No sooner as one heads to its conclusion, then other sports begin in earnest, with the Owzat-Cricket Nottinghamshire Premier League starting this coming weekend (20 April), games taking place across both their Premier League and Division Two, with the draw for the opening two round of the NPL T20 competition having also been made.
Last time out it was Cuckney CC that claimed a stunning treble of ECB National Cup, Derbyshire Premier Cup, and lifting the NPL Premier title, although they would lose the very last match of the season, the Dan Sutton Trophy, by eight wickets against Cavaliers & Carrington CC.
In that season finale Cavaliers & Carrington would be seen to post 205/2 with Viken Kedariya knocking 99, and Umar Amin 64n/o, whilst in reply Cuckney made 204/8 as Nicholas Keast 58 and William Butler 47 kept the treble-winners in contention; Cavs though, they held out to claim their fourth, consecutive trophy.
With Cuckney claiming their first NPL Premier title since 2017, Division Two was lifted by Welbeck CC, and surprisingly, the last time they did that was also in 2017, they being joined in the top flight by Notts & Arnold CC, who did so with victory over Caythorpe CC on the final day.
NPL T20 Preliminary Round (before 31 May) – Notts & Arnold CC vs. Anston CC; Welbeck CC vs. Kimberley Institute CC; Notts Unity CC vs. Radcliffe-on Trent CC; Collingham CC vs. Cuckney CC; Thoresby cc VS. Gedling Colliery CC; Clifton Village CC vs. Cavaliers & Carrington CC
NPL T20 First Round (before 23 June) – West Bridgfordians CC vs. Wollaton CC; Attenborough CC vs. Hucknall CC; Papplewick & Linby CC vs, Thoresby/Gedling; Gedling & Sherwood vs. Notts Unity/Radcliffe-on-Trent; Mansfield Hosiery Mills CC vs. Clipstone CC; Welbeck/Kimberley Institute vs. Plumtree CC; Caythorpe CC vs. Clifton Village/Cavaliers & Carrington; Collingham/Cuckney vs. Notts & Arnold/Anston
Lots of runs were made, and lots of wickets were taken during the 2023 season across the NPL; in the former, and in the Premier League, Nicholas Keast (Cuckney) made 1126 runs, whilst Savin Perera (Attenborough) deserves special mention having made 1089 runs himself, and in Division Two, Welbeck’s Jean Du Plessis made 1025.
Wicket-taking then both James Hindson (Kimberley) and Dan Freeman (Attenborough) took 42 apiece in the Premier League, whilst Division Two saw Waduwawalage (Thoresby) also grab 42 wickets of his own.
Aiming for a similar scenario to last season, treble-winners Cuckney have added Joel Gunn to their squad for the new season, whilst fellow title-hopefuls, Cavaliers & Carrington, have drafted in Savin Perera from Attenborough.
Kimberley have lost both Sam Wood and James Hindson through retirement; Wollaton have made several changes including bringing in Kiel Van Vollenhoven, whilst newcomers Welbeck have added Oliver Dyson and Ruan Terblanche as they look to challenge the top four, and Notts & Arnold who’ll take survival in the top-flight have brought in Rishan Herath and Devansh Verma.
League newcomers, Anston (Bassetlaw & District Championship champions), and Gedling (South Nottinghamshire Division A champions), will meet each other in the season opener at the home of the former – Anston are looking to establish themselves in the NPL and, at present, it’s a case of as you were player-wise, and for Gedling, they’ve added Jobran Azam and Toby Smith as they bid to stay in the league also.
And now, it’s all systems go for the season openers this coming Saturday (20 April) across the county, and the league as a whole.
OPENING DAY FIXTURES (SATURDAY 20 APRIL 2024)
NPL PREMIER LEAGUE – Attenborough vs. Wollaton; Cavaliers & Carrington vs. West Bridgfordians; Notts & Arnold vs. Hucknall; Plumtree vs. Papplewick; Welbeck vs. Cuckney
NPL DIVISION TWO – Anston vs. Gedling; Balderton vs. Cavaliers & Carrington 2s; Clifton Village vs. Clipstone; Collingham vs. Notts Unity; Mansfield Hosiery Mills vs. Caythorpe; Thoresby vs. Gedling
Keep up-to-date with all the goings-on in the Owzat-Cricket Notts Premier League via their superbly updated Twitter/X here.
*Article provided by Peter Mann (Senior Correspondent).
*Main image @NottsPrem the Notts Premier League will resume duty this weekend.
