New talks are under way to find a safe haven for Huddersfield Central League clubs next season.
The Drakes League and Spenser Wilson Halifax League are pooling expertise to find a solution .
The proposed incorporation of the Central as a whole into the Halifax set-up has been withdrawn after five Central clubs approached the Drakes about membership.
Three Central clubs – Birchencliffe, Leymoor and Mount – have applied correctly and independently under YCB rules to join Halifax and are being dealt with in the normal way.
The rest of the Central League clubs remain in limbo, hence a new effort to find a solution.
A press release from the Halifax League confirmed: “The chairman of the Halifax League, Anthony Briggs, is now in positive discussions with his counterpart in the Huddersfield League, Trevor Atkinson, to create a brand new proposal to accommodate all of the remaining Central League clubs in a competitive league structure.
“The Central League Management Committee has been made fully aware of these developments and is fully supportive of these new talks.
“An announcement of the new proposal, which both the Halifax and Huddersfield leagues are making in the interests of promoting amateur cricketing opportunities across both areas, will be made shortly.
“This will hopefully remove some of the recent uncertainty for Central League clubs who can be assured that all clubs will have a league structure to play in next season that caters for
both one team and two-team clubs.”
The Halifax League executive met on Wednesday and dissolved their original offer to the Central, which had been initially accepted by a small majority.
The initial offer to accommodate all 14 Central League clubs en bloc had changed significantly with the decision of five member clubs to approach the Drakes to see if they
could join them rather than accept the Halifax League proposal.
Serious reservations had arisen over the new structure due to the reducing numbers involved, plus the lack of second teams in some cases.
The uncertainty created cast grave doubts over the continued viability of the new structure of the league that was far removed from the original proposal.
