Cummins sets out aim for Brighouse

12:40pm Wednesday 26th November 2008

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Brighouse, reprieved at the JCT600 Bradford League annual meeting earlier this month, have made their first major signing.

The Division Two side, who did not win a match last season in being relegated, will be captained next season by former Idle all-rounder Paul Cummins, who was at Esholt this year.

The 24-year-old opening bat and off-spinner said: “I am only 24 but I have wanted to be a captain since I was a kid.

“It is a fantastic set-up with superb facilities at Brighouse and I have already had two meetings with the players who were there last season and we will probably have two more meetings before Christmas.

“The junior and senior committees have joined forces and we would hope that some of the juniors might force their way into the senior sides, with possibly one or two getting into the first team.

“Two of the juniors were good enough last season to be picked for the Heavy Woollen Junior League representative side.”

Cummins currently lives in Wath, South Yorkshire, but could well be moving to Huddersfield.

He said: “We know we are building from the bottom up, and what happened last season happened, but the aim is within two or three years to be back in the First Division and for our second team to be in their First Division too.

“We also want to make Brighouse Cricket Club very much part of the community. We want players who want to play for Brighouse Cricket Club, who want it to be a success and who want to take it forwards.”

He added laughing: “But our first aim is to win a match!”

If anyone is interested in playing for Brighouse in 2009, they can contact Cummins on 07976-194239.

Meanwhile, former East Bierley, Leicestershire and England left-arm spinner Nick Cook is to become a first-class umpire next season.

Cook, who played 13 times for England, joins Michael Gough, David Millns and former top-flight football referee Martin Bodenham, who will become the first man to have filled both ‘top-flight’ positions.

Bodenham said: “Cricket is and always has been my major sporting passion.”