CLIFTONVILLE ACADEMY

Captain: Matthew McCord
Pro: Abhishek Raut (returning for 3rd year)
Players out: Rory Bessell (back to NZ), Kian Hilton (North Down)
Players in: John Glass (Ballymena), Dawood Khan (Student UU), Hayden Melly (Ardmore)

Cliftonville Academy have been building steadily over the past few years and could be on the cusp of a special year if all goes their way.

"We have consistently improved over the last 4/5 years in terms of league position with 4th last year marking a great improvement 9th and 7th the two years previous," said captain Matthew McCord.

"The league was really tight last year and competition is great between all 10 clubs. We were right in the mix right until the last couple of weekends, but we also know we were only one result away from being in the bottom 4 pre split, so we expect it to be as tight as ever this year. 

"We took great strides forward in the last 5 games last year post split and stumbled across a blueprint to move forward that we feel suits us well. We are looking forward to continuing to develop as a group this season. 

"The cup runs have been a real disappointment in the last couple of seasons (baring our national cup final in 2023). That’s something we are keen to focus on and address this year. We’ve demonstrated over a 2 year period we can beat anyone in the league on our day, we just need to make sure we turn up in May when the cups start. 

"Missing out on the T20 Cup semi finals last year on net run rate was particularly disappointing. T20 is real area of target for us having won 6 of our 7 T20 games last season. 

"Rory will be a big loss for us this season with the new ball, he took some huge wickets and won several games for us in the powerplay. We’ve a lot of wicket takers in the group with Ben Kane and Jared Wilson taking over 70 wickets between them in 2023 and having quieter years with the ball last year, they will both have a big hand in filling the gap left by Rory. 

"We are delighted with the new signings we have made. John Glass is a top class all rounder who we are excited to see play for us this season and showcase his talent. Dawood Khan looks like a classy left handed opening batsman who will provide great foil to the hard hitting Francis Collins. We are also looking forward to welcoming Hayden Melly into the group later this month.

"Abhishek Raut, Jared Wilson and Varun Chopra will make up the rest of our middle order. All coming off stellar campaigns in 2024.

"We are excited to see the continued development of our talented U15 group who won the U15 Premier League last season. Henry Wylie, Alfie Wylie and Keshav Raghuram have all been involved in the NCU pathway winter programme and look to have taken another step forward after making their debuts last season."