A season preview for some of the top Barnsley clubs in the South Yorkshire Cricket League.
CAWTHORNE
Cawthorne finished eighth in the Premier Division last season.
Their 2024 captain Mike Jepps has joined Tickhill, while Pakistan international Danish Aziz has also moved on along with Amir Shahzad and Thomas Jones – their top three wicket-takers from last season. They have brought in opening bowlers Abid Hassan and Mustafa Khan as well as left-arm spinner Rizwan Sadiq, top-order batter Syed Shah and Australian all-rounder Maff Carroll.
They have also recruited former Yorkshire 2nd XI batter Harry Allinson who will have to depart midway through the season and will be replaced by another Australian grade cricketer.
New Zealander Callum McCarthy, who captained the second XI last season, will return as head coach.
New captain Archie Greaves said: “The aim for the season is to consolidate in Premiership cricket.
“Without a doubt we have a team that will compete week in, week out.
“It’ll be good to see what the new lads make of the challenge of Premier cricket in South Yorkshire and see them make a name for themselves.”
ELSECAR
Elsecar will be looking to bounce back after relegation into the Championship.
They have had a mixed winter.
Bilal Anjam left to join Tickhill after agreeing to continue as captain while Henry Renshaw departed four weeks before the season started to return to former club Aston Hall.
Their overseas player is Indian left-arm spinner Lalith Mohan who plays in the Ranji Trophy for Andhra.
They have brought middle order batter Shahzaib Sayeed, 18, from Hanging Heaton and Musa Altaf, 17, an off-spinner from Sheffield United.
They also have Jack Tinker from Wombwell Main and Yorkshire under 16 leg spinner Salman Iqbal with high hopes for George Dixon, 16, and Enzo Campagna who is in the Yorkshire youth set-up. Jason Meadows said: “Our hopes for the season are to have all three sides competing at the right end of the league and continue to improve our junior section. A lot of hard work has gone in on the ground and we will continue to improve the facility.”
WATH
One of the star players from last year’s Under 19 World Cup will be bowling for Wath this season.
Ahmad Hassan helped Pakistan to the semi-finals of the tournament.
Now 18, he has joined Wath along with Jay Smith from Upper Haugh, Fazil Reza from Sheffield United and Sam Bowden from Whiston.
Leaving Wath are Simon Ward, Shawn Hopkins and Michael Bates.
Wath’s Rob Barlow said: “We are very excited about the arrival of Ahmad.
“We feel he could be a real talent.
“All of our incoming players provide youth and enthusiasm and we hope they’ll be Wath players for years to come.
“We have unfortunately lost three big players this winter – in particular Shawn, who has represented us for close to 30 years.
“Our aims are to win a trophy.
“There is no point in playing competitive sport at any level unless you aim to win.”
PENISTONE
Penistone will be at the highest level in their history after promotion last season to Division One.
Captain Tom Exley said: “Once you get to the top three divisions, you are up against some really good teams.
“We’re looking forward to it and we want to consolidate, settle and find our feet. We will probably be the only club not paying players at that level.
“We are probably at our ceiling with the current squad in Division One, and some are coming to the end of their careers, but work will start on a new club house in August which could take us to the next level. If we want to get up to the Championship or Premier League, we will need new players including an overseas and that will take money which hopefully the clubhouse helps us with.”
Penistone have signed Jake Rodgers and Anthony Godley while Will Mott has moved to Cawthorne. Maya Charlesworth, who is contracted with Yorkshire, has returned to Penistone to play for their second team.
DARFIELD
Darfield just missed out on promotion from Division One last season, finishing third.
Jabari Mills has returned as overseas player while Naeem Jehangir and Anees Hussain joined from Rotherham plus Nathan Kitchen and Adam Gregg.
Chairman Warren Bird said: “Our aim is to win the league and cups that we are competing in as you always have to aim big.
“But, realistically, it would be nice to fulfil all fixtures without using the loan market or asking random people off the street to play.
“We are looking forward to seeing how the summer goes both on and off the field to see if we can take the club to the next level.
“We are also very excited about several of our junior players.
“Campbell Wroe, Casey Steventon, Josh Sixsmith, Ole Wilkinson, Ty Jowett, Ethan Gornall and Lucas Rouse all have a big season ahead of them in senior cricket.”
ROCKINGHAM
Rockingham have re-signed Sri Lankan star Lasith Lakshan who took the third most wickets in the Championship last season, with 56, and scored the second most runs with just under 1,000.
They finished eighth last season after promotion from Division One the previous campaign.
HOUGHTON MAIN
Houghton were relegated from the Championship last season, having been given a points deduction for fielding an ineligible player due to a paperwork error.
They have now officially signed that player, Zia Ahmad from Afghanistan who is a fast bowler and middle order batter.
A Houghton statement said he has ‘unfinished business’ and added: “We feel this signing is a statement of our ambitions for the coming season.”
They have also signed opener Noman Waheed from Sheffield Sultans.
