Birkenhead Park had to choke down a bitter pill at the end of last season - now new skipper Ste Hird is determined to help them get back where they feel they belong.
Park’s fate was sealed at a special meeting of the Love Lane Liverpool Competition clubs, who voted against overturning their 80-point penalty for selecting a player in a team he wasn't registered for.
It turned what was a successful post-promotion season - fifth in the Premier Division, a Cheshire Cup final and an ECHO Cup semi - into a dank pit of what-ifs and recriminations.
Taking over from Tom Foster, who has returned to his home town club, Ecclestone, it’s Hird’s job to take the dank and turn it into gold.
He said: “Tom transformed the club - last year was one of the best in Park’s history.
“Obviously, the points deduction was a tough pill to swallow, but everyone’s accepted our fate now.
“Our main focus now is to get back where we belong, and where we feel like we should be.
“If we dwell on what happened and don’t group together, it’ll be longer before we get back where we want to be.
“We want to show how good we are, and get promoted.
“We were the fifth best team in the Premier League, so we shouldn’t be in Division One. That’s our belief.”
Park’s promotion season in 2021 was built on the back of Satyajeet Bachhav’s 87 wickets; they’re delighted to welcome the Indian left-armer once again.
With Pakistani pro Safi Abdullah unavailable for parts of last year, the local lads had to pull their weight - only three seamers in the division took more wickets than Alex Baker’s 32.
With runs at the top of the order for the experienced Mike Barnes and Mark Rowland and some lusty blows from Alex Harris, Park have lots of potential routes to victory.
Hird wants to both move on from the nature of their relegation but also use it as inspiration for this summer’s promotion push.
A one-club man who has set records for his wicketkeeping, he’s the ideal person to channel any lingering sense of anger or injustice.
He added: “It’s my boyhood club, and the only club I’ve ever been at. It’s a great privilege for me; I am very lucky to lead such a good team.
“It’s my job to harness that frustration from last year, and harness the talent too.
“Our main thing is to show everyone how good we are again.
“Everyone’s going to be raising their game because it’s Birkenhead Park - and they will need to, because we’re going to be right on it ourselves.”
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“We’ve triple-checked the visa.”
Nobody would dream of asking, but Newton-le-Willows skipper Chris Chambers isn’t taking any chances in interviews either.
The scars of 2022 are still raw. An administrative error over Pakistani batter Rizwan Haider saw Newton penalised 80 points and plunged from the top half of the Premier Division into a relegation battle.
Shellshocked, they never looked likely to escape. That they will be joined in Division One this year by fellow high-flyers Birkenhead Park, who committed a similar but different slip of the pen, only makes it clear how important the dots and crosses on the Ts and Is can be.
So this year’s overseas - coincidentally, Safi Abdullah, the all-rounder from Faisalabad whose absence from Park’s XI led them to fatefully promote Aussie 2nd teamer Bailey Jones without permission - is definitely legit.
He will join a squad still mostly intact from last season.
Young homegrown opener Ben Walkden was much in demand, and left-arm spinner Jack Morley is trying to establish himself in the Lancashire 1st XI; either could have left, but both want to be part of Chambers’ side.
The skipper said: “I think if we weren't good enough, and we got relegated in the old fashioned way if you like, then I think they might have gone.
“But because we feel a bit hard done by, I think they saw where we were going with the team and decided to stay for this year and just try and get back up basically.
“As a club, we felt we were hard done-to. For me personally, it's given me a bit of extra motivation to get back up.
“I think it's shown that we are good enough to be in the Prem. And as a club, we want to be in the Premier Division.”
The club is investing heavily in the facilities at Crow Lane East, a programme which hasn’t been stopped by relegation.
There’s a new scoreboard and extra fencing, plus streaming cameras. And Chambers says the club are looking to be the first in the Comp to install a hybrid pitch.
“We’re chucking quite a lot of money at the facilities to make it the best ground possible,” he added.
“When people see the structure of the club and the facilities, they’ll feel like they’re on to something good - we just need to win some cricket games now.”
Walkden, who made 915 runs in his first Premier Division season, and Morley, who took his maiden first-class five-for at Southport last summer, should help in that respect.
When Morley isn’t available, Luke Yates will step into the breach as spinner alongside Safi.
