- Isle of Man cricket team
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Isle of Man Flag of the Isle of Man
ICC membership granted 2004 ICC member status Affiliate member ICC development region Europe World Cricket League division N/A Captain Kiree Joughin Coach Gareth Cecil-Franco Dawson First recorded match 14 August 2005 v Greece at Mechelen Cricket Club, Belgium As of 2 July 2011 The Isle of Man cricket team is the team that represents the Crown dependency of the Isle of Man in international cricket matches. They became an affiliate member of the International Cricket Council in 2004. [1]
Contents
International Competition
The first international engagement for the Isle of Man came in 2005 at the European Affiliates Championship. They finished in eighth place in this tournament, which originally meant a demotion to Division Four in the newly expanded five division European Championship. [2] However, when the divisions were announced, the Isle of Man had a place in Division Three for 2007. As they had a year without competitive international cricket in 2006, the Isle of Man arranged two one-day friendly matches against Spain played in La Manga at the end of September/beginning of October, both of which they won. The Manx cricket team, based in the Isle of Man, joined the ICC in 2004, playing their first ICC affiliated competitions in 2005. Previously the national sides had played fixtures against the MCC, on tour in the UK and against touring sides to the Isle of Man. They competed in the 4 Islands Tournaments in 2000, 2002 and 2004 finishing 2nd, 3rd & 2nd respectively. Their most well known player was D.N Jacobs, who spent time as a trialist with some English Counties in the mid-1980s, and was reported to have signed for Minor County side Wiltshire in the regional press, but due to complications regarding his Manx nationality with the authorities, he returned to the Isle of Man to play amateur cricket.
Gareth Dawson Era
In 2008, The Isle of Man cricket association appointed Gareth Dawson (aged 52), brother of former test spinner Richard as head coach of the Isle of Man cricket team. Gareth would be responsible for all age groups ranging from the junior set ups all the way to the full Senior squad.
Upon arrival, Gareth evaluated the state of Manx cricket and after a seeing after seeing a combination of batting collapses, misguided bowling and a series of fielding errors, decided a new approach was needed. He set a clear goal for his tenture ... To achieve Associate status within the European Cricket Council and to reach the world cricket leagues.
Despite Gareth's customary flair and trademark swagger, he decided that in order to reach his goals that he needed to implement some "steel" into the Manx side. He implemented a strong fitness regime amongst his players. This included twice weekly runs along the Douglas sea-front, plyometric sessions, weight training sessions as well as the occasional interval session.
Gareth also introduced improved nutrion amongst the players that even led to him outsting custard creams across the islands premier clubs.
On (Insert date), Gareth along with his second in command Mark Beardshall took his first Isle of Man senior team to La Manga (Spain) to participate in the European Division Three Championships. The team was :-
- Richard Kniveton (Captain) (Crosby)
- Nick Hawke (St Johns)
- Gregg Hawke (St Johns)
- Christopher Hawke (St Johns)
- Daniel Hawke (St Johns)
- Daniel Kniveton (Crosby)
- Jonathan Norrington (St Johns)
- Gareth Roome (Castletown)
- Alex Stokoe (Cronkbourne)
- Max Stokoe (Cronkbourne)
- Arne Van Den Berg (St Johns)
- Robbert Webber (Ramsey)
- Oliver Webster (Ramsey)
- Mark Williams (Castletown)
The team finished second, losing out disappointingely to Israel. The game will be remembered for a series of no-balls and run outs which led to the Israel coach commenting the Isle of Man were by far the better team but lacked the team ethos to beat the cohessive Israel side. Oliver Webster finished the islands leading run scorer with 123 runs in five games at an average of 24.60. The islands top wicket taker was Max Stokoe with 10 wickets from five games.
In 2011, Gareth coached the senior team to a second tournament, the European Division 2 championships in Belgium. The squad was :-
- Richard Kniveton (Captain) (Crosby)
- Seb Aycock (Castletown)
- Ross Berry (Crosby)
- Christopher Hawke (St Johns)
- Daniel Hawke (Cronkbourne)
- Jaco Jansen (St Johns)
- Shaun Kelly (Ramsey)
- Daniel Kniveton (Crosby)
- Peter Lewis (St Johns)
- Gareth Morris (Castletown)
- Gareth Roome (Castletown)
- Max Stokoe (Cronkbourne)
- Arne Van Den Berg (St Johns)
- Oliver Webster (Ramsey)
The Manx senior squad were heavy favourites to progress through to Division one and albeit topping their group with a series of comfortable victories they eventually faded to a strong Austrian bowling line - up, at one point the Manx team were 10 - 7. Although they regrouped they ultimately lost the game and ended up finishing third in the tournament. Gareth Morris ended up the leading batsman in the tournament, amassing 289 runs in 6 games including a mamoth 141 not out against Cyprus. The islands leading wicket taker was Arne Van Den Berg, who claimed 12 victims in 6 games.
Tournament History
European Championship
- 2007: 3rd place (Division Three)
- 2009: 2nd place (Division Three)
- 2011: 3rd place (Division Two)
References
External links
Categories:- National cricket teams
- Cricket in the Isle of Man
- National sports teams of the Isle of Man
- Isle of Man in international cricket
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