Cricket: Alder rises from ashes to scoop ECB award

Feb 22 2008 by Our Correspondent, Liverpool Daily Post

ALDER CRICKET CLUB, founded 50 years ago as Liverpool NALGO by two groups of schoolteachers and local government officials, has become the first in Lancashire to achieve the ECB’s new ‘more robust’ clubmark accreditation award.

The official presentation was made late last year by Merseyside and West Lancashire cricket development officer Paul Bryson, and the West Derby club is already planning to play a full part in the city’s Capital of Culture celebrations in addition to marking its own half-century.

Alder has also taken on responsibility for the development of disability cricket in the area and has carefully costed plans to invest in a new pavilion, sightscreens, covers and a second pitch . Its ultimate aim is to secure a place in the Business Assistance Liverpool Competition.

But the club’s impressive growth over the last two decades – football, bowls and tennis are also played on the site and membership has been open since 1992 – was accelerated by a major fire in 2004 which in the words of secretary Mike Dunne “galvanised everybody”.

“We changed our name to confirm our new status as a community-based club for West Derby and beyond,” continued Dunne who is too modest to admit that he, along with cricket development manager Tom Coogan, has been one of the architects of the club’s recent renaissance.

“We’re in a good position because we’re very central for a lot of schools and there aren’t many other clubs in the immediate vicinity,” Dunne pointed out.

The club’s current playing strength is a testament both to its popularity and to the success of the coaching sessions which regularly attract 120 youngsters to the ground on Friday evenings.

Alder runs three Saturday teams, two Sunday XIs and also has five junior teams ranging from the under-nines to the under-18s. In the last three seasons the club’s first team has never been outside the top five places in the Merseyside and Southport Cricket Alliance and it also won the 2007 Lever Cup.

The bid for further honours this summer will be boosted by the return of Mohammed Masroor, a Level II coach well capable of fostering the skills of his team-mates. It seems likely that if the Liverpool Competition does decide to expand its membership to 36 clubs, Alder will be one of the first in the queue to join.

Meanwhile, Leigh’s bid to get back into the Competition’s Premier League has been boosted by the appointment of former skipper Dave Dove as the captain for the 2008 season and the return of front-line batsman Andy Batterley. The Beech Walk club has also announced a lucrative sponsorship deal with GENLEC.

“This is fantastic news for Leigh,” said Dove. “Not only will the deal allow us to enter the market for a top flight overseas professional for next season but we will also be able to invest heavily in grassroots cricket.”