WORK on a state-of-the-art train-ing area is underway in thebiggest development at the clubin years.

Several years have gone intoplanning the two-bay facilitywhich will cost over £30,000.Although the England & WalesCricket Board has given abumper £24,000 grant towardsthe scheme the club still has tocontribute £8,000 towards thecost.

“It is without doubt the biggestnew project the club has seen inthe last 20 years – and shows ourcommitment to the young peopleof Earby and the surrounding dis-trict,” said club secretary, StuartSpencer.

The contract was won by ECBapproved company Total-Play Ltdfollowing a visit by David Bates, aformer head groundsman atNorthamptonshire County CricketGround.

The company has installed sim-ilar cricket nets at several countygrounds and top private schools –including Harrow. They even builtone for England star FreddieFlintoff – in his back garden.

The work so far has been car-ried out by sub-contractorsBancroft Amenities, who removedover 200 tonnes of earth to createa level area ready to start buildingthe practice area.

They then installed drains andconcrete edging before adding

three huge wagon-loads of stoneto form the foundations. A 4mhigh batting cage was construct-ed and covered in netting.

Now they must wait for theweather to improve before theycan complete the work.

“We need a period of dryweather before we can lay thefinal layer of material which mustbe perfectly level. We also needthe temperature to rise before wecan fit the shockpads and finallyinstall the artificial ‘turf’ which isthe final playing surface,” said

John ‘JP’ Nugent, Bancrofts siteforeman.

David Bates was also happywith progress as work on the sitewent ahead. “When it is complet-ed the club will have a ‘RollsRoyce’ facility which will helpyoung players develop – and givethe senior players an opportunityto really work on their skills.”

SUPPORT from local companies gave the club amajor boost during difficult times last year.

Businesses, other groups and individuals gavetheir backing to the match sponsorship scheme andraised a total of over £1,500 which went towardssupporting the club.

The cost of staging every match is increasingeach year, but the small army of volunteers help

keep down the costs of running club.“Financially 2009 was a very tough year with

income over the bar – our main money earner –dropping to its lowest level since 1998. We knowtimes are hard for everyone, but we continue toenjoy tremendous support from local business andother organisations – without them the club wouldreally struggle,” said treasurer, John Heald.

Massive development is

a boost for youth cricket

Businesses back the club

Register with Earby CC online at – http://earby.play-cricket.comand keep up to date with all the latest news about your club

Earby Cricket Club

NEWS

Workers erect batting cages on

the new practice area (above) and

Freddy Flintoff (right) who has a

similar batting net in his garden.

Spring

2010

Spring

2010

SPEAKING from Pakistanthe club’s professional,Ali Azmat – a UKCC2qualified coach – is look-ing forward to returningto Earby CC.

“I have had some goodperformances in the FirstClass game in Pakistanand I am looking forwardto the new season withEarby,” he said.

Ali, a batsman and spinbowler, broke theRibblesdale League bat-ting record during hisfirst season with the cluband is relishing the chal-lenge ahead.

This year his aim is tohelp the club to win tro-phies. They last won theRibblesdale League in1996 and must go back tothe double-double win-ning season of 1991 fortheir last RamsbottomCup win.

“It would be great towin something this year,”he said.

Messagefrom

the pro

EarbyCricket Club NEWSUnder-13’s make sureof Upper Airedale titleEarby Under-13s were crownedchampions of the Upper AiredaleJunior League.

They recorded 13 crackingwins and just one defeat – by 6runs – at rivals Wharfedale Stagsgave them the Brook TavernerChampionship by five points fromthe Stags.

They scored a total of 1,371runs and took 88 wickets in theseason.

Macauley Cunninghamshowed his all-round talents with13 wickets and Jake Hargreaveswas an excellent foil with another10. Cunningham added 228runs, but still finished runner-upto team mate Shane Taylforth asCricketer-of-the-Year.

Shane smashed the Leaguebatting-scoring record with 327runs and was only out twice!

