Club Focus: Skelsmersdale Cricket Club
Skelmersdale Cricket Club are looking up after going down last season.
The first-team were relegated to Liverpool and District division two after a tough season which saw them field many youth players in their senior sides.
Yet chairman Steve Marston is confident the club can use this as a positive and bounce back even stronger, having admitted the club were forced to rely on uncommitted player.
He said: “This season for us is a really exciting season
“People might see this as strange as we got relegated last season, but we are seeing it as a positive.
“For the last few years we had been in a false position using people from outside the town, they’ve done okay, then they’ve left
“They filled a gap between our home-grown players who weren’t quite ready
“But when we struggled last season, we felt they didn’t have the fight for the club and we didn’t feel it mattered to them.
Marston pointed to the strength of the club’s youth ranks as a major positive going forward.
This was demonstrated in a second-team match against _ last year when the side found themselves needing 20 runs to win with 14-year-olds Calum Till and Abbie Wright as the last-wicket pair.
Yet the duo showed impressive maturity to knock off the runs and clinch a vital win.
That game also saw Wright became the first female to ever take a senior wicket for Skelmersdale.
“The game fell on those two and it was brilliant, what an achievement.
“It was the daughter of second team captain and the son of a former first team superstar.
“When you think about that, it is fantastic for the club.
“That made us say, we are alright here, let’s get back to basics.”
To that end we have appointed two very young people to be the captain and vice-captain of the team.
Wright is also just the second club player to represent Lancashire, after former first team captain Ben Maddocks.
Skelmersdale have been proactive in recruiting players for the new season, with many coming to the club via extensive social media campaigns.
Yet Marston admits the club still need to keep recruiting in order to field the league-mandated two senior sides this year.
He said: “We are contacting people constantly to keep that interest going and just trying to take every opportunity
“We are not out of the woods yet.
“We keep adding up every day, but I think we will be okay
“Often players say they won’t play in October, but once they smell the grass and once the weather is better they say, ‘you know what I’m going back’.
“We will lose players, that’s inevitable, there are a lot of time pressures on people, some people have to work on weekends, but we are confident we will come through this.”
While the club must bide their time in a lower league for now, Marston is confident that Skelmersdale has plenty of potential to progress higher up the leagues.
“If you look at the ground and the facilities it’s a premier league club. The team isn’t premier league and we accept that, but we can be a good divison one side given time.
“We feel we have enough local talent to start knocking on the door of the premier division, but not for a few seasons yet.
“We are not quite good enough for the first division but we are too good for the second division
While results remain important to the club, Marston feels Skelmersdale occupy a special place in the community, and that ultimately they must strive for more than storng on-field performances.
“It is because local people have a love of the club. We will get back there, and yes it might take a few years.
“Just get the cricket better, let’s get the performances better and let’s get the team spirit better.
“We want to be competitive don’t get me wrong, but mid table next season will do us well.
“We’ll go up at the right time.
“It is about setting the right standards. It is not about promotion, it is about the history, about showing people that Skelmersdale matters.”
