Elland are in a rebuilding phase and hoping it won’t be too long before they are back in serious contention for major honours.
It’s already a decade since they last lifted the Drakes League’s Byrom Shield as champions and even longer since they hoisted the Sykes Cup, but they are hoping to turn those fortunes around in the next few seasons.
Former Yorkshire and England player Richard Blakey, who grew up at the club, has returned to take charge of the cricket side under dynamic, forward-thinking chairman Mark Ward, while Greg Finn has taken on the captaincy of a new-look side.
Gone from last season are Paul Winrow, Chris Goulden, Ibrar Younas and Niall Lockley and in have come Aussie teenager Daniel Arms, Wasim Qasim and, spectacularly, Fahid Rehman – whose magnificent century and left-arm spin undid leaders Scholes in the only game played last weekend, when rain soaked the entire area.
“We have had a lot of changes and, after losing the players we have, it’s been a real rebuilding job,” said Finn, who is doing a solid job in the high batting order in addition to being among the leading wicketkeepers in the top flight.
“Apart from Wayne Swift, I’m the oldest at 26 and then we’ve got a lot of lads around 19, 20 and 21, so we are a young, developing side.
“We’ve played some good cricket in parts, but then we’ve not quite put it all together in good all-round performances. Sometimes we’ve bowled really well and not matched it with the batting and then other weeks it’s been vice-versa, so it was good to put both together against Scholes and chalk the win.
“Four wins and five defeats is not exactly where we wanted to be, and we have had some tough losses, like against Meltham when we got caught on a pitch which dried out, but we are working at it and there is a lot of cricket to be played yet.”
One of the biggest disappointments so far was to go out of the arrowselfdrive Sykes Cup in the first round, after posing 288 at Kirkburton.
“That hurt us because, while we knew the league might be beyond us this summer, we thought we could have a good cup run,” added Finn.
“The batting performance was our best so far by a mile to put up 288, but then we basically got ‘Ibrar Latif-ed’ (he scored an unbeaten 137 to take Burton through).”
Rehman, who hit 110 last week at Chapelgate to add to 117 against Burton in the Cup and 99 not out against Barkisland, is making a big impact on the team and Finn says he has settled in well at Hullen Edge.
“Fahid is a good player and was the Bradford League Young Player of the Year in 2011,” he explained.
“He went up to Earby in the Ribblesdale League to be basically their club pro, and he has come to us highly recommended and hit the ground running.
“He is a stylish batsman who likes to go hard from the top and he has batted fantastically well in several matches already. He is someone we look to at the top of the order, a real go-to player for us, and he can do a useful job with the ball as well.”
With the captaincy, Finn is delighted to have the top job at a club where he’s had association since the age of 10, and he warms to the responsibility.
“I’m learning a lot because with batting in the high order, keeping wicket and being captain, it’s a lot to keep on top of but I am enjoying the challenge,” he said.
“The big thing is the fact I’m not focusing on myself but worrying about the other 10 lads and helping them to produce what we want. If I can make some contributions individually to us winning some matches then great, but it’s about the other 10 for me.
“I am aware of all the history of the club and the fact we are the most successful in the league, growing up looking at those pictures of the ‘double doubles’ and realising what has gone before.
“The committee behind me are realistic and know that’s not what we are looking at just at the moment because of the constraints of the budget and the young players we’ve got. Maybe those are not the expectations this season, but hopefully we can get back there because it is cyclical.
“Scholes have shown you can be in a rebuilding phase one season and top of the league the next, and hopefully that’s where we will be, so I’m proud and humbled to be given the opportunity to lead the side at a club of such standing and, as I said, I’m enjoying it.”
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