Veterans League
Continuing my role as the unofficial, unrecognised and under-valued website for the Huddersfield Veterans League I now present my 13th annual pre-season preview of the teams in each division. I am doing a division-a-day this year starting with Division 4 in the 6-Man League and then working through them right up to Division 1 of the 10-Man League. As usual I will be sharing my tips for promotion and relegation in each Division which always causes much disbelief and hilarity among my fellow bowlers.
There are 45 teams in the 6-Man League this year as compared with 41 last season. A net gain of 4 teams overall with 5 new teams entered and one (Bradley & Colne) has withdrawn from the League. There are 4 divisions this season compared with the 3 that operated last year. The 5 new teams are Broad Oak, Clayton West B, Hemplow B, Netherton Con B and New Mill B. Broad Oak are replacing Bradley & Colne in Division 2 with the 4 other new teams all starting life in the new Division 4.
I am really interested in the new system being trialled in Division 4 this season and I have previously covered this on HuddWeb. Basically it is a system designed to reduce the number of bowlers failing to reach long marks which can spoil a game for both bowlers. The losers are unhappy about being shown up at not being able to go corner-to-corner and feel humiliated by a big defeat. The winner can also be embarrassed at inflicting such an overwhelming win on an opponent but the team has to come first and the points are there to be won albeit in an unsatisfactory manner.
The new system looks to change that advantage by rotating the jack at every end between the two bowlers (or pairs) so enabling the bowler struggling to reach long marks the opportunity to avoid sending the jack into corners so eliminating the threat of a series of long marks being set by their opponent. How that may impact a team's fortunes remains to be seen but the opportunity to change will be welcomed by some I am sure.
Reducing the number of teams in each Division has resulted in a lot of teams being relegated when they didn't expect a final mid-table position to earn them relegation for the following season. There are 7 teams in the newly formed Division 4 who have been relegated from last season's Division 3. So lets look in more detail at the teams in the new Division 4.
With the bottom 7 teams from last year's bottom division plus 4 new teams this is a lottery rather than a record-based study but one team leaps into focus - Clayton West B. It is a long time since I can recall seeing a Clayton West B team in any competition so their presence is welcomed. I took a look at the bowlers they have registered to cover their two 6-man teams. There are 37 names on that list, at least three of them are Inter-District bowlers.
It may be that they have just registered all their 10-Man League bowlers in the 6-Man League and that is likely when a quick count shows that they have 38 bowlers registered for their 10-Man teams. Even their registered presence there sends out a message. These bowlers are available to both of their 6-Man League teams for the coming season.
So whilst this purports to be a preview of the Division 4 teams the potential of the impact on their Division 1 team cannot be ignored. More of that later no doubt but if they are strengthening their A team for the Division 1 season then the knock-on effect could be that some bowlers that got them promotion from Division 2 last season are now suddenly playing in Division 4.
Skel Windmill B are the Division 4 team that finished last season in the highest position of any of the 11 teams in the Division this year so for that reason alone must be a contender. By the same thinking, the teams that finished in the lower reaches of Division 3 last season could be contenders for a similar ending this year but with so many new teams to suss out that could all change.
It was close at the foot of last season's Division 3 with just 3 points separating the four teams immediately above bottom finishers Shepley B. Of those 4, one of them is playing on a new home green this year so that home advantage which can be so key may not materialise right from the start of the season. I am talking about Greenhead Park B who have moved to playing all their home matches at Thorpe Green in 2025. There may be some short term pain to associate with the move in the first half of the season so on that reckoning they feature in my bottom two.
TOP TIPS: Clayton West B and Skel Windmill B
DROP TIPS: Shepley B and Greenhead Park B
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