A VILLAGE cricket club fighting for survival is hoping to declare itself ‘not out’ by the end of the month

Thixendale CC was on the brink of folding and had its membership suspended by the HPH York Vale Cricket League so it could find more time to recruit new players.

The Gazette & Herald reported its plight and the publicity may help the 64-year-old club to carry on next season.

Club secretary Paul Scothern said: “The newspaper article has created some interest, and we have had several applications by prospective new players wishing to join us. Hopefully if we can add to this with other new players found by existing club members we have a good chance of continued survival.”

An emergency meeting was held in the village hall last week and the general consensus was to try to keep the club going and launch a recruitment drive.

Paul said: “The club has now set a date of September 23 to have a further meeting at which everyone who attended is expected to each find new prospective players.

“We have agreed that if we can recruit eight new regular players this will allow us to carry on. If we are unable then the agreement is that club tries to continue with a Wednesday night team, which can then be used as a platform to rebuild the club numbers to a position where we can then re apply to join the York Vale league for Saturday cricket.”

He added he was grateful to the Vale League committee for all their help and hoped Thixendale can repay them with their continuation of the league which it joined in1986.

Rather than accept the club’s resignation, the league suspended Thixendale’s membership to give it time to regroup for next season.

The league will be looking at introducing a player loan/dual registration scheme which might further help if the club is still in membership next season.

Thixendale won the second division of the Vale League last year but resigned midway through this season because it had been unable to put a side out on many occasions.

Anyone interested in playing for the club next season should phone Paul Scothern on 01377 288181 or email thixendale@yorkvale.co.uk