Scholes captain James Noble praised the magnificent team effort which landed the Drakes League title and promised: “We’ll be challenging for more silverware next year.”

The Chapelgate side have powered to the Byrom Shield with just one league defeat all season, playing a positive brand of cricket driven by homegrown talent and a sprinkling of compelling Kiwi chemistry.

It’s been an irresistible concoction – apart from one off day at Slaithwaite and one disastrous hour in the Sykes Cup final – and Noble firmly believes the club’s success is poised to continue.

“Winning the Byrom Shield has been a superb team effort with every single player doing well throughout,” said the skipper, who is hoping to add the Sykes Cup and Heavy Woollen next season to complete his already impressive CV.

“You don’t win every game bar one without everyone contributing – you just can’t do it carrying passengers – and while it’s great to have three New Zealand based players helping us, all top pros, the local lads who have played have grown up at the club and they’ve performed superbly.”

Noble says ‘the stats don’t lie’ and he’s right. Scholes have been the outstanding team of the summer, a fact recognised in many messages of congratulation from their rivals.

In the batting, Northern Districts’ Joe Carter tops the Premiership list with 1,183 runs at 62.26, while his Bay of Plenty colleague Pete Drysdale has 825 runs at 45.83, Tom Chadwick 821 at almost 36 at the top of the order and teenager Toby Booth 425 at No4.

When it comes to bowling, Josh Brook has a fantastic 70 wickets at 13.10, his teenage brother Louis 32 victims opening the bowling, off-spinning overseas Jono Boult 36 victims in his truncated spell at Chapelgate and there’s been valuable back-up from Tommy Boorman and Chadwick.

Drysdale, Noble, Carter, Boorman and Booth are all among the league’s top outfield catchers – Scholes have been superb in the field all summer – and wicketkeeper Richard Holmes puts the icing on that cake with a Drakes-best total of 42 league and cup victims.

On top of all that, you have the immense all-round talent of Tom Brook.

The 23-year-old has picked up 66 wickets at 13.32, opening the bowling against all the best and most destructive batsmen in the Premiership, and he’s also added 509 runs at 42.42 in just 16 innings.

“I’ve been fortunate enough to see most of our young players come through our junior set-up into the first team and we are reaping the benefits,” explained Noble.

“Tom Brook has now had seven or eight years of regular first-team cricket and in my opinion he’s the best player in the league.

“He should win the all-rounder of the year trophy with a record like his in the top flight and, like the rest of our young players, there is no reason why he can’t take it on for years to come.

“We have a great group of lads who want to play for each other and want to play for what is a superb club, and going forward everything looks very positive indeed.

“At the start of this season we said we wanted to challenge for and win every trophy if we could, on the basis that if we aimed high and fell short we would probably still win something. That’s how it’s turned out. We were very disappointed not to win the Sykes Cup final when we were in a very strong position, and we were disappointed about going out of the T20 Trophy in a bowl-out, because we really fancied our chances of winning that again.

“When we think about those set-backs, though, it just makes us more eager to challenge for five trophies next season, including the Black Sheep Yorkshire Champions.

“Hopefully we will have the majority of this squad together again, but if we have to strengthen we will.

“There are a couple of people we’ve got our eye on and, as a prominent club, hopefully people will want to come and play for us.

“You can’t rest on your laurels, you always have to be looking to improve if you want to challenge on all fronts.”

Noble paid tribute to the club’s committee, especially secretary John Andrews and steward Paul Ibbotson who keep Chapelgate running on a weekly basis, and also to sponsors Envy Fires and Fireplaces, The Car Lot of Milnsbridge, WM Sykes of Holmfirth and MEP Contracting.

“The title is reward for a lot of hard work which has been put in on the pitch and a lot of hard work behind the scenes as well,” he said.

“Everyone plays their part and it’s a great environment to be in.”