Moorlands are enjoying mixing it with the best this season after a meteoric rise up the Drakes League rankings.

It’s been success after success since the Mirfield club’s move from the Central Yorkshire League and now they’ve hit the top flight, they are determined to stay there.

Hard-working chairman Ian Rounding has made sure good structures are in place off the field and his 23-year-old son Michael is leading them through uncharted territory inside the white boundary line.

He recognises it’s going to be a bumpy ride at times to establish Moorlands among the elite, but after successive victories against Delph and Golcar, Rounding believes they are already gaining valuable experience at top level (they’re eighth in the standings) and is very hopeful of making the last four in the arrowselfdrive Sykes Cup.

“I can’t lie, it’s been a bit tough for us so far, but we always knew it would be,” said Rounding, whose side are at Rastrick tomorrow in the Cup quarter-finals.

“In our team we’ve got eight or nine who’ve never played in this division before, and you quickly realise there is a lot of strength in depth from one to 14 in the table.

“When you are in the bottom division there might be two or three good cricketers who can win a game, in the middle division it’s maybe three or four per team, but in the Premiership they are pretty much strong all round.

Drakes Premiership Cricket: Shepley v Moorlands

“The fielding is better and I think you see the biggest difference in the first-change bowling. Instead of being able to see off the openers like you can in the lower divisions, you’ve got more good bowling to come and they ask a lot more questions of you.

“There is a bit more consistency through every team, but everyone in our team has always felt we’ve not been far away from getting two or three good results together and moving up the table.”

Rounding is one of the best wicketkeeper batsmen around and he’s enjoying pulling the strings for a new-look line-up which includes one very familiar face – Chris Lloyd.

The talented all-rounder from Brisbane is again spearheading the Memorial Ground attack with 30 wickets at 17 apiece and his runs in the middle order are again proving invaluable.

Towering opener Andrew Fortis has led the way with the bat, hitting just under 400, but Rounding feels that department has still to fully click.

“We’ve probably been short of someone to go on and make a really big score and give us that platform, but I can’t fault the bowling or the fielding,” said the skipper.

“Chris has been really good for us again and I don’t think I can really find the words to do him justice, because he’s the leader of our attack and everyone realises that.

“In my opinion, there’s no-one who really comes close to him in terms of quality as a bowler and without him we would be struggling a lot more – he makes a big difference.

“He has done well for us in the other two divisions and he has carried that level of performance through to this one, so he is very important to us.

“I know you will ask whether he’ll be coming back again next year and it’s probably the same answer as previously – we want him to but Chris is getting older and he’s wanting to settle down with his life, so whether he’ll come back again I don’t know.

“We’ll be doing all we can to get him back, that’s for sure, but at this stage I’d say it’s unlikely. Still, I said that last year and look where we are!”

Darrell Sykes
Darrell Sykes

Aussie Jaryd Maxwell has joined Moorlands this season on a British passport and they’ve made two wise recruitments from Mirfield Parish Cavaliers in leg-spinning batsman Michael Padgett and off-spinner bat David Winn, alongside Darrell Sykes from the Wes.

Will Binns has also made the switch from Almondbury Wesleyans, having previously got on well socially with the Moorlands lads, and Rounding feels everyone is gradually getting to grips with the level of competition.

“At the beginning of the season we didn’t know a lot about the clubs we are up against or the players, but while you respect everyone you have to have belief in your own team and we feel we’ll do okay,” he explained.

“We didn’t set any goals as to where we might finish or aim at a certain position. Avoiding relegation was always first and foremost and to take every game as it comes, but we go out with the intention of winning every match and to be competitive, and it’s starting to produce the results we want.

“With the start we’ve had, we’d be happy with a mid-table finish. The main thing is to keep looking up rather than behind us and if we do that, we will be okay.”

So what of the future for a club who have a thriving junior section and are developing their clubhouse and facilities all the time?

“The club has come a long way thanks to a few people,” said Rounding.

“We’ve progressed in our cricket and our facilities have changed a lot in the last three years as well, since we applied to the Huddersfield League.

“We are going in the right direction and, as far as getting that run of results, we are getting there.

“There was a chat about recruitment before the season and that has gone well for us with the new lads on board, and now we are into the season we definitely want to stay in the top flight going forward.

“The ambition for the club was set out two or three years ago in that we want to be in the Premiership and, now we are here, the first thing is to make sure we stay here. Our intention is to build from here, but we all know you can’t speak too soon and have to stay focused because, if you don’t, it can all fall apart in the blink of an eye.

“With the lads we’ve got, though, and a season behind us of experience, if we can keep people together then hopefully next year we can push on and maybe keep going up that table.

“I don’t know how far we can go at this stage, but that’s the plan.”