News from the leagues

posted by John Winn

Waking to a good covering of snow in The Lower Ure Valley this morning and seeing a forecast for the week ahead that promised cold, easterly winds and the possibility of more snow made the domestic cricket season seem a long way off. An increasing number of county clubs complete their winter preparation abroad and twitter feeds have been carrying countless tweets from the Caribbean where both Derbyshire and Yorkshire have been involved in the Barbados T20 competition. Yorkshire lost to Notts in the semi final yesterday by five wickets and the winners went on to beat A52 neighbours Derbyshire in the final.

Nearer to home Somerset will take on Worcestershire in a two day friendly at Taunton starting on Thursday, yes this Thursday the 21st March, just three days time, in my book if not the met office's, the first day of spring. The forecast for Taunton that day is max 7c which will feel like 3c. Enjoy. Should the Pears still feel cricket in March is a good idea they then cross the Severn Bridge to meet Glamorgan and after a visit to Chelmsford next week they have five days cricket fixed up at Kidderminster where they will entertain Durham and Gloucestershire. These games have been switched from New Road to allow HQ to recover from winter flooding.

I  have been trawling the websites of some local leagues and found a few snippets that may be of interest

• in the Dales Council Pudsey St L have withdrawn from Div C which will now operate with seven clubs.

• Central Yorkshire clubs have been invited to comment on their prospects for the forthcoming season and include the dates, opponents, venues and start times for any pre-season friendly games. As this league starts a week earlier than most this might present some opportunities for pcws to open their 2013 accounts..

• The Langbaurgh League received an en bloc application from all clubs in the Cleveland League to join their neighbours but at the AGM no proposer could be found so the application was not put to the meeting.  
• In the NYSD Hartlepool have received a grant of just short of £50000 for essential work on their more than one hundred year old pavilion. My Hartlepool source has suggested to me that this may prevent the club from hosting the three day friendly between Durham and Yorkshire seconds in mid April.

• A York  league XI will play the RAF at Sheriff  Hutton Bridge on Tuesday 21st May, 1:00 pm start 
• an under 21 side will play MCC at Scarborough on Wednesday 31st July wickets pitched 11:00 and a side is being put together to play a touring team of Australian veterans on July 15th, Venue and time to be announced.

Finally pcws may be interested to know that Northern rail is providing a weekend's free travel within the network for groups up to four people in the period 13th April to 19th May. To take advantage of the offer application must be made on line and the applicant must be enter their 'unique code' which can be obtained from leaflets available on a limited basis from local stations. Your intended weekend must be declared on application. I successfully made an application yesterday and as the network stretches to Carlisle in the northwest, Nottingham in the southeast, Crewe in the southwest and Chathill in Northumberland the possibilities to visit new areas are obvious.