DISGRUNTLED cricket clubs have bowled a bouncer at their hierarchy in a new move to revamp their league.

Rival sides Norden, Monton & Weaste, Milnrow and Walsden have joined forces to call a special meeting of the Central Lancashire League this month to try and push through the most far-reaching changes in the league's 117-year history.

Norden's blueprint involves the 16-team league being split into two divisions for the first time since the CLL was formed in 1892.

Decline

They argue promotion and relegation will boost competition. And they are also looking for a new-look Twenty20 competition to provide extra income and interest.

Greg Tattersall, acting chairman at Norden, explained: "We desperately need to do something to halt the decline of our league. I have played first-team cricket for 10 years and the standard has been going down year-by-year.

"We believe having two divisions would reduce the number of games which are complete mis-matches which is no good for the league.

"There are some clubs who, after losing in the first round of the Wood Cup, find themselves out of everything and with nothing to play for by mid-June which cannot be good for both them and the league."

The Twenty20 competition, which is currently squeezed into a congested schedule by being played on Friday evenings, would be switched to more lucrative weekend dates to compensate for the reduction in League games.

A steering committee was set up earlier this year to explore the possibility of a revamp but when it reported back this autumn and recommended little change, it caused anger among many of the clubs.

"We felt let down by the steering committee because clubs had voted 14-2 earlier this year for them to explore changing the format of the league," Tattersall continued.

Tattersall believes it will be a close vote at the meeting at Middleton Cricket Club on Friday, November 27, but he remains confident the tide will be in favour of change which they want implementing immediately for next season.

THE CLL is mourning the deaths of former league chairman and past president John Schofield, who was a fast bowler at Radcliffe and ex-Milnrow scorer Michael Robins.