The Yorkshire and Derbyshire Cricket League begins its 36th season on April 30th with a new points scoring system. At its AGM in October, member clubs voted in favour of abandoning the draw and switching to straight 'win/lose' cricket.

In a radical move for the game at local league level, losing teams will still be awarded points for the percentage of runs scored or wickets taken in order to keep games alive until the final ball. It remains to be seen whether the days of the 'bore draw' are now consigned to the past. It also remains to be seen whether the new points system will produce a repeat of last year's nail biting Division One title race.

Undoubted clash of the opening day's fixtures sees second placed Sheffield Works Department playing host to champions Hundall. Hundall, once again led by Neil Vaughan, will be hoping for an easier passage to an eighth successive title after coming from a long way behind to claim pole position in 2004. Works will look to keep their strength in depth throughout the team but will be hoping for a repeat performance from opener Richard Everitt, who contributed 718 runs at 47.87 last season.

De La Salle, who led Division One for most of last season before eventually finishing in third, open their account against improving Stanton In Peak. Stalwart opener James Hartley takes charge at Beauchief Hall this season, looking to pit his wits against Nick Rosling, who topped the 2004 averages with 693 runs at 49.50 for Stanton.

Also in the frame are Sheffield Collegiate, who ended in fourth place last year in their former guise as Old Edwardians / Collegiate. Their opening day game sees them entertain Hathersage with Matt Root (428 runs at 47.55) and leading wicket-taker Chris Street (60 at 9.11) hoping to come to the fore. Calver complete a remarkable rise to the league's top flight with their opening fixture at Centralians. They will be aiming to improve on their Division Two championship and Knockout Cup double led by Scots all-rounder Doug Howie.

Joining them in Division One after many near misses are Chesterfield Barbarians, for whom skipper Paul Sharman posted a league amateur record score of 179 against Sheffield Zingari in 2004. They host Parkhead on the opening day. The divisions final opening day game sees Holmesfield travel to Ashford In The Water. The teams relegated from Division One in 2004 begin their Division Two campaigns against promoted sides.

Baslow look to bounce back from being Division One wooden-spoonists at home to last year's Division Three champions Dronfield Woodhouse. Veteran opening bowler John Hadfield takes charge at Baslow, whilst Woodhouse continue to be marshalled by James Staniforth. Sheffield University Staff play host to Division Three runners-up Centralians II. Roy Hibbert will be hoping for a solid campaign from leading batsmen Paul Kerry and Dave Needham for Staff, whilst Cents would get great satisfaction from maintaining their place in the division for this season.

Another side looking to regain a place in Division One will be Stocksbridge. They open away at Parkhead II with hopes that Chris Kelly (34 wickets at 9.00) will carry on his bowling form from the back end of last season. Stocksbridge II and Hathersage II finished bottom of the division in 2004 but both gain a reprieve for 2005 because of widespread re-organisation in the bottom two divisions. Their opening day games see them entertain Millhouses and Grindleford respectively. The final game sees Bakewell play host to SWD II.

The brevity of the 2005 season means that Division One and Two fixtures will be played on all three Bank Holiday Mondays. Full details of the Bank Holiday games for May 2nd can be found on the league website at http://ydcl.members.beeb.net.

Chesterfield-based Sheepbridge make the move from the Bassetlaw League to the Yorkshire & Derbyshire and find their first and second teams in Divisions Three and Four respectively. The Division Three campaign begins in earnest on May 7th and sees Sheepbridge firsts pay a visit to Millhouses II for their inaugural match.

The two highest placed sides remaining in Division Three from last season, Richland Wanderers and De La Salle II face each other in their first game. Richland captain Andy Tann will be looking to cement his place as one of the top batsmen in the Division (476 runs at 52.87 in 2004) against prolific leg spinner Paul Lally of De La Salle.

Division Four champions Transport play host to Hundall II in their opening Division Three tie, hoping for another good return from their opening batsmen Abdul Kadir (525 runs at 58.30) and John Slack (505 at 50.50). Division Four runners-up Ridgeway do battle with another side promoted from Division Four, Coal Aston, and last years bottom teams, University Staff II and Sheffield Collegiate V earn a reprieve due to league restructuring and compete in the first match.

Besides Sheepbridge II, other new entrants to Division Four are Walkley, Hallam III and Richland Wanderers II. Sheepbridge II visit Dronfield Sports Contact on April 30th for their first game but Richland, Hallam and Walkley wait until May 7th to take on Baslow II, Chesterfield Barbarians II and Zingari respectively. Stocksbridge III must wait until May 14th to begin their season at home to the Barbs 2nds.

The late withdrawal of Great Longstone from the league means that Division Four clubs now face a couple of blank Saturdays in their programme.

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