Sponsored by
Clubs prepare for new season
After the success of Ilkeston's football and rugby clubs, the town's cricketers will have plenty to live up to when the Premier League season begins on Saturday.
Last year, after re-bounding immediately to the top flight, Rutland finished a creditable fifth as perennial favourites Ockbrook were pipped to the title by Chesterfield.
But few rate Rutland’s chances of improving on that finish after a close season which has seen Kevin Leatherday, outstanding with the bat last season, join the champions and their talented all-rounder George Moulds accept a move to Matlock.
Also missing will be their Derbyshire draft player Wayne White, one of the League’s top performers with the ball last term, who has been given a short-term contract with Leicestershire.
He looks unlikely to be replaced as the county have changed the system under which Premier League clubs were allocated a professional, insisting instead that clubs make their own financial arrangements with individual players.
Despite those negatives, David Smit, club captain for the fifth consecutive year, insists that Rutland possess enough talent to pose a threat to anyone on their day and their ranks have been bolstered by three exciting signings.
Their overseas player will be 25-year-old Skhawat Ali who arrives from the cricketing outpost of Hong Kong. Last summer he was opening the batting for his country against full-strength Pakistan and India sides in a tournament staged in Karachi.
After that kind of intensity, the Rec should hold few fears and the club will hope that he quickly finds his form on English surfaces.
Also arriving at the Rec are a pair of all-rounders, both of whom left clubs relegated from Divison One.
Josh Buckley is a promising 18-year-old who took 39 wickets for Shipley Hall last year and also starred occasionally with the bat and more often in the field.
And Carl Pengelly returns from neighbours Nutbrook to the scene of his greatest triumph. Back in 2002 when playing for Rutland aged just 18 he returned the spectacular figures of 8 for 27 against Sawley. They remain the best ever recorded in the Premier League and he’ll be hoping for more of the same this summer.
The trio will join Smit, as formidable a batsman as any in the League on his day, and a host of other proven performers like seamer Rob Green who took 43 wickets last season, quick-fingered wicket-keeper Andy Hislop and all-rounder Ian Banks, who has scored more runs than anyone in the history of the club.
Rutland will also be expecting a bit more from teenagers Tom Brandrick and Sam Moulds, who cut their teeth in the Premier League last term without really making an impact.
Captain Smit said: “If we all enjoy one another’s success and stick together as a unit then anything is possible. We’ve got some good players throughout the club and a lot of competition for places in the first XI. I hope it’ll be an exciting season.”
Sandiacre Town
If the league title is going to come to Erewash in 2009 then the more likely winners are Sandiacre.
Last year the champions from 2002 and 2005 kept themselves in the title hunt until the final weekend of the season and progressed to the semi-final of the National Knockout Cup – a tournament they won at Lord’s in 2003.
This year they will field a similar side with the experienced Anthony Woolley from Alvaston & Boulton replacing the Nottinghamshire-bound Achil Patel near the top of the order and Dan Wealden, a seamer from Elvaston, bolstering their attack.
They can also call on the services of the hard-hitting Dan Birch when he is not playing for Derbyshire and they keep their South African quickie Ryan McFadyean, who is now English qualified.
Their captain John Trueman said: “We had a great season last year without actually winning anything. We hope that we can build on that.
“We always go for it in all the competitions. Having been to Lord’s and won the National Knockout in 2003 we do push for players to be available on both days of the weekend so we can properly compete on all fronts.”
In 2008 their top performer with bat and ball was James Chapman who hit over 1,000 runs and took 43 wickets.
They will be hoping he has another vintage year along with swing specialist Kevin Newbold and all-rounder Ian Parkin.
Sandiacre’s season begins with a trip to Dunstall while Rutland must wait a week for their first game as their ground, the Rec, is given over to the St George’s Day Carnival on Saturday.
Cricket at the club does begin in earnest however with the second XI starting their Divison Four North campaign at Ashover and the third XI, now two up from the basement in Division Eight North, entertaining Shipley Hall at Gallows Inn.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Ilkeston
Thursday 09 February 2012
Today
Light snow
Temperature: -1 C to 1 C
Wind Speed: 7 mph
Wind direction: South west
Tomorrow
Light snow
Temperature: -5 C to 1 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: South east
