Comment by Brett Ernst

 

Brett Ernst, senior player and coach at Edgworth Cricket Club, who have left the Bolton Association for the new Greater Manchester League, gives his view on the revolution taking place in local cricket

THE shake-up in local cricket is largely due to the emergence of the Greater Manchester Cricket League which has created a divide across the North West.

Everyone has an opinion on what will happen and which league will provide the strongest level of cricket.

The forming of the GMCL with 52 clubs has shown that players want promotion and relegation.

This has forced the hand of many other leagues in the area whose league executives are now reactively changing their own set-ups.

An example is on the east side of Manchester where the Central Lancashire League (CLL) and the Saddleworth Cricket League (SCL) are forming the Pennine Cricket League (PCL).

Over here, the Bolton and District Cricket Association (BDCA) will not provide cricket next season having lost all its clubs.

Half of them – nine – have joined the Bolton Cricket League (BCL), bringing their number up to 21 for next season with a view to adding more for 2017.

All this was a direct impact of the GMCL and what the players want, as all leagues move into the 21st century and adopt promotion and relegation.

A major consequence of all this is that the administrators of each league are now more open minded to change, are taking on the views of the players and are moving away from being against change.

Sadly, the above reasons are what led to the demise of the BDCA as more than a decade ago there was a big move for both the BDCA and BCL to merge but as they could not agree or compromise the merger broke down.

It was a shame as that really could have paved the way for cricket in the North West.

Quite simply, promotion and relegation works, I grew up in Australia with this format.

The biggest thing I have noticed in England is that the gap between the quality of first and second-team cricket can be too big.

More often than not when players are promoted to the first team the step is too big for them.

I have seen this in games in the BDCA, BCL, and Lancashire County League – that most clubs struggle for depth and the gap between clubs' top four or five players and their next five or six is noticeable.

This may be due to poor facilities or poor training attendances which mean players struggle to develop and improve their skills.

Cricket is a simple game if you stick to the basics. Remain disciplined and play within your capabilities.

Too often amateur players in England struggle with the basics of having a solid defence, valuing their wicket, getting behind the ball in the field, hitting a consistent length with the ball.

All these attributes are what separate the top four or five players at a club from the next five or six.

The players outside the top four or five at a club will try to clear a fielder on the rope, they will go for the one-handed pick up, they will try something different with the ball.

All these attributes are part of a basic understanding of cricket and require a strong mentality to repeat under pressure and fatigue.

They should be practised at training every week for long periods under match conditions where possible.

Already in the off season players from outside our squad from last year have approached me saying they want to make the next step and want assistance.

Quite simply they want to play premier league cricket, which is great for the club.

The carrot of playing premier league has also meant we have been able to hold on to our young talented kids.

But some players will not have the ambition or desire to play premier league cricket. That’s okay, they will have the ability to find their rightful level against opponents of the same standard.

I use my old club, Stand Cricket Club, as an example. I caught up with some friends from that club recently and had a chat about the new Greater Manchester League in which we went through their opponents in Division Two.

Every match is winnable, but at the same time they could also lose to any of the 11 teams.

Two years ago they struggled to compete with the top teams and easily beat the bottom teams. They now have 22 fixtures which should go the distance.

This is where I think the Bolton Cricket League will fall down.

The top five or six clubs are strong and have depth, but after that there will be a gap as they will be pitted against clubs with different ambitions, different levels of talent and funds.

Every club in the GMCL Premier League have expressed a desire to stay up and the majority, if not all, have raised their stakes to remain in the top flight in what they believe will be the strongest league in the North West.

I know my club, Edgworth, has added depth and would beat the team we fielded in 2015.

We are not participating to make up the numbers or accepting we cannot be a top club.

I strongly believe there is a handful of clubs in the BCL who have no interest in raising the bar.

They are clubs who struggle at times to field a second team and need to focus on fixing this problem before they worry about climbing the table.

If these clubs are in the BCL top division in 2017 then that alone will separate them from the GMCL.

The BCL have lost two strong clubs in Greenmount and Egerton who have been replaced by Atherton, Little Hulton, Darcy Lever, Golborne, Adlington, Blackrod, Daisy Hill, Standish, Lostock.

That new group contains the six bottom placed teams from the BDCA in 2015 which many people in the BCL viewed as a lower standard league.

None of these joining clubs are at the level of the two departing clubs.

I would say that only Atherton stand a chance of making the top five in 2016 if they get everything right.

Lostock have new facilities close to completion and will be a club on the rise in 2017.

Overall, these changes mean the BCL have taken a small hit and a step back.

Their next move is an important one and the decisions they make in 2016 for the 2017 season need to be thought through thoroughly as clubs now have options they didn't have before.

Either way opinion is divided and it makes for an exciting prospect in 2016 and beyond.

The GMCL have a lot to live up to with its many divisions.

Furthermore, the media coverage of the GMCL is going to be like nothing else at local level in the area.

Some of the plans and ideas are exciting and mean greater exposure at club level.

That will mean clubs can offer more to their sponsors which, in turn, means they can develop facilities and hold on to talented kids longer.

Edgworth has more than 300 members. If 52 clubs average 200 members we are looking at a network of 10,000 people minimum, which does not include family and friends.

So while Bolton holds on to its tradition of localised cricket, their exposure is smaller which in a few years' time, if things go to plan for the GMCL, you may see a lot of local Bolton talent leave for clubs on the border of Bolton in the GMCL in order to get more exposure.

After all, it is only natural to want to play in the strongest league in the area, whichever league that may be.

Travelling five or 10 minutes more is not going to ruin a player's day if the level of cricket challenges them every week and the media exposure is big.

If people are playing a lower standard and travelling further or are involved in rolling teams for mediocre totals and finishing by 4pm then there will be a problem.

But the GMCL is formatted to avoid clubs playing above or below their standard every week.