TICKETS are going fast for the Drakes Huddersfield Cricket League’s annual dinner and prize presentation.

The event will once again be held at the Cedar Court Hotel, Ainley Top, on Friday, January 20.

This year’s guest speaker is the former Derbyshire, Essex and England cricketer Geoff Miller, who is now chairman of the England selectors.

And with an award-winning Geordie comedian Rudi West, demand for tickets has been high.

Four of the League’s clubs have still to submit their ticket requests to the League’s Executive Secretary Stephen Sykes, but with more than 300 places already taken (plus guests) and a limit set at 370, anyone still wanting tickets are advised to make contact as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

This will be the first dinner and presentation evening for the Drakes League’s new ‘management team’ led by Trevor Atkinson, who was recently installed as the new chairman, having served the League for the last three years as Executive Secretary, and the occasion will mark his inaugural speech to the League.

All the individual prizes will be presented on the night, with several clubs having more than one winner, the most notable of course, being Golcar, where Steve Whitwam has landed both the batting and bowling prizes in the Premiership.

Holmfirth have two winners in Javed Iqbal junior (Championship bowling) and Ian Whiteley (Championship Second XI bowling), as do Lepton Highlanders with Steve Brown winning the fielding prize in the Championship and Terry Lyons winning the Second XI wicketkeeping prize in the Conference.

Double-award winners also include Armitage Bridge with Carl Jump taking the bowling and Andy Gledhill the fielding, while Thongsbridge’s Ben Raven-Hill and Tom Kemp have lifted the batting and wicketkeeping prizes respectively, all four coming in the Conference, while Meltham have Luke Kenworthy (Championship wicketkeeping) and Richard Burgin (Second XI Premiership fielding) and Honley too have twin winners in Joe McNamara (wicketkeeping) and Chris Woodhead (fielding) both in the Second XI Championship.

The other major prizes to be presented next month will be the joint winners of the Lady Sykes Candlesticks, awarded to cricketers who have given outstanding service to a club and the game, along with the Fred Stallard Cup, which is annually given to a person who has given long and distinguished service to a club, and or the league.