PEDDER JOINS THE PRO RANKS
Gareth Pedder has joined the pro ranks at Carnforth |
The Furness Building Society Northern Premier Cricket League (in association with 3D Sports) is gearing up for the new season.
The pre-season committee meeting will be held at Darwen CC on Monday 30 March 2009.
Several clubs have been in touch with their news for the season.
In no particular order they are as follows:
CARNFORTH have a new professional in Gareth Pedder, the former Morecambe all rounder. Pedder, a right-handed batsman and medium fast right arm bowler has been a Morecambe stalwart for many years. We believe that appointing an up and coming English professional is the way forward, explained Carnforth spokesperson Mark Holmes.
Gareth is a fine cricketer and his professional and dedicated approach has already become apparent during the close season. The Carnforth players are delighted with his signing and there is a really good buzz around the club.
Darren Moore replaces Adam Hornby as captain. Hornby has been forced to quit Northern League cricket due to work commitments and has joined Sedgwick in the Westmorland League.
The highly respected opening batsman Moore has been playing club cricket in Australia over the winter.
Highly rated opening batsman Ryan Nelson returns to Carnforth after one season at Lancaster.
NETHERFIELD professional Callum Ferguson who broke the league batting record in 2008 will not be returning.
Ferguson has enjoyed a superb 2008-09 season down under and attained Australian ODI honours.
We originally resigned Callum, he certainly learnt a great deal last year, explained Netherfield secretary Ian Heath. After scoring only two first-class centuries before he came to us, he has now scored another three, played for Australia and is now in South Africa for the one-day series. He was selected in the ideal teams for all domestic competitions and now of course we've lost him How's that for gratitude? He may well be on the Ashes tour, let's hope we get some tickets.
Ferguson's replacement at Parkside Road is 27-year-old Glen Batticciotto, a left handed batsman and right medium bowler from Queensland who has represented Australia Under-19s.
Chris Parry continues as captain but Netherfield stalwart Tommy Prime has retired. Netherfield have signed the promising Penrith player Alex Atkinson.
KENDAL report as winter of "as you were" with popular South African professional Ross McMillan returning to Shap Road.
BARROW have also re-signed Sri Lankan professional Pasan Wanasinghe and captain Daryl Wearing continues in charge. But Cumberland all rounder Graham Dawson has left the club to join Dalton as professional. Wicket-keeper Chris D'Leny is looking to resume his career after missing the entire 2008 season due to a knee injury. D'Leny has spent the winter in Perth alongside club colleague Darren Clark.
Clark has plans to emigrate to Australia and has not yet confirmed whether he will play again at Barrow this season. Barrow have appointed Ian Sharp as cricket manager. A well repspected cricketer, who was part of Millom's successful side for many years, Sharp is also part of the Cumberland management team.
CHORLEY's popular professional Friedel de Wet will not be returning after an injury-ravaged season in South Africa. In his place the Windsor Park club have appointed Australia Chris Hartley as professional.
Hartley, a 26-year-old Queenslander is a talented batsman and wicket-keeper with 48 first-class games behind him. He also bowls off-spin.
Jack Catterall continues as captain.
LEYLAND have re-engaged popular Pakistan professional Ameer Khan and former Lancashire player David Makinson will again captain the side. Leyland expect again to be largely unchanged but have an exciting signing as Lancashire Second XI all rounder Luis Reece joins the club from Blackpool. Reece has spent the winter playing club cricket in Australia.
Leyland will again be undertaking a mid season tour of Malta.
ST ANNES have a new captain in Andy Kellett who replaces Duncan Whalley in the role. They have a new professional as Sri Lankan Dinuka Hettiarachchi replaces Mansoor Ahmed. Hettiarachchi, who has played one test for Sri Lanka, played for Keswick CC in 2008. The 32-year-old slow left arm bowler and right-handed bat plays for Chilaw Marians in his home country and has taken 564 first-class wickets at an average of 21.
After ten years at Vernon Road popular bowler Dave Taylor has left St Annes and will play for Baxenden in the Ribblesdale League in 2009. Baxenden are captained by former Lancashire and St Annes star Ian Austin.
