VSDCA 2018-19: Eoghan Delany relishing Preston captaincy

EOGHAN Delany has flourished since taking over as Preston captain, enjoying a sparkling start to the VSDCA season which has the club dreaming of a finals berth.

Eoghan Delany has made a superb start to his first VSDCA season as captain. Picture: Valeriu Campan

CAPTAINCY can be a double-edged sword.

Some flourish with the added responsibility of leadership. Others flounder with the weight of a team of their shoulders.

Eoghan Delany fits into the former category.

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The Irishman has thrived since taking over from Luke Bramich as Preston’s VSDCA skipper, compiling 279 runs at 93 in his first five innings as captain.

Delany’s reign started with a century against a dangerous Mt Waverley bowling attack and he registered scores of 45, 64 not out and 52 not out in his next three innings.

“A bit more responsibility always helps,” Delany said.

“When you are out in the middle, you’re less inclined to throw it away because it sets a poor example.”

Eoghan Delany drives on his way to a hundred against Mt Waverley.

Delany is unashamedly what many class as a student of the game. The 29-year-old spends “a lot of time watching any form of cricket” and relishes analysing the sport.

When he reflected on his debut campaign at Preston at the end of last summer, one statistic was glaring — he was out caught in six of the nine innings he was dismissed.

“I was getting out caught an awful lot of the time,” he said.

“The one thing I have changed is I don’t hit the ball in the air as much, if at all.

“I am never going to be a natural ball striker or hitting a lot of boundaries.

“But just keeping the ball on the ground has limited the way I was getting out most last year. I’m just getting the dividends now.”

Delany grew up in Dublin and played from a young age for Clontarf Cricket Club.

In his second year in the VSDCA, much of his leadership has been informed by studious preparation and analysis of opposition players.

“As captain you have got to have an idea of who you are playing against each weekend and the scoreboards that are available online are the best way to do that for me,” he said.

“I just try to get one step ahead as much as I can before going into the weekend.

“Even something as simple as maybe Googling the players, getting of a photo of them that would be in the paper.

“You just get that information and you go into training knowing, ‘OK I am going to be facing a leg-spinner, so can I have a few of the leg-spinners bowl to me?’”

As a passionate cricketer who first picked up a bat as a three-year-old, De

Eoghan Delany gets a pull shot away against Mt Waverley.

lany has enjoyed the rise of the sport’s popularity in his native Ireland. He fondly recalls the country’s watershed 2007 World Cup victory over Pakistan as the day cricket truly arrived in Ireland.

“That win in 2007 over Pakistan just changed everything,” he said.

“I suppose I was a bit naive when I was younger.

“I didn’t realise how much of a minority sport cricket really was in Ireland. Since then it has really taken off.”

Ireland was awarded Test status last year by the International Cricket Council and played its maiden Test match against Pakistan in May.

“The standard of the clubs I play back home is very high,” Delany said.

“Because it’s still quite a small and condensed competition, you get a lot of good players playing in that one competition.”

Eoghan Delany shows a watchful eye against Preston. Picture: Valeriu Campan

Delany has been joined at Preston by another Irishman this summer, all-rounder Fionn Hand.

The middle-order batsman said the pair was determined to showcase the improvement of Irish cricket by leading the Bullants’ push for a finals berth in the VSDCA North-East group.

“Sharing the Irish jokes with him has been good,” he said.

“It’s also good to have another guy come along and show people Irishmen can play cricket.”

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