Action Stations!

Five - Four - Three - Two - One!!! Maybe not Thunderbirds, but Cricketers are Go!

Yes, after 7 months of dreary autumn and winter, the cricket season returns on April 22nd.

The pitch is looking fantastic, with the square having been professionally renovated in the autumn and Steve Bailey having been working on preparing it for the last couple of months. Also, it hasn't been underwater for most of the winter this year which is bound to help. The outfield is also looking verdant - a couple of mows and some great weather in the last fortnight have brought it on nicely, and though the top end is still a little springy as always, it is drying out now.

Off the field the changing rooms have both been refurbished. Having replaced the entire roof of the club, the building is now watertight so the ceilings have been replaced, the damp removed, and the walls repainted. The light fixtures have also been repaired so there's better lighting. The seating's been fixed where necessary, though it still needs painting - this may not be done by the first match but will be eventually. Hopefully the players will appreciate the more pleasant surroundings this year.

The clubhouse interior is little changed, but that was all completed last year so didn't need much work. There's been a few tweaks here and there - little holes filled, sockets realigned, microwave moved, cupboards (to Ian's frustration)reorganised - but nothing too drastic. It may get a lick of paint by opening day to smarten it up, but it doesn't need much attention.

The exterior is looking good - I painted it! We've also bought new chairs for the patio so we'll no longer need to use the dodgy damaged seats. It would be nice to paint the shutter casings and railings, but I think we've run out of time for that now - hopefully look into it before long though.

So that just leaves the teams. And that's where I'm not sure how things are as, over the last few months, I've not seen many of the players. Hopefully we'll have the core squads from last year with just a few newcomers and leavers. If so, I think we'll be looking good.

In particular the first team were looking strong towards the end of the year so I would hope they can kick on from that - captain Gully certainly had high expectations at the end of the last campaign that this year we'd be a top half team. I believe if he can assemble his players to aim high, they can be up there - they have the firepower in both batting and bowling.

The second team may be a little more problematic, especially early on with regulars being unavailable due to football, holidays and injuries that I'm aware of. There again, we have a couple of new players I think who we don't know yet - they could be superstars!

So April 22nd is the date. First team at home against Oakworth who are always competitive, and seconds away at Eldwick. Let's target at least one win from the day. It would be great to see as many supporters at the ground for the first game as possible. I'm sure it will be hot and sunny...