DANNY GLOVER hopes Shepley can reap the rewards of a great team spirit and eventually reflect on a successful season through the gleaming panels of the Byrom Shield.

The Marsh Lane club have their name on the main championship trophy only twice – when Glover’s father Ian was leading their Section A attack in the early 1980s – and they would like nothing better than to chalk a first win of the Drakes Premiership era.

Their skipper, however, is far too canny to get drawn into thinking the job is already done.

Glover accepts a lot can change between now and September if they allow it to, but there won’t be a lack of effort or too much complacency from the leaders if his driving personality has anything to do with it.

“The Byrom Shield would be nice, of course it would, especially as we’ve been considered a cup team over the last couple of years,” said Glover, who turns 27 this month and will lead Shepley tomorrow in the Sykes Cup quarter-finals at home to Delph.

“I don’t think we played our best cricket at all last year – we were missing something – but the signings we’ve brought in this time seem to have clicked us together.

“It’s okay to win a cup and you have a great one-night celebration, but to win a league it’s accumulated over 20-odd games and shows how consistently good you’ve been – it’s a lot bigger achievement.

“Our club haven’t won it in the Premiership and it would be nice to go that way, so we need to build on what has been a good start and I still think we can get better as the season goes on.

“There’s a lot of hard work ahead, though, and we can’t take anything for granted because anyone can beat anyone else in this league – like Hoylandswaine realised at the start of the summer.”

So what’s his style of leadership?

“I’m quite a drill sergeant and I don’t like to think anyone is slacking,” he answered.

“I rollock the team even when we win because I expect high standards from them. To be fair, the lads know what I am asking of them and they’ve put it in so far.

“We’ve had a good run, so the worst thing we can do is take our foot off the gas. We need to build more points, try and create a gap and give ourselves some breathing space if we can.”

In Dan and Greg Wood, Shepley have two of the best batsmen in the league. In Worksop footballer Tom Denton they have one of the most gifted.

Add in arguably the best opening attack in the top flight with Glover (31 wickets) and his brother Craig (23 wickets) , plus two dangerous spinners in South African signing Sean Savage from the Claremont Club in Cape Town (14 wickets) and former Clayton West teenager Danny Wood, and you’ve got a pretty potent recipe – that’s without mentioning Liam Wiles’ all-round contribution and the wicketkeeping skills of Josh Clarkson (drafted in from Skelmanthorpe).

“We all like to think we can add to the batting, but the top five are anyone’s engine room and Dan Wood has started the season brilliantly by getting towards 500 runs and being solid, determined not to give his wicket away,” explained Glover, whose side entertain Marsden today.

“Greg is the opposite – an attacking flair player – so they complement each other well, and Denny (Tom Denton) has come of age a bit this time.

“He has every shot in the book and he likes to feel bat on ball a lot, but he seems to have corrected that this season and he realises he doesn’t have to hit absolutely everything, which is good to see.

“Tom gives us a big bonus when his footballing commitments allow him to be here, and his presence helps make it a really good top five.”

Glover reckons the wickets have been ‘bowler friendly’ so far but is really happy with the balance of the attack.

“We stick to our plans, set a field and bowl to it and give ourselves little targets,” he said.

“Myself and Craig like to drive each other on as brothers – we both like to be getting wickets ahead of the other one if we can! – and our two spinners have been doing really well.

“Sean Savage is a leg-spinner who bats and he is very consistent with the ball, puts it in good areas and doesn’t give away many freebies, which is rare for a leggie.

“He has slotted in really well with young Danny Wood coming from Clayton West, because he turns it a lot and is nice and tight, as well as being a very enthusiastic young lad.

“Liam Wiles also seems to have found more accuracy this time and is also batting well, so it’s all good – especially having two opposite spinners on our big ground.

“That’s what we had when we won the two trophies (Sykes Cup and Heavy Woollen in 2011) with SP Singh and Rashid, and it works well.”

Shepley are certainly in a rich vein of form, and Glover believes that can continue providing no-one loses focus.

“We’ve gelled together and we seem to have got our team spirit right back where it needs to be with young lads coming in and the signings we’ve made,” he said.

“It feels right, we all get on and there are no weak links – there’s a good amount of trust between us all and that’s what you need.”