League launch night beckons

Cricket:

PREPARATIONS for next month’s launch of the Pennine Cricket League are gaining momentum.

One issue likely to be settled soon is the make up of next summer’s top flight, with eight current CLL teams and four Saddleworth outfits expect to fill the 12 places.

Glenn Kershaw, the Littleborough-based architect of the Pennine League, expects the eight CLL teams to be the current nine in the Premier League, minus the three clubs leaving (Heywood, Clifton and Unsworth), plus the top two teams from the 2015 championship.

Even if Wood Cup runners-up Royton were to finish in the bottom two in this season’s Premier Division, they would not be relegated to the second tier next season.

As Kershaw understands it, the Saddleworth League is nominating the top four finishers for the PL top flight.

Kershaw said: “We have a lot of the right people in the right positions, but there is still some work to be done and decisions made.”

One of those will be whether the PL insists clubs refrain from paying amateurs, or makes it an open league. I understand opinion is divided.

The PL would be adopting a head in the sand mentality if it doesn’t go “open.” In a perfect world, the traditonal values of CLL stalwarts would be upheld.

But do we genuinely believe every amateur in the league is turning out for nothing?

As it stands, accusing fingers are pointed at individuals and clubs in both the CLL and Saddleworth league. Some targets may be legitimate, but who knows who is paying whom? And is there anything truly wrong with rewarding amateurs deemed worthy of such a bonus? If doing so keeps talented indivduals in the new Pennine League, that’s got to be good for cricket. Less wealthy clubs will be at a disadvantage, but you can argue they are already. It’s just that any payments are made in secret.

With a new league almost upon us, the time is ripe for change.

twitter: @KeithMcHughOC