Date: 30th July 2010
It has not been diffficult to spot players from the Bridging Finance NW Liverpool Competition playing county cricket this week. On Monday, Steven Mullaney, formerly of Northern and Firwood Bootle, but now back at his home club Leigh, won the man of the match award as Nottinghamshire beat Sussex to qualify for the Friend Provident t20 Finals Day at the Rose Bowl. Twenty-four hours later the Lancashire side which lost their quarter-final to Essex - in a game which didn't finish until 11.16p.m - included six cricketers who are currently playing in the Competition or have done so recently.
Yet the Merseyside and its surrounding towns was not always so popular an environment for Lancashire cricketers from outside the area who wanted to hone their skills when they were not playing at Old Trafford. Nor did players born or raised on Merseyside feature regularly in Lancashire line-ups. Cricketers like Ken Cranston, Ken Snellgrove, David Varey and Ian Cockbain are exceptions to this trend and none of them were part of a broader change which saw a greater percentage of Merseyside players feature in the county's sides.
So what's changed ? Why are Lancashire players like Simon Kerrigan at Ormskirk and Karl Brown at Leigh also likely to have an important say in the fascinating battles currently taking place for the Premier League and First Division titles? The first reason suggested is that Lancashire are now casting their net a little wider than they did in, say, the immediate post-war era. The very professional coaching system at Old Trafford means that no player with obvious first team potential should slip through the net. No longer, so this explanation holds, are the leagues nearer to the county's HQ regarded as the only heartlands of Lancashire cricket. "There's been greater representation recently because the Lancashire Cricket Board's scouting system means that anyone of promise is getting a chance," said Academy Director John Stanworth. "I don't think we've missed any player of real consequence over the past decade."
Other observers point to the obvious fact that the Liverpool Competition itself covers a much wider area than it used to. The Lancashire side which lost at Chelmsford included Gareth Cross, who is currently playing at Colwyn Bay, and Mark Chilton, who enjoyed the chance to play for Newton-le-Willows a couple of seasons back. Yet another explanation highlights the good quality wickets produced by many Competition clubs. If Lancashire's junior sides and the Second XI are so keen to play at Northern, Liverpool, Lytham and Southport, it makes sense that players on the fringe of the first team should also want to perform on surfaces which are nearer in type and quality to the ones they will encounter when they play first-class cricket. Whatever balance of explanations finds favour, it all means that spectators following the Liverpool Competition's Premier League over the past few seasons have also been able to see county cricketers in a recreational environment.
The highlight of tomorrow's fixture-list in the top division sees leaders Lytham at home to third-placed Colwyn Bay Tomorrow's Games: Bridging Finance NW Liverpool Competition: ECB Premier League:
Highfield v Hightown, Lytham v Colwyn Bay, Newton-le-Willows v New Brighton, Northern v Northop Hall, Prestatyn v Ormskirk, Wallasey v Bootle.
First Division: Formby v Liverpool, Maghull v Leigh, Rainhill v Orrell Red Triangle, Sefton Park v Fleetwood Hesketh, Southport and Birkdale v Skelmersdale, Wigan v Rainford.
Second Division: Alder v Moorfield, Birkenhead St Mary's v St Helens Recs, Parkfield Liscard v Ainsdale, St Helens v Sutton, Southport Trinity v Burscough, Wavertree v Caldy .
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