League unveils structure

Photo: PICTURE by PAUL STERRITT

STEPPING OUT . . . players from Crompton Cricket Club’s first team get ready to follow the umpires on to the field for the final round of matches in the history of the CLL.

CRICKET: 

WITH the flag falling on the Lake Garage Central Lancashire League, all eyes are on next season and a new dawn for local cricket.

Championship winners Crompton and Royton will be playing in the top division of the Pennine Cricket League in 2016, with Heyside, Oldham and Werneth in the tier below.

Woodhouses, who have just completed their Greene King Lancashire County League campaign, have been placed in Division One. The Belfields outfit will pit their wits against the likes of Astley and Tyldesley, Elton, Swinton Moorside and Bamford Fieldhouse.

Senior teams at Bamford haven’t played competitive cricket since being dismissed from the Saddleworth and District Cricket League in 2013 for continued flouting of the rules. Playing out of a top ground at Hollins Lane, they will hope to take one of the promotion places.

Heywood, who finished mid-table in the CLL Premier Division, will face top-flight opposition from the likes of Glossop, Flixton, Greenmount and Prestwich, who ran away with the Lancashire County League title.

Droylsden, Whalley Range and Wythenshawe, who play their final matches in the Saddleworth and District Cricket League on Sunday, will be in the third division.

The leagues pan out like this:

Greater Manchester League, Premier Division: Bury, Clifton, Denton St Lawrence, Denton West, Edgworth, Egerton, Flixton, Glossop, Greenmount, Heywood, Prestwich, Unsworth.

Division One: Astley & Tyldesley, Bamford Fieldhouse, Dukinfield, Elton, Radcliffe, Roe Green,

Swinton Moorside, Walshaw, Winton, Woodbank, Woodhouses, Worsley.

Division Two: Brooksbottom, Denton, Droylsden, Edenfield, Flowery Field, Irlam, Stand, Stretford, Thornham, Westleigh, Whalley Range, Wythenshawe.