Chambers, who as pathway manager at Lancashire coaches the women’s and girls’ age groups and the senior Thunder side, is also keen to see what Emilia Lamb can do.
The seam-bowling all-rounder suffered a stress fracture after being taken in by the Thunder academy last year but should be able to play a part this summer.
Promotion is very much the aim - to get Newton back to where many around the club feel they should be already. But while his side will be one of the ones to beat, Chambers knows it won’t be easy.
“We want to be there or thereabouts, obviously,” he said.
“There’s some quality teams in the division - there’s us and Birkenhead, who you could argue should still be in the Prem.
“We saw two years ago how hard it was to get out of the division, so we know it’s going to be a tough league.
“But the players are ready for it.”
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Sefton Park are welcoming back a couple of old friends as they attempt to start a new chapter.
Skipper Paul Horton is keen to help his boyhood club thrive again after a slow recovery from losing a lot of players during lockdown.
Bigger is better in terms of numbers, as far as he’s concerned - so the return of all-rounder Dan Kelly and former captain Richie Forsyth from Rainhill can only help.
Horton said: “We’re trying to build on what we did last year, trying to make the club better and more sustainable.
“That’s not just the 1st XI, it’s the 2nd XI, 3rd XI and beyond.
“The more people are playing cricket at Sefton, the better; the bigger the club grows, the more it thrives.”
Horton has some talented youngsters at his disposal, in particular wicketkeeper James Stirling and all-rounder Leo Spilsbury.
The skipper, a County Championship winner with Lancashire in 2011, added: “Leo had a great year last year, and so did James.
“They're both another year older, they've both been involved in the Lancashire set-up and they want to kick on - they will do, with a year’s 1st XI cricket under their belts.
“We've also got a couple of other young cricketers who have been around the club for a number of years - it's good that we have a good youth setup at Sefton to try to produce our own cricketers.”
An already challenging Division One will be even tougher this year thanks to the presence of Birkenhead Park and Newton-le-Willows, relegated due to administrative errors despite being fifth and seventh in the Premier Division on the pitch.
Kelly and Forsyth will strengthen Sefton, as will the arrival of Indian seamer Abishek Jagan.
But Horton knows a big challenge lies ahead.
He said: “I think like anybody, we want to win as many games as possible.
“Last year, we’d been relegated out of the Premier League the year before and we had lost a lot of games or cricket the year before.
“The club lost a lot of players over the Covid period.
“So last year was more about stabilising the first team and the cricket club.
“This year hopefully, with a bit of stability and a few new faces, we're hoping to push on and win a few games.
“As long as we're playing good, competitive cricket, then who knows where we'll end up.”
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There’s a new culture at Firwood Bootle - and the new man in charge is confident it can bring results on the field.
Shaneil Patel takes over as skipper after a season which more than any justifies the “transition” cliche - after losing almost all their 1st XI following a shock relegation, they had no choice but to start again.
They finished ninth, just four points clear of relegated Fleetwood Hesketh, ending the season with a run of five winless games.
Now, according to Patel, they’ve got the foundations in place for a Division One promotion push.
He said: “Last year, we looked to rebuild a bit and get going again in Division One.
“We didn't do as well as we could have done, and we were battling relegation at the end.
“But really, we were just trying to get a few of the lads who performed in the 2nd XI for a long time into the 1st XI.
“The likes of Danny Hart, Callum McGee and Tom Meskell all performed really well, which was good to see.
“There’s a little bit of a new look to the club where we're trying to bring in people who have been at the club for years and years and give them a little bit more experience as well.
“So we were looking to just get that balance right.
“And I think now we’re touching the right ground to really push for promotion this year.”
Left-arm spinner Patel joined from Nantwich midway through 2021’s dramatic slide to relegation, as the defending champions struggled to find a way to take 10 wickets.
It’s a different atmosphere at Wadham Road now, particularly when it comes to recruitment.
Patel said: “It’s about bringing in players who are going to be at the club for a good while, helping to bring players up from the juniors.
“What we always used to do was to sign big names.
“It’s a bit more intricate now. We’re looking a bit more to the future.
“We’ve got more of a good system in place.”
South Africa U19 international all-rounder Herman Rolfes will arrive as this year’s overseas; wicketkeeper Luke James also joins from Formby.
