The under seventeen team captained by Craig Matthews kept us on the cricketing map in 2002 by winning their championship. They were also runners-up in the Walker Cup. Be that as it may 2002 proved a very disappointing year for the senior sides because we finished seventh of nine in the Conference and the Seconds were relegated.
There was a ray of sunshine with the arrival of Darren Lockwood who was to set the club alight in 2003 and that was to prove probably our most successful season to date in the club’s history. Lockwood set a club record by scoring 1,315 runs.
The attendance record at Westerley Lane was smashed when we entertained Skelmanthorpe, who unfortunately got the upper hand, in the Sykes Cup semi final.
There was ample compensation when we won the Frank Platt Conference with seven points to spare over Broad Oak. The Seconds also got promoted, when as underdogs they beat Kirkburton, in a play off to give us two sides in the Premiership in 2004.
We said goodbye to Nawaz as we entered the top league but we didn’t go far to find a successor because we signed his brother, Ramzan, a Test player who was captain of State champions, Faizalabad. Despite him scoring over 1,000 runs we found ourselves relegated at the end of the season.