It's always sad to see a loyal and long serving Yorkshire team member released by the club and many fans were sorry to read this week that Bradley Parker was not to be re-engaged next season.

The 29-year-old middle order batsman is one of the original intake from the Yorkshire Academy when it started up at Bradford Park Avenue ten years' ago.

He made his county debut in 1992, since when he has played in 44 first class matches, making 1,839 runs at a respectable average of 30.14 and with a top score of 138 not out.

Parker also turned out in 56 county league fixtures, ten Benson and Hedges Cup matches and five NatWest Trophy games, his most notable innings in these one-day fixtures being his dazzling 69 against Leicestershire at Grace Road in 1997 which helped to gallop Yorkshire through to the NatWest quarter finals.

A product of the Bradford League and now playing for Undercliffe, Parker's career with Yorkshire never quite reached fulfilment which is a pity for both the county and himself.

Few batsmen are more exciting or entertaining to watch when in full flow.

Parker was offered his release from contract three years' ago but remained on the staff after a deal to join Durham fell through in the winter.

He then started the 1997 season in such style that he was an early leader in the national first class averages after scoring 85 not out and 36 in the four-day 'friendly' against Lancashire and rapping out an unbeaten 138 against Oxford University in The Parks.

But Parker was unable to find consistency of form when it really mattered. And with younger players coming through his only opportunities over the past two seasons have occurred when other batsmen have gone down injured.

The time when Parker really looked as if he would make it was in the second half of the 1994 season when he gained a regular place in the side upon the early departure home of West Indian Richie Richardson.

Three championship half centuries were followed by a splendid 127 against Surrey at Scarborough and he ended the season with a first class average of 36.12.

But he was squeezed out again the following summer when Yorkshire signed Michael Bevan and from then on his career was mostly on the wane.

Parker's departure was not unexpected, but the release of two Academy graduates, Gareth Clough and Richard Wilkinson, was more surprising as both were thought to be long term prospects.

The reason given for their release was that there would be too few opportunities for them to break into the first team. Yorkshire have circulated their names to other counties.

It seems a pity, however, that "too few opportunities" should result in the release of younger players after time and money has been spent on bringing them through the Academy - and before they have had any sort of chance to show if they have the right temperamenl. The rare glimpse or two I have had of Clough suggested he could be a player with a future ahead of him.

He first came to the attention of first team followers in 1997 when he came on as 12th man against Northamptonshire at Headingley.

Clough took a brilliant catch to dismiss Kevin Curran and pave the way for a Yorkshire victory.

Last summer, Clough travelled to Cardiff as Yorkshire's 12th man.

A last minute injury crisis resulted in him making his only championship appearance and his coolly assembled 33 in the first innings helped Yorkshire on their way to a fine win over Glamorgan.

In 25 Second XI matches Clough has hit 1,177 runs with a top score of 136 against Somerset Seconds and he could prove to be a valuable asset for another county.

Like Clough, off-spinner Wilkinson has been given only one senior outing and that was against Cambridge University at Headingley last year.

It was felt Wilkinson would have had limited chances at senior level with four other spinners on Yorkshire's books in Ian Fisher, James Middlebrook, Richard Dawson, Chris Ellison plus, of course, Michael Vaughan.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.