The Hills have upped the ante over their Leinster rivals with the signing of Naseer Shoukat, the former Rush stalwart for the 2010 season.
Forty-four year old Shoukat has made over 8,000 runs and taken over 500 wickets in Leinster senior cricket.
The Hills who were Leinster Senior League champions in 2008 but finished third in 2009 will see this as a critical addition to their squad as they seek to reclaim the Leinster Senior league from Clontarf and push for a first ever Irish Senior Cup title.
Naseer Shoukat was interviewed by Cover Point in October 2009 as after he won the O'Grady Cup for bowling in Leinster and almost won the Samuels Cup for all-rounders (won in the end by now Hills colleague Albert van der Merwe) - http://www.cover-point.com/post/Profile-and-Interview-with-Leinsters-2009-OGrady-Cup-Winner2c-Naseer-Shoukat.aspx
The Hills press release is as follows:
"Capped 11 times for Ireland in 2004 and 2005 Naseer Shoukat will be playing his cricket with The Hills Cricket Club for the 2010 season.
Naseer has had a distinguished career with both Ireland and with Rush Cricket Club for the past 15 years.
Commenting on the development Jim Bennett, President of The Hills said "with the new structure in place for the coming season we are delighted that a man with such a pedigree would be with The Hills for the challenging season ahead".
Naseer won the O'Grady Cup in Leinster for the 2009 season for his bowling taking 28 wickets and making just short of 500 runs with the bat.
The Leinster League is undergoing considerable structural change for 2010 with the old Senior 1, Section A-B, Senior 2, Senior 3 etc being replaced with Leagues Divisions numbered 1-13 with each league made up of 8 teams.
The Hills have a team in both Division 1 and Division 2. "With 2 teams competing at this level, 2010 will represent a considerable step-up for many of our players and having Naseer on our team is a big bonus for us" commented Bennett.
Naseer is originally from Pakistan but has been resident in Fingal for more than 15 years."
