​’Dunkirk spirit’ helps Maltby Cricket Club's revival

Maltby MW put out an appeal in the Advertiser last winter for new faces after numbers for its one and only team dwindled to seven or eight bodies.

The outlook looked worrying but, a year on, the club based at Muglet Lane is enjoying a renaissance.

Secretary Keith Twiss said: "Things are much healthier than they were a year ago.

"We ending up finding an overseas student at Sheffield Hallam who ended up being a great guy and he absolutely loved playing here.

"It was like Dunkirk spirit. Everyone got together and the spirit became very good.

"The guys who left us came back mid-season because they missed it. Plus we’ve another player coming back from Tickhill now.

"We are building.”

Maltby were good enough to finish fifth in Division Five of the the YCSPL last season and plan to field a further team on Sundays in the Mansfield League next summer.

"We have enough players to run two senior teams now,” said Keith. “It’s easier to run two teams across a Saturday and a Sunday because if you are a couple of players short then the odd one or two can double up."

Junior sections are vital to the future of any cricket club and, with that in mind, Maltby are keen to set up a structure to introduce kids to the game and start nurturing their own talent.

Added Keith: "I run the ECB Dynamos scheme for 9-11 year olds.

"The Yorkshire Cricket Board gave us that free so the kids were able to come free in the middle of the summer. It was one of the best attended in Yorkshire."On that back of that I want to start a junior section and run an U11s team.”

The new season is scheduled to start in April.