Ronnie Faulkner profile by Edward Liddle

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Player:

RAR Faulkner

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DateLine: 10th February 2018

 

Ronnie Faulkner was an outstanding all-round sportsman who represented Strabane at rugby and hockey as well as cricket. There can be no doubt however that the summer game was always his first love.

 

An upper order batsman generally to be found at No 3 or 4 he was when set, a beautiful, wristy strokemaker, besides being a brilliant cover point. A permanent fixture in the Strabane 1st XI for most of the 1950s and 60s, he hit 5 hundreds in senior cricket with a highly praised 148 not out against Ardmore in 1964 his highest.

 

He was a key member of the side which won the North West Senior League in 1959 and 1968, besides pulling off the League Cup double in 1966.

 

He played in two North v South matches, an unofficial Irish trial, and was a member of the North West XI which won the first Guinness Cup, an all Ireland interprovincial competition, in 1966. However, he never really justified himself at representative level. Rain denied him an innings in his first North v South match and that in Guinness Cup matches and he often found himself down the order with little time to build an innings.

 

In his native Strabane, he will be long remembered as a fine cricketer and a fine man.

 

(Article: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author only.
Copyright © 2018 Edward Liddle)