Achieving a long-term target

This season I became the highest run scorer in CSNI history.

It was a goal I set myself back in 2022.

My ambition to play for the Knights came to an end in April 2021.

I was given the choice to either play cricket or see my kids and there was only ever going to be one winner with that one.

It meant not playing on the weekends and satisfying myself with two mid-week fixtures our 1st XI played on Thursday nights.

It was a massive change to my life; moving rapidly from aiming to play for Ireland in March 2021 to not even playing club cricket just over a month later.

For the period of 2018-2021, the fire was burning to play international cricket.

It was the one thing that got me out of bed on those cold, dark, wet mornings in the middle of winter to go to the gym, out for runs and hit balls.

In spring 2022, I took some advice and thought I’d give playing another crack as long as it didn’t put the time with my kids in jeopardy.

Thankfully, it didn’t.

So, in 2022, when I asked myself the question, ‘why am I doing this anymore?’ I realised I needed to set myself a new goal.

I needed a purpose.

What was the point of turning up to training at 6pm on every Tuesday during the summer?

What was the point in structuring my workday so that I could finish at a reasonable hour in order to join rush-hour traffic across the city to get to Stormont.

Why was I dragging my three older kids all around greater Belfast with me on Saturdays?

I’ve always had an appreciation for numbers.

So, I checked out the historical statistics for CSNI since we formed as an amalgamation club back in 2005.

Highest run scorer: NG Jones.

Runs: 5416.

That was it.

At that stage in 2022, I had made 3575.

I worked out that given I was playing 16-17 games a season, it would require three good seasons to reach it.

I filed the idea away in the back of my mind knowing that if I could maintain a consistent focus each week to prepare well, the target would be achievable.

In 2023, I scored 582 runs.

And, in 2024, I made another 697 runs.

So, at the beginning of the 2025 season, I needed another 563 to pass Jonesy.

The season started slowly with scores of 9 and 4 not out against Instonians and Woodvale respectively.

We then travelled to Wallace Park for the third league game of the season.

We won the toss and Thommo chose to bat first on a beautifully fine May day.

The conditions were slightly tricky early on – the ball swung and seamed.

But it was manageable.

We fell from 23 for none to 28 for three in the space of eight balls.

I got some support from overseas pro Sean Davey (31) and skipper Stuart Thompson (26) before teenager Harry Dyer joined me at 144 for five after 29 overs.

Harry’s making a habit out of scoring tough runs and he did it again here, stroking an unbeaten 53 off 67 balls.

We put on 61 off 88 balls before I fell trying to force the pace in the 44th over.

I went off script for the first time in my innings, playing a reverse sweep to the off-spin of Lisburn skipper Neil Whitworth, he darted one in at the base of off-stump and I missed it.

Struck dead in front and walking off seething after blowing a hundred.

88 off 111 with 12 fours.

We made 256 for six.

I wasn’t sure if it was going to be enough at the half-way point, but we made a great start with the ball; Matthew Foster claiming a wicket first ball.

With 17 balls left, Lisburn needed 30 to win with one wicket in hand.

The only challenge for us was trying to extract the immovable object that is Faiz Fazal.

He hit three sixes off the final three balls of the match to win it for them.

Heart-breaking!

The following weekend we took on a young North Down team at Stormont on another big blue-sky day and thankfully won the toss and batted.

On a good pitch, we lost two wickets in the first 9 overs and teetered on 67 for three before Thommo and I added 60.

He got out on the final ball of the 30th over and then we lost two more quick ones to be 137 for seven!

I’d played a sedate hand, reaching 50 off 77 balls, pulling my calf muscle in the process.

Thankfully Adam Leckey came out to the middle to run for me.

Great to have a few young athletes in the team to carry the load!

17-year-old Seb Yeates joined me at number nine, well below where he usually bats for us.

He played a crucial role in allowing us to get to a competitive total.

He made 43 off 50 balls and we added 96 off 91 balls to push us up to 240 all out.

I managed to pass a hundred, my eighth for the club and ended on 107 off 132 balls.

My second fifty came from 51 deliveries.

Blowing the calf out meant not playing in the first round of the Irish Cup – away to Cork County.

I’d already booked accommodation down there, so I drove the kids down and we had a great time after Thommo (94 not out) carried us home single-handedly chasing 280.

My next half-century, though didn’t come for four weeks until a rearranged T20 fixture against Templepatrick was played on a Thursday night.

We were sent in on a fresh wicket, and I took my time to get underway, adding 62 for the second wicket with Sean Davey.

I reached my half-century in an even 50 balls and followed up with six and out in the 18th over chasing quick runs.

I finished 58 off 52 and we made 156 for five in our 20 overs, winning by 70 runs after bowling them out for 86 in the final over.

This match capped an unusual stretch where we played four matches in four days – two in the league, one T20 Cup and one Irish Cup.

Come Saturday and we were travelling to the most successful club in the north, Waringstown.

It’s always a fixture I relish.

They typically produce the best pitch in the league.

