Following their recent A.G.M., Midleton Cricket Club has announced that Dean Wilson will be captain of their First XI for the 2016 season.
New Zealand born Wilson has been a member of the club since the 2002 season having made the town his home. He has also represented Munster on several occasions, most recently in a series of one-day games against the Oman National side.
“I’m really excited to captain the side for the coming season. This is a great cricket club that really tries to bring the game to the people of East Cork,” said the all-rounder. “We were extremely unlucky at times last season, but we have a lot of very promising young kids coming through, so the outlook is very positive for us in my opinion. I’m hoping that during my tenure I can help these youngsters improve and fulfill the huge potential that they have.”
Dean also hopes to welcome more adults to the club for the coming summer. “We’ve had a few guys who came down for a look, liked what they saw and hung around, and really added a lot to the club. Maybe in the past, we haven’t advertised ourselves enough, and people aren’t aware there is a cricket club in the town. We have two teams, and cater for players of all ability, so hopefully, anyone who’s interested will come down and have a look around next season.”
For the time being though, the club is focusing their attention on the off-season on several fundraising events. “We’re relaunching our website shortly, and we’ve got a table quiz coming up on the 10th of November that will hopefully raise some money for improving our training facilities in the Midleton College. Thanks to some of the incredible results by the Ireland national side, people know more about cricket now than maybe they did before. We just want to give people the platform to come down and watch or even have a go at playing.”
