THE Lancashire Knockout begins this weekend with once again a Liverpool Competition club looking likely to take the trophy.

However, although an appearance from one of their clubs in the final is a strong possibility, over the past five years they have not been the strongest league in the early stages of the competition, providing six of the quarter-finalists along with the Bolton League.

After a relatively subdued run in the competition the Central Lancashire League teams have supplied 10 of the quarter-finalists, with the Lancashire County League five, the Ribblesdale League four, Northern League and Saddleworth League three and Bolton Association, Lancashire League and Palace Shield one.

As to be expected as they have most clubs, Greater Manchester have provided most of the last eight, but it is quite surprising almost two thirds of the clubs have come from the region.

This season the five former GM leagues have amalgamated to become three, and it will be interesting to see which of the three, Bolton, Greater Manchester or Pennine, is the most successful.

From 2017 each league will have eight clubs instead of four qualifying for the competition, with entries from the top or 'Premier' division in each league.

With some of the smaller clubs no longer eligible, the standard will be stronger but it does seem a little unfair that a league with 13 or 14 clubs has as many contestants as leagues with multiple divisions such as Greater Manchester or the Liverpool Competition.

It also means that although promotion and relegation throughout Greater Manchester will add to the interest towards the end of the season, at the same time clubs who were previously chasing top-four places are now just looking towards a top eight, with many qualifiers being decided by early or mid August.

Perhaps in the future automatic qualification can be awarded to the top four or five in the top division, with the leading clubs in the second or lower divisions starting in a preliminary round?

In recent years participation in under-18s competitions has gradually been eroded, due to a number of factors including more young players studying for longer and the added pressures of the best players being required for under-15s and senior cricket at the same time.

Some leagues have abandoned this age group altogether with others making it optional.

As a result of this more clubs have entered teams in open-age Sunday cricket in the Greater Manchester and West Lancs Leagues.

The teams locally are mainly comprised of more senior players who do not want the commitment of a match every week, younger players who are on the fringe of the second team and senior players who are out of form.

Nine former Bolton Association clubs joined the Bolton League this season, and one of the points of discussion around the grounds is what would have happened if the Bolton League's original expansion proposal had gone ahead in 2009.

The proposal had been for two divisions of 10 clubs, and for the record if the Bolton League has accepted the top six clubs the following season, assuming all had applied, the additional clubs would have been Little Hulton, Blackrod, Darcy Lever, Elton, Atherton and Edgworth.