Yorkshire Cricket Southern Premier League

It has been a busy close-season of recruitment for clubs in the top division of each of Yorkshire’s four ECB Premier League competitions.

With the start – weather permitting! – of the 2024 season not too long now, there are plenty of interesting player movements upon which to dwell.

(It is worth updating our late October look at Premier League ins and outs.)

Let’s start off with the top division of the Yorkshire Cricket Southern Premier League….

Fast bowler Ben Cliff, who in 2023 played two County Championship matches for Yorkshire, taking three wickets, returns to Cawthorne, back in the top-flight after winning the Championship title last season.

Cliff, a native of Halifax, has been a regular in Yorkshire’s second team and has represented England Under-19s, including at the age-group’s World Cup.

British leg-spinning all-rounder Thomas Jones, India-based, has also joined Cawthorne.

Jones comes to Dark Lane on the recommendation of former West Indies captain Jimmy Adams, who coached him at Kent’s academy. Jones played for Kent Under-15s and Under-17s, and made a Second XI appearance for the Canterbury club.

Returning to cricket in 2023 after a four-year absence while studying sports psychology, Jones has been a net bowler in the Indian Premier League, for Lucknow Super Giants and Gujarat Titans, and has had playing spells in Australia (City Colts) and South Africa (Sporting Chatsworth and Dolphins Academy).

In Britain, Jones spent time on the books of Kent League Folkestone (2014-16) and Western District Union Stirling County (2018-19).

Cawthorne’s new overseas professional is Danish Aziz, a left-handed bat and a slow left-arm orthodox bowler, who has played internationally for Pakistan.

The all-rounder from Karachi has ODI and T20 appearances under his belt. Aziz has played also in the Pakistan Super League competition.

Shiregreen, promoted as runners-up to Cawthorne, are keen to make a favourable impression on the league’s top-flight, to which they return after 15 years.

The north Sheffield club have unveiled, as their 2024 overseas professional, Indian Karan Kaila, a right-handed batsman and slow left-arm bowler, who has played for Punjab in the Ranji Trophy.

Other close-season recruits announced by Shiregreen include Riaz Khan, Sanaullah Khan, Himanshu Satyawan and Sandeep Singh.

Ilyas Mohammed has made the switch to Hatfield House Lane from league rivals Elsecar.

The overseas player at Wakefield Thornes will be Sijomon Joseph, 26, a former India Under-19s cap, with first-class experience at the Kerala state club.

Joseph is a left-handed batsman and a slow left-arm orthodox bowler. His highest score in first-class cricket is 83 and best bowling figures 7-70.

Barnsley Woolley Miners captain Liam Johnson is “happy” with the club’s winter signings, which include overseas Jacob Cumming, who arrives with a great reputation and the likelihood of complementing the club’s batting line-up.

New Zealander Cumming is a left-hand opening bat and a right-arm medium pace bowler, who has first-class cricket experience with Otago.

Cumming describes as “really cool” the big-name players involved in Barnsley’s past. He said: “I want to perform well and help as much as I can for team success. I’ll be trying to seize the opportunity of being at a good club where I can keep developing my game.”

George Richardson, a fast bowling, hard-hitting all-rounder, and a rising star of the Jersey cricket scene, is also heading to Shaw Lane. Skipper Johnson said: “We consider ourselves as contenders for silverware again.”

A key departure at Barnsley Woolley Miners is Beck Frostick, the first team captain and a player rated one of the club’s best homegrown talents. He has emigrated to Australia. “A huge character,” say Barnsley, “who will be missed by the club and the league.”

Whitley Hall’s 2024 overseas recruit is Australian Harry Wood, younger brother of Jack, who played for the club last season and has joined Brisbane Heat for the 2024 Big Bash.

Down Under, Wood, rated a prodigious talent, plays for the Ipswich Hornets club, members of the Queensland Premier Cricket competition.

Other new recruits at Baxter Field are Alex Littlewood, James Smith and Eddy Tofts.

Batsman Smith, relocating back to Sheffield, joins from East Anglian Premier League Witham while Tofts, a left-arm bowler and a middle-order batsman, comes in from the Bassetlaw & District League North Wheatley with Leverton club. Most recently, reliable run-maker Littlewood was on the books of Worsbrough Bridge. A home-grown ‘Brigger’, Littlewood captained Whitley Hall’s league rivals.

Whitley Hall are able also to call upon opening batsman Matthew Cartwright, who has returned to Yorkshire after 18 months in Australia.

In addition to capturing, as their overseas, Indian Pavan Shah, Elsecar have raided league rivals Aston Hall, relegated from the Premier Division last season, for 6ft 4in seamer Henry Renshaw, a young left-armer whom they believe has bags of potential.

On the debit side, Elsecar have lost Moin Ashraf, who has had an operation and started a career in coaching.

Casting their net wide, Doncaster Town have snapped up Australian Oscar Harms, a right-arm leg-spinner and a middle-order batsman.

Harms joins from the Prospect club in Adelaide, where, together with the Adelaide University team, he has been making second grade appearances.

Closer to HQ, Doncaster have picked up Harsha Rajapaksha from league rivals Whiston Parish Church. An all-rounder, in 2023 he took 53 wickets in the Championship division, at an average of 16.91, and contributed 465 runs.

Bowler Tiger Payne, who played his junior cricket at Town, has ‘come home’ after switching from Huddersfield League Shelley for whom, in 2023, he took 33 wickets.

Wicketkeeper Taylor Fell comes in from Clifton Village, of the Nottinghamshire Premier League. Last season, Fell had 16 victims and chipped in with plenty of runs.

Other winter signings made by Doncaster include Kirk Bennett, Harpreet Singh Bhatia, Caleb Jewell and Michael Linney. Also, Town have added to their coaching and mentoring team to “help further develop a positive training culture and an environment to help maximise all our players’ strengths, and improve their areas to develop”.

During the close-season, Doncaster have installed two hybrid pitches, a water harvesting and irrigation system, and an off-pitch grass practice area.

Sri Lankan Minod Bhanuka will be Tickhill’s overseas professional in 2024.

The left-handed Bhanuka is regarded as one of the top batsmen in his homeland, where he has played Test, ODI and T20 international cricket. Also a wicketkeeper, he was recommended by a previous Tickhill overseas, Binura Fernando.

Having finished runners-up in each of the last two years, to Scunthorpe powerhouses Appleby-Frodingham (2022) then Sheffield Collegiate (2023), Tickhill have “focussed on retention” in assessing the first team squad during the close-season.

Their major signing (and what a signing!) is South African Rhett Bridgens, a quality all-rounder, who has spent the last eight seasons playing in the Lincolnshire Premier League.

Latterly vice-captain with the Nettleham club, in Lincolnshire Bridgens scored close to 6,000 runs, at an average a shade under 50, and took over 400 wickets.

Two players – Ted Ruston and Paddy Turner – have returned to Tickhill after spells elsewhere. Along with fellow recruits Ibrahim Saif and James Wilkes, Ruston and Turner are expected to add “real” competition for places throughout the club.

Ruston, a wicketkeeper and a right-handed opening or middle-order bat, who graduated into Tickhill’s senior teams after rising through the junior ranks, is back from a brief sojourn with league rivals Scunthorpe Town.

Like Ruston, right-arm opening bowler Turner left Tickhill midway through last season. He will add depth to the team’s seam attack, and provide middle to lower-order runs.