Cricket Lepton back from brink and planning for bright future

May 30 2009 By Mel Booth

"The committee now includes Paul Baxter, Danny Rushworth, Paul Carter, Dave Walker and Dave Mellor and they’ve given welcome input to allow us to function more efficiently.

"The stipulation we made was that the junior, senior and Evening League sections had to run as one, with everyone members of the same club, and I have to say the evening guys provide excellent midweek entertainment for all our members.

"All of the sections give support to keeping cricket at Lepton and, of the evening guys, the soccer captain Ross Martin shows the value of having a foot in both camps by helping on matchdays and doing a great job with raffle duties."

On the playing side, Mulhall and Waring had no hesitation in welcoming Mumtaz Ali back to the club (even though he travels from home in London each weekend!), while Dale Winterbottom joined from Kirkheaton along with teenagers Alex Slack and Luke Webster, while Andy Grey was recruited from Hopton Mills.

"Mumtaz is a terrific player and we welcomed him back with open arms, while Dale is my best mate and a great asset in terms of morale, organisation on and off the field – he does all the pre-match stuff – and of course with his all-round ability," said Mulhall.

"The young lads are all promising and they’ll get a chance at Lepton, because I don’t believe in having the youngsters batting at nine, 10 and Jack.

"Arshad Ali likes to get on with it, Paul Baxter is a versatile batsman and then Alan’s son, Jonathan Waring, is our vice-captain and viewed as a potential captain of the future. He’ll lead the Twenty20 side this season.

"We’ve got some new faces together and a new set-up and it’s all starting to gel. The second team under skipper Dave Rushworth and vice-captain Dave Mellor are top of their league as well, so we are making unbelievable progress in a short space of time.

"At junior level, we are very proud that the Under 9s, who have spent the last couple of years getting thrashed but have stuck together, have just won their first tournament (the chairman’s son Jacob is captain), and the Under 11s are up and going with the hope we’ll have Under 13s and 15s as soon as possible and Under 17s eventually."

So what are the targets for Lepton, where the social side is also proving the centre of the community?

"Hoylandswaine are very, very warm favourites to win our section, but second place is up for grabs among possibly five clubs, and we are one of those," answered Mulhall.

"The minimum requirement is that we have Section II status in the new set-up next season (in three straight divisions), because we are making excellent progress on the field, while off it we’ve had excellent ball sponsorships and the like, fixture posters are up all over the village and the benefit is for everyone at the club.

"I must give special mention to Kenny Battye, too, who has been around since time began and provides some fantastic wickets for us to play cricket on."