They play the game in the right spirit.

And, any success you achieve against them feels earned.

We lost the toss and were sent in on a green seamer.

This one really decked around for the first 8-10 overs and was bloody hard work.

It wasn’t helped by a rain delay of more than an hour just 22 balls into our innings, and then another one for 75 mins at the end of the 18th over.

Having to start again twice interrupted our rhythm.

We didn’t pass 50 until the 14th over and then had to get a rattle on with the match reduced to a 33 over affair once we returned after 18 overs.

James West and I added 109 for the opening wicket but we were always well behind a rate that was going to challenge the hosts.

I took 61 balls to pass 50 (six fours and a six) and eventually fell for 83 off my 86th delivery, adding a further three boundaries at a time when I lost my rhythm and was trying to overhit too much – a sign that I didn’t trust my power game (it’s lacking!).

We made 179 for five in our 33 overs and Waringstown made light work of it, knocking off the DLS target three down and with 23 balls to spare.

The wicket got better as the weather dried up, and it looked like an absolute belter during Waringstown’s innings.

It seems a real advantage chasing there these days.

I haven’t seen many of their wickets deteriorate.

Despite losing comfortably, it was probably my favourite innings of the season.

However, I was never able to find full flow.

I knuckled down early on, playing low-risk cricket against their all-international opening attack of Hume and Mayes before shifting gears in the middle of the innings.

On other days, I would have found a way to get out either side of one of the rain delays, so it was great to go on and make a meaningful contribution.

I can’t help but feel slightly aggrieved that we only had 33 overs to bat because I would’ve fancied another hundred if I’d had the time.

7 innings into the season, I’d rustled up 393 runs at an average in excess of 60 and was feeling great.

Career tally: 5247.

Another 170 runs required for the club record.

Cue a run of scores below 20 – 0, 12, 8 and 18.

At that point, I tried to take stock and understand what had changed?

It was a month’s worth of cricket where we’d been away for two separate holidays, and my routine had changed.

Changes to sleep patterns, diet and, most importantly, my tactical planning and mental routine (visualisation).

On top of all that, I felt so out of whack that I wasn’t turning up at the ground genuinely excited to be there.

My head was in a spin: juggling all my responsibilities was getting the better of me – husband, father, analyst, marketer, content creator.

Cricket fell to the bottom of the list.

It was another three weeks before I got another hit.

We chased down 81 to beat Templepatrick at the Cloughan (my first trip there) and I ended up 48 not out off 42 balls.

Career tally: 5333.

84 more required.

The start of August saw us at home to Cliftonville Academy and I was motivated to return the favour after they had bundled us out for 160 chasing 300 earlier in the season.

Thommo won the toss and chose to bat on another lovely day.

As always when opening the batting, you try to get a good feel for the pitch, and I found this one hard to read.

Early on, Cliftonville Academy’s bowlers got the ball to swing considerably, which was manageable, but as the first change bowlers came on, they realised that they could extract significant seam movement if they bent their backs more.

We fell to 74 for five and then 127 for seven after 32 overs.

It was a real grind!

Once again, it wasn’t a fluent innings, but I managed to battle through to 50 in 76 balls with five fours and a six.

Club stalwart Andrew Cowden joined me at the fall of the seventh wicket and, as he does, ensured we didn’t lose another one straight away.

He took the sting out of the opposition attack and actually forced them into some frustrated efforts to unsettle him, which opened the door for us to find some fluency.

I entered the 80s and looked to loft an off-spinner over cover, only to get an outside edge which ran past the keeper for four, taking me past 84 in the process and surpassing NG Jones’s club record of 5416 runs.

My teammates clapped and I awkwardly raised the bat.

Cowdy met me half-way down the wicket to say, “Well, you’ll always remember that shot!”

It was a nice moment and great to tick that milestone off the list, but I like to hunt hundreds, and I sensed it was on.

On 97, I laced a ball above cover’s head, who took a brilliant sharp catch and that was me done for the day.

127 balls.

10 fours and a six.

Another hundred blown but a competitive 232 on the board, of which we managed to defend, bowling the visitors out for 185.

Season tally: 576 at 52.36.

With three games left in the season, I really wanted to push on for my goal of 750,

But, it wasn’t to be.

I only made another 74.

In two of the three innings, I felt hard done by some umpiring decisions and collected my very first level one reprimand as a result.

The final game of the season was my 150th for the club.

We’re not big on milestones at CSNI, so it was something only I was conscious of.

As I’ve often said recently, numbers motivate me.

I closed the season with 650 runs at 46.43.

It was below what I was aiming for, but I’ll take it.

150 games.

5504 runs.

At an average of 44.03.

8 hundreds.

30 fifties.

They’re some numbers I’m proud of for sure.

6000 is the next target,

For a club with a membership that has been there for me in some dark times, I hope I’ve given a little bit back as thanks.

However, I still haven’t delivered the best version of appreciation.

That would be a trophy.

Will 2026 be our year?