But the core of the team will be much the same as 2022 - Patel, who spent his winter playing in New Zealand, hopes a year’s extra experience will pay dividends in his first season as skipper.
He added: “In the changing room and around the club, we’re really hopeful for the season.
“I think we’ve got a really good squad.
“I’ve always wanted to take on a bigger role as captain and hopefully I can help get the club and its culture where it needs to be.”
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Ainsdale have an unwanted reputation for being slow out of the blocks … so they’ve signed an Olympic sprinter.
Bajan wicketkeeper/batter Levi Cadogan ran the 200m at the 2016 Games in Rio, and can cover 100m in 10.06 seconds.
So if nothing else, he’ll be an asset when it comes to getting the covers on - just make sure you’re backing up when he calls for a quick single.
“He might get a shock when he sees who he’s batting with,” said skipper Andy Barlow. “But he can bat as well.”
Ainsdale’s seventh-placed finish last year was disappointing for a side hoping to be there or thereabouts.
Barlow said: “We got our usual slow start.
“But there were plenty of positives, even if we didn’t hit the heights we wanted to.
“People got better as the season went on, and hopefully it sets us up for this season.”
Barlow is keen to see what slow left-armer Ahmed Matsool can do - he joins from the Yorkshire league, hoping to fill some of the void left by last year’s pro, Pakistani all-rounder Mohammad Irfan.
Tom Connolly from Maghull and Ryan Thomas from Fleetwood Hesketh are also joining the squad to add depth and competition for places.
Competing at the top end of Division One will be a tough task for anyone this year, and Barlow is keen to play it by ear before he sets any targets.
He added: “It’s hard to predict - we were looking over our shoulders for a lot of last season, but with the experience in the side we should be at least mid-table.
“If we can get a good start, maybe we can push on.”
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Liverpool are focusing on the bigger picture with an off-field expansion, as they aim to build on their highest league finish in 16 years.
For a while last season, it looked like they might have something more tangible to celebrate.
Matty Jackson’s side won nine of their first 11 games to sit pretty on top of Division One.
But a winless second half of the season brought them back to Earth, and they had to settle for fifth place - not only their best since 2006, but also ahead of local rivals Sefton Park for the first time since 2014.
Jackson said: “Our focus hasn’t completely shifted; we're just taking in a bigger picture.
“When you look at the 1st XI, last year was a good year.
“We started like an absolute rocket so if you look at the table, we fell away.
“And I get that, because it's true. But at the same time, we were in Division Two two years before, and looking behind us last September.
“So to be safe from the drop by mid July was really enjoyable.
“It was progression. And hopefully, we can keep moving in the right direction.”
Liverpool have added another side to the 3rd XI leagues and are growing their junior section, in the hope of unearthing more players like Jared Clein, who topped the club’s run charts last year with 667 - along with 34 wickets.
Jackson added: “I've been at the club since I was four.I've seen a bit of everything.
“I've been there when the junior section was not in a great place - now the junior co-ordinator, Peter Roots, is just incredible.
“We went young with the first team, but now if you look at Jared, he's played about 150 games and he's 21.
“Now, hopefully, we'll be bringing more of those players through.
“Last year, we had six or seven homegrown players - Nathan Pickering and Adam Stringer have come through the ranks, they’re 20 or 21.
“It was pretty much their first full year - they’ll be two of the first names on the team sheet this year.
“They’ve come through when we possibly didn’t have a major focus on junior cricket, so maybe now in four or five years, we might be seeing even more.”
Batter Henry Charlton returns to the fold after a season at Didsbury, and experienced left-arm spinner Sabbir Patel arrives from Fleetwood Hesketh having taken 14 wickets in two games against Liverpool last year.
“We know exactly what we’re getting from both of them,” Jackson added.
“Henry knows the club, so it won’t feel like he’s a new boy.
“And as young as we are, Sabbir is massive in terms of another lad who's been around in his 30s.
“Hopefully, his maturity will give us a bit of stability.
“Anyone can beat anyone in this division - each year over the past three or four years, we’ve gradually improved and as long as we continue in that direction, we will be happy.”
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Old Xaverians have a spring in their step ahead of their return to Division One of the Love Lane Liverpool Competition.
