THE FUTURE of cricket in St Helens has been thrown into doubt after one of the town’s oldest sports clubs withdrew their senior teams from league competition next season.
St Helens Cricket Club, which formed in 1843, made the shock decision to pull out of the Bridging Finance Solutions Liverpool and District Cricket Competition earlier this week after citing a lack of available cricketers in the area as the main reason.
In a statement the league’s management committee confirmed the club was withdrawing its first, second and third teams from its divisions for the forthcoming season.
Following a players meeting earlier this week, St Helens CC also stated they will not be entering any junior sides in the BFS LDCC knock-out competitions.
Speculation has surrounded the fate of Windleshaw Road-based club for a number of weeks with talks taking place with neighbours St Helens Recs over a possible merger thought to have broken down.
St Helens Recs will now continue to play at their Ruskin Drive ground and are thought to be considering a change of name to reflect their status as the town’s sole representatives in the LDCC.
St Helens Cricket Club, meanwhile, will continue to operate and run as a social club with cricket facilities to be maintained, although a number of their players are expected to join the newly named club.
John Williams, chairman of the LDCC, said: “We are desperately saddened that St Helens Cricket Club has had to withdraw from the league.
“It is clear that for some time, with both St Helens clubs being so close to each other, that they have had to address the issue of falling numbers of senior cricketers.
“We wish both clubs every success in the future.”
Other LDCC clubs are already benefiting from the demise of St Helens CC, with Ainsdale CC announcing they have signed former players Darren Tyms, Bob Kenny and Adam Friar for the forthcoming season.
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