IT'S more than a few years since Golcar were a dominant force in the Drakes Huddersfield Cricket League.

And although the season is only a couple of weeks old, there is just a chance that this could be the start of exciting times up at Swallow Lane.

For the Colne Valley club, newly promoted after winning the Cedar Court Conference last September, are already one of this season's front-runners in the Premiership with back-to-back League victories to savour.

Golcar's two new recruits, Jeremy Brown and Steve Whitwam, have already made a big impact in the first two League games of the season and there is the promise of more to come.

Plenty is known about `Cobber' Whitwam, who played for several seasons at Golcar before having four years with Scholes with whom he made a big impact and played for both the League's White Rose and senior representative sides.

It was widely expected that should Golcar win promotion he would return to the Colne Valley side. And he duly made a century on his first game back against Kexborough followed by another century opening stand in the follow-up game against Meltham, when he also took three wickets.

But equally exciting is the signing of Australian all-rounder Brown, who announced his arrival in Huddersfield with a phenomenal 174 not out against Kexborough, backed up by 53 in last Saturday's victory.

And to emphasise his value, he has also taken two five-wicket returns to boot!

"He gave a couple of chances at around 120 and 130 before blazing away to 174 in the last few overs against Kexborough, but as his first competitive knock in our League he could not have done any better," said delighted skipper Dave Robinson.

"This is Jeremy's first time in England, although he's wanted to come over here since he was a youngster. And this year he thought the time was right."

Brown is from Melbourne, where he was employed as a lending officer for a local bank. Initially he played for Underbowl and Eagle Hawk before joining Carlton, the most famous club in Melbourne, where he is a regular in their first grade squad.

He almost beat his career-high knock against Kexborough (which stands at 180 for Eagle Hawk) but admits the highlight of his career so far was helping Carlton win the Victoria Association's Second Grade Championship.

The Golcar skipper came to learn of Brown through an old teammate of his at Heckmondwike who highly recommended the all-rounder, who also plays Aussie Rules for Eagle Hawk.

"Before coming to Golcar I played for a while with Heckmondwike in the Central Yorkshire League, and our Aussie pro at the time was Brad Haverstein who also plays with Carlton, and I contacted him to see if he could recommend anyone for us this season," said Robinson.

"Brad scored 900 runs and took 98 wickets for us in his last season and told me that Browny was even better than him!

"Of course, a good personal recommendation is certainly better than not knowing someone you are signing, and I'm certainly chuffed with what we've got."

Not only has Brown presently got an average of 227, but his bowling has also impacted highly with back-to-back five-wicket hauls.

"He bowls left-arm medium to quick, but will obviously get quicker when the wickets harden up," continued Robinson.

"He did a good job at Kexborough, coming back on to bowl when Mark Bray and Richie Kapoor were threatening to take the game away from us.

"Knowing that Steve (Whitwam) wanted to come back once we got promotion gave us even more incentive to go up last season and, in truth, we probably were short of that spin last year, even though we did go up comfortably in the end.

"The size of our ground suits Steve's bowling, and having played here before he knows just what to expect.

"His capture completes the other half of our spin-twin duo, alongside David Law and gives us the spin variation that we need."

Golcar also received a big bonus with the sudden re-appearance of ex-captain and wicketkeeper Brent Walker, who last played on a regular basis with the Swallow Lane club in the late Nineties before moving home to live in Jersey.

A hard-hitting batsman (he made 47 against Meltham and 40-odd in the Heavy Woollen against Clayton West) Walker now lives in Northamptonshire, but is hoping to play all season in Huddersfield.

"Brent's arrival came right out of the blue and is a great bonus for the club," added Robinson.

"He suddenly appeared before the start of the season and said he'd like to sign on for us again. Brent's family still live at Ovenden so when we have a double header he's planning on staying overnight at his parents and then driving home on Sunday night.

"Brent's arrival, with what we already had, has given us a really good balance."