The Woolton side have retained the squad who bounced straight back from 2021’s relegation, winning the race for the second promotion slot.
They lost just one of their last eight fixtures, a one-wicket defeat to eventual champions St Helens Town - no wonder captain Mark Doyle is keen to keep the momentum going.
He said: “Naturally, there's a lot of positivity around the club.
“I think it's given everyone a bit of a fresh perspective as we go into Division One, really.
“We've retained the same core group of players and we have a lot of positivity in our cricket.
“We played in the division, we have been relegated but then we gained promotion - so that gives us a nice perspective going forward.”
Club mainstays Ian Carroll and Josh Dilworth topped the run charts last year, with Doyle and the experienced Colin Gibson taking 30+ wickets each.
But the skipper insists there’s plenty to come from Xavs’ younger players too.
He added: “The young lads did contribute heavily in Division Two - they gained confidence and understanding about the world game.
“We’re really looking forward to seeing them playing in Division One.
“I know they’re more than capable and it’s just about getting the players to do the job in the higher division.”
The club recently unveiled new outdoor nets at St Francis Xavier College; the future looks bright in more ways than one.
“It’s a difficult division with some very good cricketers in it,” added Doyle.
“But we have experience of playing in the league, and promotion will give the players confidence in their cricket.
“Obviously, there will be some difficult games - but we know we can play at that level.”
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Lytham skipper Matt Taaffe is determined to avoid a repeat of last season’s heartbreak, which saw his side miss out on promotion to the Premier Division on the last day.
A nine-wicket defeat to Caldy saw Taaffe’s side finish just four points behind Colwyn Bay, having spent most of the season in the promotion places.
But the skipper knows they could have wrapped it up before then.
Having flown out of the traps and won their first eight games, Lytham found themselves unable to kill sides off.
Colwyn Bay, Sefton Park and Fleetwood Hesketh clung on for draws after losing nine wickets; Firwood Bootle after losing eight. Spring View went even further and earned a one-wicket win.
Taaffe knows had even one of those winning positions been converted, they’d be looking forward to Premier Division cricket.
He said: “It was disappointing to lose it on the last innings of the season, that was a kick in the teeth.
“But reflecting back, it was another year of the lads improving and hopefully continuing with a winning momentum.”
Off-spinning all-rounder Ben Saunders returns to his home club after a year at Bootle and a year out of the game.
And Indian slow left-armer Avinash Yadav will bring a wealth of experience and guile as this year’s overseas pro - replacing last year’s top scorer, Akash Vashisht.
But it will largely be the same XI as last year. Luckily for Taaffe, they’ve shown they have what it takes to compete at the top of the division.
He added: “We’ll definitely look to be up there. I think it’s going to be tough with Birkenhead Park and Newton-le-Willows coming down, and every team looks to have strengthened - so I think it’s going to be the toughest season yet.
“But I still definitely want to go up. I hate losing, so I’d never have the mentality to sit back and accept our fate.
“Most league seasons go to the last game of the season, so you’ve just got to keep picking results up.”
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Mike Farrell hopes his Highfield side can build on a season of progress in Love Lane Liverpool Competition Division One.
A crisis of availability reduced his options, but Farrell was proud of the way a young, inexperienced side came together.
The only teams to get the better of Highfield in the league after July 2 were the two promoted sides, Colwyn Bay and Rainford - and the icing on the cake was a thumping victory over Liverpool in the Ray Tyler Cup final.
It left Farrell feeling optimistic about the coming season, though he knows the challenge will be a tough one.
He said: “We kicked on a little bit last year with a young side, so hopefully another winter and another year should help us really.
“We've got some good young lads who played quite a bit last year so are pretty settled now.
“I had basically a team that had never played together, so we had to learn as we progressed throughout the year.
“It was about trying to find everyone's roles and where they were going to play because they’d never played together. And it was about adapting as the year went on.”
Farrell expects a similar XI to last year’s to take the field for the Wigan derby against Spring View on opening day, with spinner Jamie Darbyshire and batter Edwin Brewer enjoying breakthrough seasons last year.
The presence of Newton-le-Willows and Birkenhead Park makes it an even tougher division than usual, but Farrell is happy to wait and see what happens.
He added: “Looking at the other teams around us, I still think we might be a little bit short.
“But hopefully, because we’re a year on… you never know.”
