HIGHFIELD’S SUCCESSFUL SEASON

Date: 10th October 2016

A Paul Edwards copyright exclusive for L&DCC Official Website.

A wider view, it's not just about cups .........

It is, of course, the truth nobody likes to mention at the early season meeting: “Five first teams are going to be relegated”. Everyone knows it will happen but who, in April, thinks it will be them?

Yet, as if in contrast to the smiling faces at the Annual Dinner and Awards Evening on Friday, five clubs are now facing up to the prospect of playing in a lower division in 2017. So while it’s appropriate to extend out congratulations to the clubs and cricketers for whom the 2016 season was a tale of triumph, it’s also right to extend good wishes to Birkenhead Park, Rainford, Maghull, Northop Hall and Sutton, all of whom enjoyed rather different summers.

However, it is not a bland consolation to say that in addition to all the serious drawbacks - the sense of failure, the possible loss of some of your better players etc. - relegation can offer clubs opportunities they would not otherwise receive: the possibility of taking stock without the pressure of having to compete against teams currently better than your own, the chance to bring on your younger players without them being turned off the game by weekly defeats at the hands of stronger cricketers.

For those wanting a different perspective on life below the ECB Premier League, there is no one better to turn to than the Highfield chairman, Gary Speakman, an official who does not forget that the first team is just one of the sides his club puts out each weekend.

Nevertheless, the Billinge Road club’s first team was relegated in 2015 and it seemed likely that they would repeat the experience this summer until they beat Northop Hall on the last day of the season. Thus Highfield, who had been in the bottom three for around two months, were saved and their opponents, who had not been in the bottom two until the one Saturday evening when it really mattered, were relegated. This was Speakman’s thoughtful take on an eventful season.

“After the blow of relegation from the Premier League and then losing two players of the calibre and experience of Mike Farrell and Chris Liptrot, our new captain Jimmy Taylor really could have done without the unpredictability of the Pakistan Cricket Board. That deprived us of Saud Shakeel, who played just two early season games, both of which we won. Of course, under the rules we were unable to bring in a deputy overseas and our young squad took some time to get used to having to shoulder more responsibility. But performances in the final month were much stronger and a crucial win was so close in a few games.

“That the win would come on the last day could have been scripted to be honest, given the season we have had, but it was the performance that was as pleasing. Character, determination and clear evidence of the talent that we knew this squad possessed. I am so proud of how they turned things around and also of the wider membership who turned out in huge numbers for the last game to offer their support.

“We celebrated retaining our first division status, of course, but we were respectful of the situation that our visitors Northop Hall suddenly found themselves in once results became clear. As a club they were very generous in their congratulations and as with Colwyn Bay, whom we pipped to promotion a couple of seasons ago, we will not forget that.

“We will also learn from our experiences this season. We recognise what is needed to compete at the top end of this division and will do it in our own way, building on good foundations including the strongest group of junior Lancashire players we have ever had.”

For some clubs, then, success is measured by cups; for others, by survival and the opportunity to build again. It is something to ponder as we move ever deeper into the season of dinners, indoor cricket and, in time, winter nets.