High hopes for several in centenary season
by Paul Barker, 5th April 2004

After last seasons runaway success by Retford one finds it rather difficult to pick out the potential champions in this the league’s centenary year. Even the experts from William Hills, Corals and Ladbrokes would be scratching their heads to pick a favourite and that can only be described as a good thing and unless something happens between now and the start of the season it looks to have the most competitive ring about it for many years.

BLIDWORTH WELFARE who suffered the ignominy of relegation from the Nottinghamshire Premier League have retained most of the players from last term and also are hoping to welcome one or two back. Richard Price skippers the side this term and they are hoping that Ritchie Gibbons who has served the club with distinction for many years will once again be available to them.

Elliott Hind is without doubt one of the best young wicket-keepers in the county and he will be available to Blidworth and they will also have a top class New Zealander from Central Districts in all rounder Aaron Pairama who is joining them.

Blidworth recognise the importance of having a good youth set-up and many of their excellent crop of rookies have represented the county at their age level. Some of these will be hoping to make it through to the main side this season and although the club are guarded in regards to where they will finish as regards winning their place back in the Premier League, don’t rule them out, they won’t be a million miles away.

With arguably the best batsman in the league Tariq Rashid at their disposal, BOLSOVER will on their day be a threat to the best. By the same token one sees them as a rather inconsistent combination who will produce a stunning result one day and a disappointing one the next. Tariq scored five league centuries last season and won the man of the match award in the Mallen Trophy success last season.

Bolsover have recruited shrewdly over the close season with Mark Bull joining them from Killamarsh, lan Sharpe from Old Whittington and Carl Curran from Whitwell. Charlie Walker skippers the side again and they will have their good days. They don’t look strong enough to challenge for the title but they will produce a result that will upset someone who is. Of that you can be sure of.

One of the saddest things happening in the league is the happenings which have blighted the progress of BRIDON who were undoubtedly the team of the 1980s with six title successes in eight years. Over the last 12 months their future has been placed in doubt by the fact that the company who own the ground want to use it for development, but now there seems to be a chink of light at the end of the tunnel.

The club have been negotiating on possible re-location and now there does seem a chance that this will happen. In the meantime however the uncertainty of their future has resulted in many good players leaving the club to secure their future. Since the end of last season when they were relegated from the Premier League they have lost their skipper Steve Bentley and Wayne Spooner has defected to Kimberley and James Brice to Welbeck.

The side will be captained next season by Simon Fenwick and will once again have Rob McLeod available. They will also have a young Australian left arm bowler in Justin Miller who they have received good reports about.

They are not expecting to regain their place in the Premier League but will hopefully hold their own and as a spokesman for the club said ‘we will take it from there and that’s all we can do’.

Another side who have virtually a complete new look about them is CUCKNEY whose ground now boasts some of the finest facilities you will find anywhere. Local lad Dean Sayer is the new skipper and they will be welcoming back Paul Gurnell a more than useful all rounder who wasn’t available at all last season. They have also recruited Simon Shipp from Nottingham University and this young man has represented Cambridgeshire at Under 25 level.

In addition to these David Newman an highly talented Australian all rounder from Melbourne has joined them as their overseas player for the season and they will now promote their much vaunted youth policy with many players having represented the County at their age level.

Cuckney certainly don’t look a side who are going to challenge for the title but they should comfortably hold down a mid-table spot and set the seeds for the future of the club and these look extremely bright.

One side who will challenge for honours is CUTTHORPE who will be captained this season by Andy Knowles. Nobody has left the club and at this moment in time nobody has joined them, but that could all change in the next few weeks. They are hoping to recruit another bowler and with Asadullah Butt again being available and Andrew Pierrepont regaining full fitness they will be a force to be reckoned with.

When the honours are shared out at the end of the season, don’t be surprised to find Cutthorpe’s name being around to collect one of them They regarded last season’s fourth place as a failure, but they still lifted the Harry Tomlins Trophy which was some reward for them in a campaign that didn’t go quite to plan.

EDWINSTOWE were promoted last season as runners up to Worksop and will be participating at this level for the first time since 1976. Richard Gombos has joined them from Bridon and if he can stay fit should be an asset to their attack.

They will rely heavily on Garth Brown with the bat. This exciting Australian scored 942 runs in Division 2 last season and Edwinstowe will be hoping he can repeat this service for them again this season. Jon Garnham takes over as captain this season and he will need to lead from the front if his club are to survive. They face a big task, but they may well surprise a few people along the way.

FARNSFIELD will once again be skippered by Andrew Edwards and Mark Silcock the New Zealander who took 47 wickets at 18.45 last season will once again be re-joining them. A big asset when he is available will be Paul Franks who will be available to play when Nottinghamshire aren’t in action Farnsfield expect to get about seven matches out of Franks who as their spokesman says ‘Is Farnsfield through and through’.

Joining them from Bilsthorpe will be Neil Sharpe and David Bell and although these two were playing in Division 6 both have the ability to have been playing at a much higher standard. In addition to this Farnsfield have made major improvements on the ground and the club house has undergone a major refurbishment which will only enhance some of the finest facilities the league has to offer anywhere.

