Bassetlaw champions 2006? - take your pick
by Paul Barker, 21st April 2006

Although I was miles out with my predictions in 2004, my assessment of the 2005 season was just about spot on, I am pleased to say. As many of you will remember in both 2004 and 2005 I said that the race for the championship in Division 1 would be an open field with many sides capable of winning it and then Mansfield Hosiery Mills went on to decimate the rest and won by a distance in 2004.

2005 was totally different with the title in doubt right up to the last matches of the season. Sadly it all turned out to be academic as it rained all day on September 10 th and Thoresby Colliery were crowned champions with just three points to spare as every match on the final day in Division 1 was washed out without a ball being bowled.

I for-see a similar occurrence this term with many sides looking to be of an equal strength, and a rule change made at November’s A.G.M. might have much more than a profound effect on proceedings this time around. The rule change in question is that no bowler can bowl more than 30% of his side’s overs in a single match. To simplify this it means that in the 50 over per side games in Division 1 no bowler can bowl any more than 15 overs in any one innings. In Division 2 through to Division 10, the limit is 13 overs.

To further complicate matters if a side bowls out the side batting first for example in 40 overs in Division 1 or 36 overs in Division 2 through to 10 so giving themselves an extra ten overs to score the runs in, you would then expect on the 30% ratio that the team bowling second that their main strike bowlers would be able to bowl 18 each or in Divisions 2 till 10 bowl 16 each. Not so, they will still be only able to bowl 15 and 13 respectively.

However if the side batting first declares their innings closed the ratio does change. On the equation shown above the bowlers can in this case bowl 30% of the total overs that they have to send down e.g. 18 and 16. As it got you baffled yet, if not you might just be able to qualify for the genius level in the Trivial Pursuits Game.

Well back to the business in hand and this new law will without any doubt even things up somewhat, although if a side has two very good front line bowlers it will severely penalise them. By the same token two above average batsmen could knock off a score of 240 for example without losing a wicket and no penalty will be incurred by them. In other words the batsmen won’t have to retire when they have spent 30% of the overs time at the crease.

Its all very well but it always does seem to be the bowling side that has the restrictions placed upon them. It will always cause problems whatever comes up and I suppose nobody will ever suit everybody. On a personal note, I would have preferred to leave it as it is, but the others voted for it, so lets give it a go.

Last years runners up GLAPWELL COLLIERY will be relying very much on the side that did so very well last campaign. Iain O’Brien their New Zealand test playing bowler again skippers the side and of the combination that did so well in 2005 only Asghar Mohammed will be unavailable this term. No new recruits have been forthcoming, but the side showed such massive improvements last season that this fact shouldn’t bother them too much.

Several of their players are capable of scoring runs and the arrival of O’Brien a couple of years ago seems to have sharpened up the performances of several Glapwell players who are now showing the form of their lives. Dean Graney, Lee Topham, Matthew Hall, Rob Davison and Nick Trusswell all scored runs consistently throughout the season and more of the same will be hoped for this term.

O’Brien who has had injury problems this winter in New Zealand should be back and firing well again and with Matt Hall he shared possibly the most potent opening attack in the league. A spokesman for the club told me that they would have liked to have added a top quality slow bowler to their ranks but none seemed to be forthcoming. Glapwell should be not far away again, they are a solid dependable side who will take some beating.

A side who many good judges fancy this time around is EDWINSTOWE. New skipper Paul Benson is quietly confident and they have added to their ranks in the close season. The only player they have lost is an important one, the Australian Garth Brown who now resides in Holland , but they are optimistic that they have recruited wisely enough to overcome this setback.

Asif Zakir who scored 694 runs and took 45 wickets last season is back once again and they have also signed Andrew Firth a top order batsman from Treeton in the South Yorkshire Premier League and the highly promising young batsman Craig Saxelby has joined them from Bridon. In addition to these two a young player who spent most of last summer at University Adam Altoft who played with neighbours Ollerton has also joined them.

With Richard Gombos who showed his best form for many a season last campaign and John Garnham available to share the new ball, everything looks rather promising for Edwinstowe. We will have to wait and see but the future does have a distinctly bright look about it here.

The great enigmas of the Bassetlaw League are undoubtedly FARNSFIELD. They have without doubt one of the best set ups in the league plus along with Kiveton Park possibly the best square in the entire combination. It doesn’t take an historian long to notice that several times a season huge scores are posted at Station Lane and records are always likely to be broken on what is literally a ‘shirt-front’ track.

Just take a look at some of these games which took place last season; Marshalls 230 for 4, Farnsfield 232 for 6; Farnsfield 257 for 4, Edwinstowe 215 all out; Kiveton Park 217 for 9, Farnsfield 219 for 5; Cutthorpe 243 for 8, Farnsfield 244 for 5; Farnsfield 295 for 6, Glapwell 299 for 8; Bridon 223 for 9, Farnsfield 224 for 5 and all these matches took place at Station Lane. It just goes to show what a graveyard it is for bowlers!

