FOLLOWING their decision to leave the Bolton Cricket League and join the Greater Manchester League, Greenmount Cricket Club today issued the following statement:

'Greenmount Cricket Club have decided to resign from the Bolton Cricket League and become founding members of the Greater Manchester Cricket League.

The club has considered the two proposals on offer, which were an expansion of the Bolton League to two divisions of 12 clubs in 2017 or joining the Greater Manchester Cricket League in 2016.

The club published both offers and made these available to all the members of the club to consider.

In addition the senior players were specifically tasked with discussing this between themselves over the last weekend, in part because they are most affected by any proposed changes.

A general club meeting was called on Tuesday 19 May at the club to decide which offer had the most appeal. This was attended by a cross section of the whole membership including representatives of the junior and senior section, coaches, committee members and social members.

It was felt that league cricket within Greater Manchester would be best served by an all encompassing approach rather than the expansion of individual leagues. The new structure creates competitiveness with promotion and relegation as well as providing a solid platform for our juniors to develop.

The senior players confirmed they are happy to travel for the right level of competition and playing facilities and it was decided unanimously that the Greater Manchester Cricket League was the requisite structure to join, taken in the best interest of the club and the sport.

It is hard to believe that over 30 years have passed since the club had to make a similar decision to leave the Lancashire and Cheshire League to join the Bolton League. In that time, the club has gone from strength to strength and we now have an active senior section for three teams and a thriving junior set-up.

We would like to thank the Bolton League for being a big part in the clubs development whilst we have been a member and hope that over the next 30 years the club will continue to develop and allow as many people as possible to play cricket at a suitable standard for their ability.

Whilst its unclear what will happen in the immediate future with regards to local league cricket, It was also felt that it was better for clubs to announce their intentions early, as it might serve to encourage other clubs who are holding their own internal discussions to know what Greenmount are doing and why.