Andy Smith the New Zealander who is now a British citizen is the new skipper at GLAPWELL this season. The Park Avenue club have one of the best spirits of any side in the league and have flirted with relegation for a few seasons but the unquenchable desire to succeed has always pulled them through.

They have acquired the services of Warren Brown a wicket-keeper from Anston and Mike Huckle a hard hitting batsman and a more than useful off spin bowler from Stoke-on-Trent . Most of the players from last season will be available but sadly owing to knee injuries it is doubtful if we will be seeing much of Andy Pick anymore.

Pick has been such an asset to the club and is a genuinely nice fellow who has done it all. However his injuries have meant that he has struggled to walk the day after playing and it is doubtful if he wants to go through this ordeal any longer. It is a shame for Glapwell, the Bassetlaw League and cricket in general and everyone wishes Andy all the best in the future. Whatever he does he deserves to succeed.

KIVETON PARK finished a highly creditable fifth place in the league last season and until as late as last week expected to field the same side as last season with a change of overseas player that will bring the brilliant Australian Ryan Snape back to Stone Close where he did so well in 2001.

However a bolt from the blue was delivered with the news that Richard Grainger who has been with the club since his junior days has registered with Worksop. Grainger scored 664 runs last season at 36.89 and it is difficult to replace a player as successful as that when you have got time, and on this occasion Kiveton certainly are short of that.

The side still looks useful enough to finish in the top half of the table and with Snape providing his superb all round skills and several other good players such as Adam Burgess who is arguably the best young batsman in the league they should do reasonably well again. Once again they will have the astute captaincy of Rob Coxon to spur them on and Kiveton will once again surprise some of the title favourites.

A side who have been tipped to win the title for the last three seasons is MANSFIELD HOSIERY MILLS, are another who have suffered a major blow coming almost on the eve of a new season. Nolan McKenzie the brilliant West Indian who scored 732 runs for them last season and also bagged 46 rather cheap wickets has left the club.

They have picked up the services of Jason Gorman who was formerly at Blidworth and Kimberley and will have Tom New back when his services are not required by Leicestershire, but having said that McKenzie’s all round ability will be a huge loss to them. Also joining them from Unity Casuals is Adam Walker but owing to travel difficulties Jonathan Best will not be available and Kiwi Jonathan Smaill is now living in Australia

Returning for a second season is the diminutive Sri-Lankan all rounder Asela Jayasinghe who will score runs and take wickets once again and Hosiery Mills may yet challenge for honours once again. It must be said however that with McKenzie in the side one feels that would have gone a lot closer. We shall have to wait and see.

Not a new team but a merger of two teams under one rather long and laborious name NOTTS. AND ARNOLD AMATEURS. This is a combination of Notts. Amateur from the South Nottinghamshire League and Arnold who have welcomed the move because of difficulties arising over their ground.

The ground of Notts. Amateur is a superb venue at Goosedale Lane near Bestwood Village and the club will be running five teams throughout the Bassetlaw League this season.

Unfortunately work in a different location has robbed them of their popular captain Andrew Hobbs and Richard Bostock has returned to Eckington but other than that they look to have assembled a more than useful side.

Pete Evans is the new skipper and last season’s Australian import who was a major success Justin Foss is returning to the club. From the Notts. Amateur side Nadeem Akhtar and Farook Azeem will undoubtedly strengthen an already good side and the veteran Peter Hacker will also be a useful acquisition. This is a side who could certainly be up amongst the leaders and it would be a foolish person to rule them out of the chase for honours.

THORESBY COLLIERY had their best season for a few years in 2003 and despite losing Ben Winslade and Daniel Nash they are importing another useful Australain from Sydney Jonathan Hill who has excellent all round skills

Martin Cheshire again captains the side who remain very much the same as the successful 2003 side and with the prolific run getter Paul Hughes again available Thoresby should consolidate with ease and enjoy another good season.

They have also recruited Peter Scott an Englishman who has been plying his trade in Australia but has now returned home.

Finally the champions who went through the season unbeaten in Division 2 last term WORKSOP and they certainly look as though they are determined to create a good impression this time. Most sides struggle when they move up to the top section but make no mistake that won’t happen here and with some extremely clever recruitment they could very well make a challenge themselves in their first season back.

As noted earlier they have acquired Richard Grainger from Kiveton Park plus Steve Bentley who skippered Bridon last term and Steve Williams a left arm quickie who has played in the Hampshire Premier League for Portsmouth . As well as that Brad Moore a very capable New Zealander has joined them and with stalwarts such as skipper Richard Hare, Glen Pym and Paul Burton also available only a fool would write Worksop off.

This looks to be their best team for many years, and whilst they won’t find things easy there is a lot of talent at Worksop.

As will be noticed with two teams being relegated from the Nottinghamshire Premier League there is 13 teams in the top section this term. Matches begin on Saturday 17 th April and conclude on Saturday 11 th September with all sides playing 24 games. It will certainly be a very interesting season and as I said at the start it looks a real open choice as to who will be lifting the trophy. We will have to wait and see!