection of his fine batting ability. Kennedy was unfortunate to emerge as the Celtic Tiger roared and Dublin cricket attracted a host of talented overseas players happy to become eligible for their adopted country. Kennedy also refused to play on a Sunday, but deserves only admiration for sticking to his Christian principles.

If there is one negative for this remarkable club team, it was the failure to win an Irish Senior Cup, or even go close. Shields was remarkably frank, offering no excuses, lamenting a series of poor performances. However, there were mitigating circumstances, they were unlucky to run into a young Eoin Morgan one day at The Green and for a time NCU clubs operated with their hands tied behind their back in the Irish Cup, as Leinster clubs fielded their array of Irish-qualified overseas stars while NCU pros like Khan were still ineligible.

The absence of an Irish Cup doesn’t detract from their legacy. Nine league titles in 13 years and seven Challenge Cups. That says it all

Thank you for reading this story on our website and watching the programme. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

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