News

Trent Johnston, Kamal Merchant and John Wills short-listed for Toyota Coach of the Year, while Eddie Richardson, Elena Tice and John Anderson nominated for the Aengus Fanning International Emerging Player of the Year. Scott Campbell, Colin Currie and Fiachra Tucker named in Croke Park Hotel Junior Player of the Year Award short-list.
Trent Johnston, Kamal Merchant and John Wills have been short-listed by Cricket Ireland for the Toyota Coach of the Year award at the RSA Cricket Ireland Awards next month.

Johnston took charge of Leinster Lightning in the inaugural RSA Inter-Provincial Series, and took his charges to the brink of the treble. Under his stewardship they won both the Inter-Provincial Championship and Trophy, missing out on the 50 over competition on the last day of a highly successful season.

Kamal Merchant continued to be a revelation for the YMCA youth section, which swept all before them in a quite magnificent campaign for the club. Under his leadership the Claremont Road side won an incredible nine junior trophies. In addition to his tireless work with the youngsters, Merchant also guided the club 3rd XI to the Division Five title – their fourth trophy in succession.

John Wills was once again to the fore as The Hills won the Leinster Senior One and Alan Murray T20 competitions, following up his success in 2012 with their first Irish Senior Cup. A thoroughly respected and dedicated coach, he is largely responsible for the continued success at Milverton.

Scott Campbell, Colin Currie and Fiachra Tucker have emerged from a very competitive nomination process to make the final cut for the Croke Park Hotel Junior Player of the Year award.

Campbell played an integral role at domestic level as Coleraine completed a hat-trick of senior trophiies. On the international scene Campbell took 10 wickets at just 11.00 for Ireland Under 19’s which saw him claim second place in the tournament MVP rankings.

Colin Currie was one of the Clontarf stars as they claimed the Under 15 All Ireland trophy, and made his senior debut for the all-conquering Castle Avenue side. He played a pivotal role as Ireland Under 15’s claimed the ICC European Championships, scoring 208 runs at 69.00, including one of only two international centuries in 2013.

Fiachra Tucker from Pembroke was the star of Ireland victory in the Under 15 Europeans, winning the MVP award for the tournament by some considerable margin. He scored 172 runs at a healthy 43.00, and in addition took 11 wickets at an incredible average of just 7.18, which included a five wicket haul.

The Aengus Fanning International Emerging Player of the Year, sponsored by the Sunday Independent nominees are John Anderson, Elena Tice and Eddie Richardson.

Despite her tender age of just 15 years, leg spinner Tice has played 34 times for Ireland Women. The Merrion teenager was an ever present helping her team qualify for the finals of the ICC World Twenty20 tournament in Bangladesh in 2014.

30 year-old Anderson enjoyed great success in the Inter-Continental Cup, scoring his maiden international century, 127 against The Netherlands helping Ireland reach the final and also continued his good form in the red ball format with 56 against Scotland.

North County all-rounder Richardson made his international debut earlier this month against Scotland, on the back of a quite magnificent domestic and inter-provincial season and took 2 for 39 in Ireland’s second WCL Championship win at Stormont.

The RSA Cricket Ireland Awards will take place on Friday 11th October in the Hilton Double Tree Hotel (formerly the Burlington) in Dublin. For further information about the awards and to purchase tickets for the gala cricket event of the year, please visit http://www.cricketireland.ie/about/awards or email awards@cricketireland.ie

Cricket Ireland
Trent Johnston has made a seamless transition to the coaching world.
[343] Trent Johnston – johnston-trent
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