With Andy Edwards again skippering the side, they must be a threat to everyone again. They did seem to have cured their inconsistency wobbles somewhat last season, and with Matthew Whiley the ex Notts. and Leicester player there to support Mark Silcock this season their attack does seem to have a more potent ring to it. Paul Franks will play when he is not needed by Nottinghamshire, but the club feel he will not be available as much as he was last season.

The only departure is wicket-keeper Elliott Hinds to Cuckney but the club feel they have this position covered by Gary Wilson and Simon Brown. Farnsfield will not be too far away when the honours are dished out and if Whiley provides the back-up Silcock needs, watch out, they won’t be too far away.

The yardstick which is measured as to how good you are in this league is how well did you perform against CUTTHORPE? I just wonder if that will be the case this season. Mark Barlow the Cutthorpe skipper told me that mid table was about as much as they could hope for this time around and whether he is trying a bit of kidology remains to be seen.

Asadullah Butt will be back again for another stint and after another impressive season last time when he scored 637 runs and took 51 wickets he will still be a tremendous threat to everyone. Matt Cluer and Nigel Kingham who hardly played last season will be back to bolster the middle order batting and Andy Thompson still remains possibly the best opening batsman in the league.

It remains to be seen what will happen, but anybody who regards Cutthorpe as an easy touch will be in for a big surprise. They are not used to being underdogs and I don’t see them that way at all. We will have to wait and see, they don’t look as potent as they have done in the past, but there are still plenty of good players around the club.

The real dark horse of the season could be CUCKNEY who have recruited well in the close season. Cuckney have a set up as good as anyone’s these days with a terrific pavilion and club house plus a magnificent indoor cricket school. They have made massive strides over the last few years and they are looking to carry it forward now to the next stage.

Dean Sayer continues as captain and the South African all rounder who created such an impression last season, Richard Stroh will be back once again. Stroh took 58 wickets and scored 556 runs which is a great haul by anyone’s standards and there can be no doubt that he will be a massive threat once again.

In addition to Stroh, Elliott Hind has joined as wicket-keeper from Farnsfield and the aggressive Will Butler has joined them from the Leicester Premier League. Butler scored a whole host of runs for Sherwood in previous seasons and is regarded as a major capture.

One player they will miss however is Paul Gurnell who was possibly the best slow bowler in the league. Gurnell will not be travelling from London where he lives this time and his all round ability will be missed. With him in the side, Cuckney would certainly have been close to being favourites for the title, but they won’t be far away as it is, trust me.

A new side who are going through a transitional period are NOTTS. & ARNOLD AMATEURS. This side was formed out of the amalgamation of Arnold and Notts. Amateur clubs and are still striving to get things together. Since their inception they have had some excellent results and some surprisingly bad ones and last season had something like about three captains throughout the season.

They are a side that I can’t for the life of me see challenging at the top, but by the same token I can’t see them struggling at the bottom either. They look to have the perfect balance to be a mid-table side once again and this time they will be captained by Ian Flood who has done a sterling job for them over many years.

Their big bonus is that they have retained the services of Australian left hander Leigh Baldry who made the highest individual score of anyone with his unbeaten 186 against Killamarsh last season on his way to making 835 runs the highest aggregate in Division 1 last season. Andy Walters a good opening bowler has returned to the club from Caythorpe and other good players such as Jamie Marchant and their excellent wicket-keeper batsman Bill Trewartha will still be around.

KIVETON PARK who had a real up and down season in 2005, will probably be stronger this time around. Last season they started well, dipped in mid-season and recovered well towards the end. They have strengthened their side this term with the acquisition of Andrew Maher an Australian pace bowler from Sydney . Reports to hand suggest that this player is genuinely quick and should hurry one or two players along this season and with Richard Spurr and Kyle McKeeman available, Kiveton’s attack does sound a tad juicy.

Rob Coxon continues to lead the side, and the batting will be strengthened by the return of Richard Grainger from Worksop. Richard was at the club from his youth days until he went to Worksop a couple of years ago. Now he has returned and will be quite an asset to the batting line-up.

In addition to this Kiveton have several truly promising young players especially the hugely talented Phil Cooper who has boundless confidence in his own ability and Matty Cartwright. I expect Kiveton to climb the table substantially this time around especially if Maher is as hot as reports have it.

A side who struggled a bit last season before coming good towards the end earn my vote as the surprise packet for the 2006 season. KILLAMARSH JUNIORS have put together a side that I believe will take on and shake the very best this season and in no way do I see them being involved in the relegation struggle this time around.

Adrian Rivington takes over the captaincy reins from Parmindar Mudhar and he has orchestrated moves which has seen three very good players join the club. Adam Burgess who in 2004 scored 835 runs for Kiveton Park before moving on to Staveley Welfare is a tremendous acquisition whilst Andrew McCulloch a more than useful all rounder has joined forces with them from Langley Mill.