St Annes are also delighted to announce that slow left-arm bowler Michael "Yogi" Baer rejoins the club after spending the 2008 season with Milnrow. Baer has played for Lancashire Second XI. Neil Bradley replaces Kellett as captain of the Second XI.
Atiq Uz-Zaman, who has been playing club cricket in New Zealand over the winter, has been appointed St Annes' club coach. Atiq will be taking the under 11s and younger players on Monday evenings and the under 18s and younger on Wednesdays. He will aso be running the seniors nets on Tuesdays.
Everyone at St Annes and in the wider cricket community was deeply saddened by the death of Eveline Standing, wife of club president Brian over the winter. Club chairman John Cotton paid a fulsome tribute on the club's website.
Paul Danson continues as captain of BLACKPOOL who have re-engaged popular Sri Lankan professional Sajeewa Weerakoon. Steven Mercer will captain the Second XI. Apart from the loss of Luis Reece Blackpool report few changes though Michael Moore will miss the entire season after sustaining severe leg injuries in a road accident over the winter. Blackpool are set to sign three Palace Shield cricketers who have been netting with the club over the winter.
Andrew Cook continues as DARWEN captain and the Birch Hall club have appointed South African David Wiese as professional to replace Atif Ashraf. Wiese, a right-hand bat and right arm fast bowler has played for Easterns, Titans and South Africa A.
Popular chairman Matthew Grant has moved out of the area and club stalwart Graham Ainslie replaces him in the Birch Hall hot seat.
There was sad news to report recently when former Darwen and Lancashire professional Ken Snellgrove died in March 2009. Snellgrove was Darwen's paid man in 1984 and 1985.
19-year-old South African Wayne Parnell replaces New Zealand A bowler Bruce Martin as MORECAMBE professional. A left-handed bat and left-arm medium fast bowler Parnell has already represented his county at ODI and T20 level. He plays for Eastern Province.
Mark Lomas continues as Morecambe captain and Andy Armstrong will captain the Second XI. Damien Gudgeon will combine his role as club coach with First XI wicket-keeper and Nick Milner will be Head of Cricket. Morecambe have confirmed the signing of experienced Northern League cricketer Charles Boucher but Phil Thornton has retired after a distinguished career.
Australian Trent Kelly will be the LANCASTER professional in 2009 and Tim Barry will captain the Lune Road side.
Lancaster's original choice, Etienne Gerber, was injured while bowling in his domestic league in South Africa.
Barry said: "We are over the moon to have managed to get Trent. He is a quality all-round first class cricketer who opens the bowling and bats in the middle order. He is a qualified coach and also has experience of working as a groundsman so he is a big bonus for us."
Barry thanked the club's main sponsor, John Sanderson, of LPN.
Without John we would not have been able to bring in someone of Trent's calibre. Not only is John supporting the club, he is supporting the city's children because of the quality of the coaching he supports."
Kelly, 25, plays for Western Australia and has been involved with both the Australian Academy and Australia U19 representative sides during his career. He made his first-class debut in 2004-05.
FLEETWOOD have had to make a late change to their professional after originally engaging 24-year-old Australian im Paine. Instead Adam Crosthwaite will be Fleetwood's professional. Crosthwaite is a wicket-keeper/ batsman who plays for Victoria and has played 26 first-class games. He represented Australia Under 19s.
Fleetwood also have a new captain as 22-year-old opening batsman and wicket-keeper James Ellis takes over from Wayne Clarke.
Fleetwood director of cricket Pat King stressed that the captaincy change is no reflection on the retiring captain Wayne Clarke. We felt that a new pro and a new captain was a chance to move on. Wayne has been fine about the situation, King said. He's done a lot over the last two seasons but a captain is handicapped when the pro is not performing. That leaves no leadership for the players to look up to and we're confident we will restore that.
But Fleetwood have lost top all rounder Adam Parker who will be PRESTON'S professional in 2009. The West Cliff side have also lost the services of longstanding coach Clive Henderson, scorer Dave Pick and skipper Glenn Johnstone while Second XI captain Johnny Winter has moved to the Palace Shield.
