RA BairdOn 10 September 1927 Robert A Baird of the Fawney Cricket Club, while playing in the last fixture of the season against Ardmore, completed the hundred wickets for the season when he captured seven Ardmore wickets for thirteen runs. A tremendous achievement indeed particularly as it was his first season in senior cricket. For the record his average for the season was 5.71 runs per wicket. Thanks mainly to his bowling, Fawney had a very successful season, finishing third in the North West Senior League and contesting the North West Senior Cricket Cup final in which they lost to a strong City of Derry team, despite Baird taking 9 wickets for 52 runs in City of Derry's first innings.

In 1928 Fawney again contested the Senior Cup final, this time against Waterside and in an exciting final they won with Baird capturing four of Waterside's second innings wickets in the last over at a cost of only one run each, to snatch the cup for Fawney just when it looked as if Waterside would win. Baird also had a very successful season in 1929 taking 68 wickets for 458 runs to finish second in the North West of Ireland senior bowling averages.

Fawney dropped out of Senior Cricket in 1931 and so did Baird but in 1932 he returned with Ardmore who had been re-admitted to the senior division after an absence of only a year. At the end of the 1932 season he headed the North West bowling averages with 50 wickets for 363 runs including 5 wickets for 1 run in a match against Brigade on August 7.

Perhaps his best season apart from his first was in 1933 when he scored 598 runs including two centuries (101 not out against St Johnston and 100 v Killaloo) and finished the season with 52 wickets for 456 runs. In 1934 he again headed the bowling averages with 32 wickets for 275 runs as well as scoring his final century - 105 not out - against Killaloo on 5 September. Up until Ardmore dropped out of the senior division again in 1940 Baird always figured in the final bowling averages and often appeared in the batting averages.

Like Baird, William McGarvey of the Brigade Cricket Club was an outstanding bowler of his era. One of the first members of the club when it was founded in 1906, McGarvey had to wait 14 years to encounter senior cricket. In 1919 Brigade won the North West Junior Cup competition and in 1920 was admitted to the senior division. After a disappointing first season in the senior division, a season in which McGarvey took all ten wickets against Ardmore for 14 runs, Brigade settled down and in 1921 won their first major trophy, the North West Senior Challenge Cup.

A fine season for the club and for McGarvey who had been captain of the club since 1913. But perhaps his best season was in 1929 when he captured 80 wickets for 468 runs although in 1930 he took another 80 wickets, this time for 752 runs, as Brigade won the Senior Cup again and shared the North West Senior League with Sion Mills. In this final McGarvey played a big part in winning the Senior Cup for Brigade from the Waterside Cricket Club by capturing in all 14 wickets for 82 runs. In 1937 he again had a good season capturing 73 wickets for 681 runs to help Brigade to another League Championship.

In 1943 he relinquished the captaincy of the Club and also retired from the game in a playing capacity but retained his interest in the game by becoming Secretary and Treasurer of the North West Cricket Union, a position he held for a considerable number of years. He also acted as a senior umpire for a long spell but it goes without saying that he is best remembered as being one of the earliest outstanding bowlers in North West cricket.