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St Helens Town believe this is the year they could get their feet under the table in Division One of the Love Lane Liverpool Competition.
Since their last appearance in the top flight in 2008, Town have visited the division four times, never for longer than a single season.
Skipper David Gaskell has been a mainstay of the 1st XI since 2012 and won the Division Two title in his first season at the helm last year. He believes he knows what his side need to do to make themselves more at home.
He said: “It’s all down to consistency.
“Previous times when we’ve been in that division, we’ve had a very inconsistent side.
“We have to use our home ground, which we’re very good at, and when we go away just be consistent and harder to beat.
“Ultimately, getting the same 11 players out on the field every week would be nice.”
Division One is traditionally very competitive, top to bottom. This year sees the addition this year of two sides - Birkenhead Park and Newton-le-Willows - who were good enough on the field to finish fifth and seventh in the Premier Division, before their points deductions.
Gaskell believes his side - boosted by the arrival of batter Jonny Hine from Southport Trinity, and an overseas spinner to be confirmed shortly - have what it takes to compete.
He said: “Obviously, mid-table would be lovely.
“Hopefully, we can get on a run and keep it consistent.
“We’ve got the players and the squad to compete in this division - we just need to build on the momentum we had from last year.”
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Spring View are looking to build on an excellent 2022 - with a little help from one of Division One’s outstanding individuals.
The Wigan side’s first season in the second tier ended with them in fourth place after a final-day win over Liverpool.
Star of the show, and of the season, was Suleman Khan. The all-rounder hit 119 then took 7/63 to finish the league season with 694 runs and 72 wickets.
In the division’s top six for runs, wickets and fielding catches, it’s no wonder Khan is known as “the king” to his teammates, according to incoming skipper Lewis Matthews.
He said: “What a player. We got him snapped up half-way through the season.
“He was happy to stay and he loves it here - he’s definitely a game-changer.
“To watch him bowl is pretty special.”
But View are no one-man team. Their ascent to fourth came on the back of five wins in their last six games, with margins as tight as one wicket at Bootle, and three runs against Lytham.
As well as Khan, Buddika Karawgodalge and Dave Gornall topped 500 runs, with Karawgodalge, Marc Birch and outgoing captain Jonny Broad chipping in with the wickets.
Matthews - whose dad Paul led the side in the 1990s - knows he’s taking over a side capable of springing a few more surprises.
“It was a fantastic season,” he said. “Not to say we overachieved last year, but it’s going to take a lot of hard work to finish fourth again this year.
“I’ve been at the club since I was six or seven and it’s always been a dream of mine to be captain. It’s a real privilege.
“I just want to give a good account of myself as captain, and hopefully the results will come.”
With Broad and Nigel Geary beginning to wind down, and Karawgodalge plying his trade elsewhere, Matthews knows his squad will face a challenge in a tough division.
Pakistani slow left-armer Qaiser Ashraf should help, and the new skipper won’t be afraid of taking advice from his predecessor too.
He added: “Everyone is going to have to dig a little deeper to fill the void.
“I will be leaning on Jonny in every aspect - he was captain for 10 or 12 years, and he’s fine with that.
“But it’ll be nice to have the freedom to experiment and see what our strongest XI is.”
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Caldy skipper Harry Daniel-Jones is happy for his side to continue being underestimated - so long as they keep upsetting the odds.
A stirring nine-wicket win at Lytham on the final day of last season, with Haroon Khan bagging a century, secured Division One status for 2023 for the Wirral side.
Now Daniel-Jones, back from a break, wants to help inspire more memorable days for his young side.
He said: “There’s a lot of good sides in this league. We’re going to be the underdogs in most games, but we don’t mind that to be honest.”
Indian all-rounder Sachin Kumar, fresh from a fine season in the Ranji Trophy, joins as overseas pro, but other than that it’s been quiet on the recruitment side.
Daniel-Jones said: “We did try to get some people in.
“But we believe in our own squad. Our 2s were extremely good last year, and the 1s did a job, so I think the ability is there to stay in this league.
“In 2021, when we got promoted, it was a squad that had been together for a very long time - it’s quite similar this year.
“We’re going to have quite a youthful 1st XI, full of heart and enthusiasm - and we’ll be hard to beat again.”
