One of Huddersfield’s oldest cricket clubs could be missing when the new season starts next month.
Paddock Cricket Club - which once saw players like Garry Sobers and Willie Watson in its teams - may fail to start the new Drakes League season next month because of a rift with its parent club.
Officials of Paddock Cricket Athletic and Bowling Club are apparently unhappy with the costs of funding cricket with little revenue coming in.
And a bitter stand-off has now seen many senior players leave on the eve of the new season.
Drakes League officials are trying to mediate but it seems highly unlikely that Paddock, which was founded in 1872, will be playing in the 2015 competition.
It is a club with a long and proud history and they have enjoyed no shortage of success over the years.
The West Indian legend Sobers guested as a deputy professional in the 1960s and other stellar former players included Watson and another dual cricketer and footballer, Chris Balderstone. Pakistan Test star Mansoor Akhtar also played for Paddock in 1985.
Last summer, the club finished bottom of the league.
Former captain Martin Lees said: “It’s very sad. I played at Shelley last year but decided to come back and we had great plans.
“But the parent club insist the cricket section does not pay its way and I cannot see us having a team.
“A lot of the players we have are Asian lads who do not drink but the main club wants people to use the bar. They have seen other pubs and clubs around Paddock fold and wanted to keep going as a club”.
Chris Haigh, who is treasurer of both the club and the cricket section said; “The main club cannot afford to pay for cricket.
“They have been approached by a local football club who want to be based at Paddock and they are heading down that route, with football instead of cricket as the sport.”
Paddock club chairman Liam Fern said: “At the moment it seems the cricket team will not be playing.
“We had a meeting this week with Drakes League officials who are keen to try and help but there can be no promises.
“We haven’t got thousands of pounds spare to fund cricket. There are roof repairs and toilet improvements to the club that are a priority.
“We have also got a meeting this week with a local football club who are keen to have a base here and we will see if we can have both cricket and football on the site”.
It is 51 years since Paddock enlisted a deputy professional for their Whit Tuesday clash with Golcar in the Huddersfield League.
Cricket legend Sobers – now Sir Garfield – and his quick-bowling West Indies Test colleague Roy Gilchrist, who was in the Golcar team, drew a crowd of around 1,200 spectators to West View Rise in 1964, where the gate receipts were £54.
The Section A match was 45 overs per side in those days and Paddock were all out for 150 with Sobers scoring 62 and Gilchrist bowling unchanged at the club end to take seven for 59.
Golcar, captained by Peter Shaw, responded with 90-8, a scoreline which prompted calls for the ‘point system’ to be dropped, and Sobers bowled unchanged from the bowling green end, taking two for 39 in his 23 overs.
For the record, Sobers’ collection was £13, which is the equivalent today of six pence over £230!
Sobers was just one of the well0-known names to appear at Paddock.
The club also had former Pakistan Test star Mansoor Akhtar there in 1985, when he won the league batting prize.
And two stars of both football and cricket spent years at Paddock.
Willy Watson began as a schoolboy at Paddock in the 1930s and played for the club for years before joining Yorkshire. He went on to play 23 Test matches for England and also picked up four caps for the England soccer team, going to the World Cup in Brazil in 1950.
Chris Balderstone also began as a schoolboy in Paddock and played for both Yorkshire and Leicestershire. He also had a successful career in professional football.
Over the years, the Paddock club - founded in 1872 - won the Huddersfield league title five times and the Sykes Cup six times.
