First NICC then Belfast Harlequins CC and now Civil Service North of Ireland (CSNI), the club has gone through a number of alias' in recent years. They've had mixed fortunes but are slowly emerging from their hideouts and transforming into mean amigos, I mean contenders. Since they left ‘headquarters' they stopped briefly and ultimately disastrously at Deramore Creek where the tumbleweeds blew, but the club have now found their home in the East, Belfast that is.

The East now has a star and his name is West. Big bad Regan has joined the Horwood gang with his fellow Southern gunslingers, Ewan ‘Hannibal' Thompson and Nigel ‘Casey' Jones. Local sharpshooters Dyer, Black, Andrews, ‘Kid' McCulla and the Coulter boys feel they have the firepower to make any trip to wide open prairie land called Stormont an uncomfortable journey.

Regan West not only is a fantastic cricketer but has that capacity to inspire others around him. Having awoken sleepy Bangor to a surprise league title, club sheriffs have been seen nailing his picture to notice boards with a WANTED sign above his head. Without Gary ‘The Hitman' Wilson the team that bizarrely shouts 'Bang Bang' after each delivery will ultimately fall short of ammunition, but will fail with their boots on. Oh so close for CSNI in 2008.

The NCU will have a new side in Section 1 this year called Derriaghy who will play at Queensway once the home of Derriafrica. 3 Van Der Merwes, a Van Niekerk, and a Van Der Burgh have all gone and have not been replaced by Dick Van Dyke, Hertz Van Hire or Ford Van Transit despite rumours to the contrary. Neil Gill has returned to his former club Muckamore and despite the recruitment of Derrick McCann and new Indian professional, Kauship Aphale things look bleak. Andrew Kenny is the new skipper and is the right man in charge at this time. He is a tough cookie and no mean cricketer who will lead from the front. He also knows that there are plenty of teams around them they are more than capable of beating. Their 2006 Graham Cup winning team will all get their chances but relegation dogfights are no place to blood youngsters. Derriaghy is a fantastic club with a strong supporter base and the Premier League would be a poorer place without them. 2008 will be a period of transition for them but I know one man who will believe that they can complete it in the top flight, and it's Andrew Kenny.

Across town Lisburn a club rich in history, tradition and success could well be sighing in relief that the threat Derriaghy posed seems to be receding. Not to their immediate prospects of silverware because for both clubs that is remote but to the future prospects of silverware. Friends School Lisburn and Wallace High School have produced an amazing quantity of talented schoolboys over the years. They have made their way on masse to Lisburn CC where talented coaches moulded them into Championship winning teams. Derriaghy have diluted that supply line. At the other end, huge numbers of kids are still making their way out of the country to English and Scottish universities never to return. As talent seems thin on the ground it's time to take stock. Left handed Boland batsman Gerhard Strydom will offer opposition teams more problems than the admirable Andrew Cyster without impacting on the quality of coaching. Lisburn need to address their drift down the table before it starts to gather momentum and only the return of Uel Graham has kept them from sliding through the trapdoor. Uel is fiercely competitive and expects others to follow his high standards and unless the club starts to challenge for honours soon that distant call of the golf course will start to get louder. Top half finish for Lisburn but the points tally will be closer to the bottom than the top.