WATCH out Drakes Premiership, Hoylandswaine are back on song!

John Sadler’s champions made a miserable start to the campaign, winning only one of their first seven top-flight fixtures to the surprise of everyone in Yorkshire club cricket, let alone supporters at Haigh Lane.

It was all looking rather bleak until Qantas flight QF4876 touched down at Manchester Airport at the end of last month carrying one Michael Robert Craig Cranmer.

Mikey, as he is known to his mates both here and in Adelaide, has put the zing well and truly back into Hoylandswaine’s bowling and batting and the team have picked up every available point since.

Not only that, they’ve powered into the Sykes Cup semi-finals where they face a trip to Golcar and, before that on Sunday, July 7, they host York in the semi-finals of the Black Sheep Yorkshire Champions Trophy.

Silverware is suddenly back on the agenda, and even though they went into today’s match at Kirkburton trailing leaders Shepley by 23 points, don’t tell anyone at Swaine that retaining the Byron Shield is out of the question.

Skipper Sadler, now 31 and with a decade of first-class experience behind him with Yorkshire, Leicestershire and Derbyshire, will certainly make sure nothing is left to chance.

“We struggled for a bit of rhythm at the start of the season when Mikey wasn’t here and we didn’t execute our plans very well,” said Sadler, who has branched into full-time coaching and is doing his Level 4 qualification.

“As a team we didn’t bowl line and length and just didn’t bowl straight enough, and that meant we weren’t able to generate enough pressure in those first five or 10 overs.

“The way we are buzzing around between overs now means we are creating that pressure and Mikey obviously helps, so the confidence is coming back.

“As everyone knows, winning is a habit but, unfortunately, we got into a losing habit in the first month of the season. Hopefully, now, we are starting to turn the corner.”

So what qualities does the 24-year-old Cranmer bring to Swaine, who are in only their fifth season of Drakes League competition?

“He is a four-dimensional cricketer in my view because he not only gives you everything with his batting, bowling and fielding but he’s great in the dressing room – so all the boxes are ticked,” said Sadler.

“He is an Aussie, so he plays to win, and he complements Don Bandula very well with the ball so, as a pairing, they create pressure and, nine times out of 10, they get us off to a decent start by working as a partnership.

“Mikey is also a destructive middle order bat who can win a game from anywhere, so he’s great to have around.

“Alex Morris and a few of us have had decent starts with the bat, but we spoke about the fact we were losing wickets in clumps and realised we just can’t afford to do that if we are to challenge for honours.

“As a batting unit, those 50s and 60s have to be turned into 100s because that’s what wins you games, so we are looking to improve and get better and better as the season goes on.”

While winning the title, Swaine finished runners-up in the allroundercricket.com T/20 Trophy last summer and want to go one better this time, but the Sykes and, particularly, Black Sheep are capturing much attention.

“It’s the first time I’ve ever played in the Black Sheep and what a great competition it is,” said Sadler.

“For the club to go all the way would be magnificent and we’ll be doing a bit of research on York before we play them.

“It sounds like they’ve got a few good spinners and a few good Yorkshire Academy lads, so it will be a good challenge.”

So what of his own ambitions for the future after 60 first-class matches as a player (top score 145) plus over 130 one-day games at county level?

Sadler answered: “I still love the game, that’s for sure, and at 31 the worrying thing is I probably love it more than I have ever done, but I suppose that’s what happens.

“If somebody had offered me my professional career at 16 I would have snapped their hand off because I’m proud of what I did, but now it’s the next chapter and I feel it’s just as important to turn up for Hoylandswaine and do my best.

“I’m in the last stages of my Level 4 with the coaching and I’m keen to see where that goes, because I’m really enjoying it.

“I’d like to coach some League teams and maybe it might even lead me back into the county game, who knows?

“But I get a lot of satisfaction out of helping people improve – people of all abilities – and I’ll try and help people as much as I can.

“I’ve got quite a bit of experience and knowledge of the game and, hopefully, I can pass some of that on to the next generation.”