By Preview: North Lindsey Cricket League 2023
This weekend sees the opening fixtures of the 70th season of the North Lindsey Cricket League.
Formed in 1953 to bridge the gap between village cricket and the major cricketing leagues, it has offered cricket for all ages and abilities for the past 70 years.
Last season’s Division 1 title was won by the Scunthorpe Town Development side, winning the league for the third time, and they start the campaign off with a trip across the road to Appleby Frodingham. Frod have a new captain this season on a Sunday in George Forrester and the two giants of the Scunthorpe area will both be looking to get the ball rolling.
The other scheduled Division 1 game was to be Luddington Dons against Alkborough, but that game will be rearranged to later in the season due to the condition of the two grounds. Alkborough came up as Division 2 champions, taking part in Division 1 for the first time since 2014 and look to be a strong side with both Sam Brown and Lee Ridley picking up the batting and bowling awards in Division 2 last season.
Villagers Luddington won the Mick Walker memorial cup last season for the second year in a row and, under the captaincy of Brett Smith, are looking to consolidate their position in the league while also trying to be the first team to ever win a hat-trick of cups back to back.
The last team to make up the first division are Messingham, who kick off their campaign next weekend in the cup.
The only game in Division 2 this week sees two young village sides come up against each other in Hibaldstow and Haxey. Haxey came down from Division 1 last season, but both teams use the North Lindsey League to bring on youth and the match will surely be a showcase of the future stars in the area.
Outcasts and Broughton miss this week as they are both taking part in the National Village Cup competition, with Outcasts travelling to the South Yorkshire league side Ackworth and Broughton hosting Middleton and North Dalton of the North Yorkshire League.
The last team to make up the league are Normanby Park, who also start their campaign next weekend.
This season sees the addition of two new competitions to add to the two leagues and the 30-over cup, named in memory of long-serving North Lindsey League Umpire, Mick Walker.
From next Thursday, T20 midweek cricket comes back to North Lincolnshire for the first time in 10 years with the North Lindsey Midweek League. The league has six founding sides, all of which are teams that take part in the league on a Sunday.
On top of all of this, there is a new cup competition running through the school holidays in August. The competition sees some of the sides merging together to give all players an opportunity to play as much cricket as possible on a Sunday. The competition is named after vice-chairman Glen Sands, who has served the league as a player, club secretary and league committee member for the past 40 years.
Applications are also now open for any club looking to join in the 2024 season, with places available for the Sunday League, the midweek league and also the Glen Sands Cup.
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