Bullcroft Main Cricket Club face prospect of final weeks

Bullcroft Main Cricket Club are on a countdown clock. It’s not exaggerating to say that they could well be in their final weeks with an urgent call for players seen as a final throw of the dice.

The one-team club in the Pontefract & District Cricket League have been given a two-week extension (Saturday 22 March) to assess if they have enough players to field a team.

As reported in the Doncaster Free Press by Ricky Charlesworth, the return to indoor nets for the 2025 season saw only four of five players appear.

Without juniors, cricket clubs of this size are walking a tightrope. They rely on a consistent core group and that can lead to problems as availability naturally changes.

Bullcroft Main’s Darren Birkett told me that usually there’s eight or nine who can play most weeks but a few have either switched clubs in winter or moved away from the area with work.

Darren and the others have to make a tough judgement call.

Since Covid, there’s been a gradual drop-off without being able to find replacements. They scrabbled around, often short and relied on player loans from other clubs.

“Obviously we don’t want to start the season in the same situation because come mid-summer when holidays come around, we won’t be able to fulfil fixtures incurring fines and deduction of points.”

The rest are presumably watching events unfold with apprehension and wondering where they’ll be playing in April.

Results-wise, things have been a up and down at Bullcroft Main but a credit to everyone who pulled together. Their firsts finished seventh in Division 2 last year.

Less than the full XI

Their captain Thomas Beech reflected on Facebook that at times, they took the field with several players down:

“I think 7th is probably a fair position in the league for us, being made to feel extra special by the fact we somehow found ourselves in a relegation battle up to the last week. To say we didn’t concede a single game and only ever really got “battered” once, shows the character that we had, all whilst playing some weeks with 10, 9 and even 8 men.“

If their last season has come and gone, the final game was anti-climax but also a relief. In the relegation mix down to the final Saturday, the match at Crigglestone was conceded by the home team which kept Bullcroft Main up.

Bullcroft Main’s 2024 highlight reel included Ross Weston’s 100 at Frickley Colliery and Darren Birkett’s 9-17 at home against Allerton Bywater.

Unless some scenarios that unfold at grassroots, the club at Uncle Toms in Carcroft (Doncaster) are stable in terms of finances: “We are in a decent position off the field with facilities, and funds in the bank to be able to continue.”

The availability of players can be for many reasons and it really doesn’t take much at a one-team club to shift the balance to one of crisis. Obviously, we wish everyone at Bulcroft Main CC well.

It can be saved though. We saw as much when Glasshouses CC were teetering on the brink and went on to continue in the Nidderdale League.

If you can, share this article on social media or get in touch with Darren with any help, you just never know…

Many cricket clubs find themselves at a crossroads – or even a clifftop – at some point. For Bullcroft Main, this is theirs. Unless they can magic players out of a hat then it spells the end of the club.

Darren said: “Reluctantly, we’ll wind up the club – as the ones who want to play will move to other clubs.”

📣 If you’d like to contact Darren at Bullcroft Main CC, his email is [email protected] or there’s a Bullcroft Main Cricket Club Facebook page.