Secretary's Report for Season 2011
It gives me great pleasure on behalf of the Executive Committee to pass on our best wishes for 2012 and the forthcoming season. Writing this in October with persistent rain falling the 2012 season seems a long way off.
This is my first year as the Secretary of the Northern Premier League and it has been my privilege to have served you. To say that this has been a steep learning curve for me is something of an understatement and I must thank the Executive led by the Chairman and Vice Chairman and the Management Committee for their constant support.
The increasing influence of bodies associated with cricket outside our League such as the ECB has made the administration of the league more complex and time consuming. However I consider it essential that your League is represented on other cricket bodies such as the LCB and League Cricket Conference.
This season I have tried to save on postage and administration costs by dealing with the majority of correspondence electronically. This on the whole has been a success and I urge League Secretaries and Reps to keep me updated of any change to their email addresses.
I must offer my congratulations to St Annes CC who were crowned the Division 1 champions and also to Leyland CC who took the 2nd Division title.
Leyland CC also won both Division 1 & 2 Reader Cup competitions. A truly magnificent achievement for all those involved with the club
Kendal CC must be congratulated for winning the Jamie Heywood Twenty/20 Cup and then went on to stage the Twenty/20 Cockspur Quarter-Final v Hyde CC. Unfortunately the result did not go Kendal's way but they must be praised for staging the Quarter-Final in a highly professional manner.
The brilliant County Championship win by Lancashire CCC with nearly a whole team of home grown talent has highlighted Lancashire as a truly prominent county with outstanding cricket leagues. This has been good news for the Northern Premier League for producing players such as Steven Croft, Tom Smith and Alex Davies who was given his 1st team debut at Colwyn Bay. All have started their careers in the League.
I was saddened to hear of the sad passing of Ken Stokes who had umpired in the League for many years. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family.
The Executive wish to thank the Northern League Umpires Federation for their continued support. Unfortunately this season there seems to be a rise in unacceptable behaviour on the field, which the League will not tolerate. I hope the new season will be a vast improvement with behaviour and wish every club success on and off the field.
Finally may I thank the many Club members who have co-operated with the NPL and me in particular the last 12 months. I look forward to seeing you in the season 2012
Ann Gilfoyle
Secretary