Solid back-up from JamaalAlcock and ‘master-blaster’ LukeHipgrave helped secure the title.

Hipgrave starred for theLeague Under-12s with two half-centuries in his four appear-ances.

The side’s only real downer

was losing out to Oxenhope in atied first round Cup-tie. Taylforthalso represented the District withplenty of success.

Mid-table security was the fin-ish for the 2009 Under-11s whopicked up wins over Skipton,Oakworth and Silsden (2). Thebowling was on the money butthe high run-scoring was peggedback by the loss of 71 wickets,

the highest in the Division.Kieran Mara was top batsman

with 113 and he was joined as abowling qualifier by MarcusThornber, Jake Greenbank andMason Naylor. The Barritt-Stephenson Cup was a possibletarget after wins over Wharfedaleand Steeton but they were beat-en by eventual winners,Oxenhope, in the semi-final.

NEWS...NEWS...NEWS...NEWS...NEWS...NEWS...NEWS...NEWS...NEWS...NEWS...NEWS...NEWS...NEWS

Send your news to John Heald at: wjheald@aol.com

Members of the Under-13s squad receive their tropies from new

Yorkshire captain Andrew Gale

A MEETING with SaddleworthCricket Club is the reward afterthe 1st XI qualified for the 2010LCB Knockout competition.

Earby will be at home for thecup clash, which must be playedby Sunday, May 16. The compe-tition is organised by theLancashire Cricket Board and issponsored by Barclays Wealth.

The visitors finished third in theSaddleworth and District Leaguelast year, which they describe as:“A decent season which couldhave been a whole lot better.”

If Earby make it through thefirst round encounter they couldface current Ribblesdale Leaguechampions, Baxenden, who takeon Longridge in their first roundmatch.

Earby draw

Saddleworth

in LCB Cup

Rain wreckspromotionrace hopes

PLANS are underway for

another Junior School cricket

festival on The Applegarth.

For several years the club

has organised free coaching

sessions for local primary

schools and we aim to coontin-

ue the work in 2010 by working

in partnership with the Pendle

Cricket Development Group.

In 2009 Kelbrook school’s

team (above) were crowned

local champions, with

Springfield, Thornton-in-

Craven and Salterforth schools

also taking part.

■ Earby’s ground is alsoused by West Craven High

School and the Pendle Under-

11s team.

THE long-established

Winter League has contin-

ued throughout the closed

season.

Eight mixed teams have

been battling it out at darts,

dominoes and pool.

The teams are now clos-

ing in on a thrilling finale to

their season.

A series of quizzes have

also been held throughout

the winter months.

Reunionplanned

A REUNION of former play-

ers is being planned to help

launch the 2010 season.

It is hoped that players

who represented the club

since the 1940’s will be pres-

ent – with several former

professionals expected to

join the celebrations.

Ex-captain Nigel Wear sug-

gested the reunion during

the club’s Annual Meeting

and all past and present

players will be informed as

soon as a date has been set.

Schoolsat the

Applegarth

High hopes for promotion by theUnder-15 side were cruellydashed for a second year by theweather and a late seasondefeat by Pendle Forest.

Their match with Oxenhopewas a victim of the rain but theymanaged a 20-run win overeventual Division ChampionsOakworth as one of their sevenwins in eight matches complet-ed.

A superb 40-run first round winwin over Oxenhope in theHargreaves Cup proved whatmight have been and a secondround win at Sutton raised hopesof silverware.

Again it was Forest who upsetthe apple-cart with a three-wick-et win on their way to victory inthe final.

GLEN CHAPPLE is to contin-

ue as captain of Lancashire

for the 2010 season.

He made an impressive

start to his reign, last year, by

leading the Red Rose county

to a mid-table finish in the

County Championship, a

Friends Provident Trophy

semi-final and a Twenty20

Cup quarter-final.

Glen started as a junior atEarby and played with theclub until just before beingcalled up to the Lancashireside in 1992.

Clubhouse