Veterans League
With Outlane withdrawing from Division 3 of the 10-Man League there is a need to promote three teams from Division 4 to plug that gap with Primrose Hill Lib being the beneficiary of that additional place.
Mixed fortunes for the Netherton Cons Club last season with the A team finishing bottom of Division 1 and the B team winning the Division 5 title and promotion into Division 4 for the 2025 season. Are they good enough to build on that success and seek a second promotion? The last time this team was higher than this level was 2016 when they finished bottom of Division 3. I think it is a big ask for the team to make it a successive promotion year so will veer past them on that basis. The same goes for the other two promoted teams, David Brown Sports and Primrose Hill Lib with the latter likely to struggle after this unexpected promotion.
Only one team coming down from Division 3 and that is Skel Windmill who were well adrift at the foot of the table. They only won 5 matches all season, 4 of those in the first 5 weeks of the season leaving them with one win in the next 17 fixtures. A sequence that hardly encourages support for an immediate return. Maybe they have recruited shrewdly during the close-season? They may feel more comfortable at this new level and only time will tell but I cannot see any justification for tipping them for promotion based on current knowledge.
So that leaves us with sorting through the teams that were in this division last season and Kirkheaton C&BC A show up as deserving serious consideration after missing out on promotion last year by one point (118-119). Interestingly they won more points away from home than any other team in the Division including the two teams above them in the final table. Surely a positive sign which could be a pointer to better times ahead.
I need to look at the late season results of the other contenders to drive them apart. Marsh United B lost their last 4 matches of the season only one of them being against a team above them in the table and that was at home to Kirkheaton C&BC A. Fifth-placed Thongsbridge B had an identical Won-6 Lost-5 record in each half of last season although the second half losses were all against teams in the top half of the table. Huddersfield Recreation Club won 6 of their final 8 fixtures last year and finished without a bowler in the top 28 in the individual averages. Two contrasting statistics and here are two more. Milnsbridge B only won one of their last 8 matches but in contrast did a league double over the Champion, Marsh Lib. None of this data points towards an obvious second contender for promotion so a bit of a punt in picking out Thongsbridge B.
I've already pointed to Primrose Hill Lib as a contender for the drop and have to eliminate Meltham B and Ravensknowle Park to accompany them as I believe that the mid-table teams from last season are all capable of beating each other and will pick up enough points between them to avoid relegation. Relegated Skel Windmill could be on a downward spiral route but cannot bring myself to forecast a second relegation. That being the case I am putting Netherton Con B to continue their yo-yo existence by making an immediate return to Division 5. Sorry lads but be assured that this means nothing in the real world.
TOP TIPS: Kirkheaton C&BC A and Thongsbridge B DROP TIPS: Primrose Hill Lib and Netherton Con B
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