The Owzat-Cricket Nottinghamshire Premier League will, when the new season begins this coming April, start with a dozen teams in each of its two divisions following the successful promotions of both Notts Unity Casuals CC, and Papplewick & Linby IIs CC.
Last time around, the leagues’ Premier Division eventually saw Cavaliers & Carrington CC take yet another championship back to the Carrington Oval (along with the Dan Sutton Trophy), whilst in Division Two, it was West Bridgfordians CC lifting the silverware come the seasons end.
They weren’t the only ones tasting league glory however, the two promoted sides, Notts Unity and Papplewick IIs did the same in their respective leagues, earning them a crack at the new campaign’s Division Two, alongside the relegated, Premier Division pair of Gedling & Sherwood CC, and Notts & Arnold CC, with Premier Division side, Wollaton CC, taking the T20 Trophy.
The new season, beginning in April, sees Premier Division newcomers, Mansfield Hosiery Mills CC, runners-up in Division Two last time out, host defending champions, Cavaliers & Carrington, whilst Division Tow champions, West Bridgfordians, they are on the road to Clifton Village CC.
The two sides relegated from the Premier Division begin their season in Division Two with Gedling & Sherwood away to Caythorpe CC, and Notts & Arnold at Clipstone CC; as for the newcomers, to the new-look, twelve-team division, Notts Unity Casuals start the season with a standalone fixture on 15 April, away to Welbeck CC.
Notts Unity, who won last seasons’ South Nottinghamshire Division A with 294 points (12 wins) eight points ahead of second place Kimberley Institute IIs (286 points, 11 wins), then play the following weekend when at home to Collingham CC, meanwhile, fellow promoted side, Papplewick & Linby IIs, they travel to Thoresby CC.
Papplewick’s second string won the Bassetlaw & District championship last time out, thus earning promotion, and also won by an eight point margin; finishing with 394 points (19 wins), they saw off the challenge of runners-up Farnsfield CC (386 points, 17 wins) to go up).
Meanwhile, Premier Division side Papplewick is the new home of the league’s leading run-scorer, Brent Williams, who racked up an impressive milestone of 1,380 runs this past season, surpassing the record previously held by Paul Johnson.
Williams was one of five, across the two division, to pass a thousand runs during the 2022 season with Imran Butt (Cavaliers & Carrington, 1,090) also doing so in the Premier, alongside a trio in Division Two of Adeesha Nanayakkara (Caythorpe, 1,140), Shalith Fernando (Balderton, 1,074), and Ximus Du Plooy (Thoresby, 1,018).
Opening weekend fixtures, on 22 April (with a standalone the week before), for the NPL Premier Division, and Division Two, are as follows –
PREMIER Clifton Village CC vs. West Bridgfordians; Cuckney CC vs. Kimberley Institute CC; Hucknall CC vs. Attenborough CC; Mansfield Hosiery Mills CC vs. Cavaliers & Carrington CC; Papplewick & Linby CC vs. Radcliffe on Trent CC; Plumtree CC vs. Wollaton CC
DIVISION TWO Welbeck CC vs. Notts Unity Casuals (15 April); Cavaliers & Carrington IIs CC vs. Balderton CC; Caythorpe CC vs. Gedling & Sherwood CC; Clipstone CC vs, Notts & Arnold CC; Notts Unity Casuals CC vs. Collingham CC; Thoresby CC vs. Papplewick & Linby IIs CC; Welbeck CC vs Cuckney IIs CC
The top five in each of the two divisions last season (points in brackets) were (PREMIER) Cavaliers & Carrington (140); Cuckney (136), Papplewick & Linby (130), Kimberley Institute (114), and Hucknall (94), and (DIVISION TWO) West Bridgfordians (110), Mansfield Hosiery Mills (102), Caythorpe (86), Balderton (82), Cavaliers & Carrington IIs (74)
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*Article provided by Peter Mann (Senior Correspondent).
*Main image @NottsPrem Cavaliers & Carrington celebrating their 2022 title win.
