Bradford League: Nearly-men New Farnley happy with big progress made this season

RUNNERS-UP in both the Bradford Premier League and Heavy Woollen Cup, some would view 2018 to be an '˜if only' season for New Farnley.
By The Newsroom
Published 14th Sep 2018, 09:00 BST
Updated 14th Sep 2018, 09:07 BST
New Farnley players celebrate another wicket this season.New Farnley players celebrate another wicket this season.
New Farnley players celebrate another wicket this season.

But the go-ahead West Leeds outfit take a wholly different slant and believe that their incremental progress points to a club firmly on the rise and well poised to achieve their ambitious long-term plans to establish themselves as one of the league’s heavyweights.

Cricket chairman Paul Hutchison said: “We are moving forward as a team and club. Consistency is coming and we now need to learn when to win in ugly situations every now and again. It will come.

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“We are only coming towards the end of the second year of a multi-year plan. It was never the intention to win the league in year two; it was further down the line.

Ajmal Shahzad celebrates taking a wicket for New Farnley.Ajmal Shahzad celebrates taking a wicket for New Farnley.
Ajmal Shahzad celebrates taking a wicket for New Farnley.

“We have got the nucleus of a good squad.

“There will be a couple of changes, but nothing wholesale and we are building from within as well and there are a few being added at the younger end.

“We have a long-term plan and it is not just a short-term thing of saying: ‘let’s throw a team together for an instant win.’

“It is about looking at the long-term plan.

“We are working on a five-year plan and there is a longer 10-year plan that we want to instil if we can.”

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The Championship One winds down this weekend, with Undercliffe and Wrenthorpe fighting for the title, with Hunslet Nelson, Ossett, Gomersal and Hartshead Moor all still scrapping to avoid relegation.

Final-day action sees Moor travel to Gomersal, while Nelson go to Morley. Ossett welcome Batley.

New top-flight champions Pudsey St Lawrence head to the seaside tomorrow to tackle North Yorkshire South Durham League outfit Great Ayton in the Yorkshire Premier League play-off semi-finals.

The pair met in the play-offs in 2016 with St Lawrence reigning supreme to book a memorable finals appointment in Abu Dhabi against Wakefield Thornes.

Thornes are also in action in the semi-finals tomorrow when they take on York at Doncaster Town CC.