However the biggest capture may well be the Sri Lankan Pramuka Sudesh Liyanage. This 23 year old left handed all rounder has taken 50 first class wickets at 25.50 each, has an highest score of 76 not out and is on the verge of the Sri Lankan test squad. He appears to have class to burn and will be extremely h andy . Add to this Jaya Jaddu a medium paced bowler from Sheffield has joined the club from Sheffield although there are doubts about his fitness.

With promising youngsters such as Paul Burdett and Sam Malpass as well I expect Killamarsh to finish in the top half of the table at the very least.

A side who have a tremendous set up but struggled all the way last season is WORKSOP and quite frankly I don’t expect much to be different this season. Steve Bentley once again captains the side but they look to have one hell of a task in front of them. They were hoping that Richard Gale would be back in the fold this season but they are now disappointed to find this is not the case.

Add to the fact that Richard Grainger has returned to Kiveton Park and Paul Burton has retired and it all adds up to a lot of hard work for them to do. Ramesh Sanjay who joined them half way through last season will once again be available and they have signed a useful all rounder in Mark Dean from Rockware Glass but they look as though they needed a few more new names.

Of course regular stalwarts such as Glen Pym and Tim Ward will still be around and they might surprise people. On a day with a degree of cloud cover Simon Robson and John Smith will swing the ball, but there does look a bit of a lightweight image about the side. We will have to wait and see.

This time twelve months ago MARSHALLS of Gainsborough were preparing for their first season in Division 1 after promotion and although they had lost a few players such as the Houshams and the Andrew s they seemed relatively confident that they would be O.K.

They had employed an Australian called Glen Talerico and reports suggested they had netted a good ‘un’. When they won their first match at Worksop by five wickets this assumption looked to be correct with Talorico taking 5 for 51 and scoring 48, but then after just one week he decided he was home sick and hot footed it back to Australia .

This left them in quite a pickle and they were unable to replace him and struggled all season and might well have gone down if their final match against Bridon had been played. Whoever won this game would have been relegated but it rained all day and Bridon went down.

Now Marshalls have re-grouped with a new skipper Paul Van den Heuvel in charge and an Australian all rounder Gareth Yelland from Geelong over this time. The club have high hopes of him and he has replaced last season’s skipper Tim Down who has stayed back in Australia .

They have notable performers in Mark Davies, James Deacon, Chris Hearn and Mark Whitlam but like Worksop they do look as though they will have a monumental struggle on their hands. A lot depends on the Aussie and if he is exceptional it will make a huge difference to the side.

The two promoted clubs are the two that were relegated the previous season, Bolsover and Blidworth. Some sides never seem to have much luck and BOLSOVER seem to be one of them. All ready some mindless moronic pillocks have smashed and vandalised their tea room beyond repair causing £4,000 worth of damage, just when the club was looking up.

Skipper Charlie Walker told me that it made you feel like calling it a day, but we are fighters and we will battle on. That is entirely the right attitude because nobody wants to see simpletons such as the people who perpetrated this wanton damage succeed. As if this wasn’t enough the vandals have even ventured back and smashed up what was left and the work which had been done in the re-development programme has now been undone.

The club have recruited an all rounder from Baslow called Mark Ryalls who they have high hopes of and Salman Qadir an off spinner and batsman and the son of the great Abdul Qadir who tortured many good international sides a few years ago. Two other players have joined Gavin Horton from Holmewood who is a hard hitting batsman who can take an attack apart on his day and Gavin Briggs who is an all rounder who has been doing Army service.

They raced away with Division 2 last season with 60 points to spare and may well have enough to see them through this season. It is another case of wait and see.

BLIDWORTH incredibly pulled off promotion by just one point last season and are quietly confident that they have stopped the rot which saw them drop from the Nottinghamshire Premier League to Bassetlaw Division 2 in two consecutive seasons.

One thing is certain they will have the youngest bowling attack in Division 1 with Danny Willcock (17 year old) and Rolo Sharma (16) opening the bowling and the club are convinced that this pair will prove a handful throughout the season.

Richard Smith will provide good back-up and Ritchie Gibbons and Dave Donaldson who have been part of the furniture will add much needed experience. Dave Wood who did an admirable job as skipper last season continues and they have also recruited a New Zealand top order left handed batsman from the Parnell Cricket Club in Auckland namely Doug Winger and high hopes are expected from him. In addition Lee Wilson has rejoined the club and the hugely talented Lewis Sprigg is an exciting acquisition.

In addition to this Arthur Whitehead who has been a stalwart for the club through the good and not so good days will be celebrating his 50 th year with Blidworth. It would be fitting if Blidworth cemented their place back in Division 1 as a present for Arthur. He wouldn’t want for anything more.