This weekend sees that start of the local cricket season with the first round of Fylde Cricket League matches. After a winter of success for the England national team, where they won The Ashes in Australia for the first time since 1987, interest in cricket is back on the up and local sides are hoping to take advantage of that by welcoming new players into the game.
The FCL, established in 1928, is a senior league offering competitive but fun cricket for anyone aged 12 and over, containing teams from all over the region, as can be seen by clicking on this interactive map link: Fylde Cricket League venues
Our teams are always keen to welcome new players of any ability, simply log on to our league website www.fyldecricketleague.piczo.com and find your nearest club. We are also keen to hear from people wishing to Umpire and if you are interested in entering a club into the league, we can assist you with all aspects of setting up a new team, whether it is part of an existing larger club, work based team, church team, pub or social club team.
Defending champions Fleetwood 4th will be keen to defend their title and so the opening round of league fixtures are as follows:
Saturday 16 April, 1:30pm match start:
Anchorsholme v Wyre @ "Mossom Lane" on Fleetwood Road, Cleveleys.
Fleetwood 4th v Preston 3rd @ Fleetwood Nautical College.
Comrades v Ingol 1st @ Cottam Hall, Blackpool Old Road, Poulton-le-Fylde.
St Annes 4th v Longridge 5th @ Bank Lane, Warton.
Sunday 17 April, 1:30pm match start:
Bispham Mercurials v Ingol 2nd @ Cottam Hall.
There is a full round of fixtures the weekend after, these can be viewed on our website and also on Easter Monday, 25 April, Fleetwood CC will host the "Champions v Challengers XI" match, where current league champions Fleetwood 4th will take on the all-star Challengers XI in our annual celebration match. This is being held at Fleetwood CC main ground, 1:30pm start, free entry, bar open from 12pm and pink balls will be being used to make spectating even easier, so come along and enjoy the bank holiday with some entertaining cricket and find out more about the league.
James Bamford, FCL Press officer, jamesbamford1@hotmail.com