COCKBAIN LOOKS FORWARD WITH FORMBY

Date: 19th February 2014

A Paul Edwards copyright exclusive for L&DCC Official Website.

Seven new arrivals at Cricket Path

“I know I said that I was leaving,/But I just couldn’t say goodbye,” crooned Frank Sinatra, and it is surely appropriate to begin a piece about Formby’s prospects for 2014 by quoting the lyrics of a singer whose later career was made famous, in part, by the number of comebacks it featured.

Six years ago Ian Cockbain retired as skipper of Firwood Bootle, loaded down with the plaudits of team-mates and colleagues alike. That, he insisted, was that. He would play the odd game for the Northern Nomads but his Saturdays were now to be devoted to golf. When he turned out for Formby in a few games towards the end of last season, people were surprised but few thought it presaged a full-time return to the Med Imaging Liverpool Competition.

Now, however, as the days lengthen, First Division skippers must prepare themselves for the challenge of facing a Formby first-team skippered by a former Lancashire batsman who celebrates his 56th birthday when the serious business gets under way on April 19. A club whose flagship side has never won a trophy is to be led by a cricketer who has, surely, won more pots than anyone else in the history of the Comp. “I thought we’d stopped doing this,” I said to Ian, when I rang him to discuss his predictably active recruitment work for the upcoming season. “So did I,” he replied, “but we’re starting again.”

“I really enjoyed it when I played a third team game last season,” he said. “Then I was asked to play a few games for the first team and I got to grips with that too. I got a few runs, caught seven catches in four matches and after the season ended I was asked if I’d consider captaining the first team this season. Well, Formby’s my home and has been for 16 years, and my 14-year-old Jackson plays for the fourth team. So I decided to take it on.”

Cockbain sees his captaincy of Formby as a two-year project. When he was appointed in October the first team had just been relegated to the Competition’s third tier and the hope was that successive promotions would help them return to the ECB Premier League in 2016.

However, the agreed demotion of Hightown to the Second Division in January resulted in Formby being reprieved and the arguably more achievable aim now is to win promotion this season, thus enabling Cockbain to lead the side in the Premier League in 2015, when, coincidentally, the club will be celebrating its 150th anniversary. If this is achieved, tickets for his return to Wadham Road should be hot properties, although the more mischievous pundits may observe that this would also be dependent upon Bootle not being relegated.

Cockbain has already been very active in building a side he believes is capable of returning to the top flight. Seven new players have already committed themselves to Formby for the new season. Three of them, Mark O’Connor, Jude Chaminda and Liam Crilly, are well-known to cricket fans on Merseyside. Cockbain hopes that the other four will soon become very familiar to spectators of First Division games.

Formby’s New South Wales scholar this year is Dale McKay, a 21-year-old batsman and off spinner who has scored centuries for Hawkesbury in Sydney’s First Grade. Joining McKay at Cricket Path will be Jack Vale, a Lincolnshire-born opening bowler who currently plays in Wellington, New Zealand; Darren Barton, a batsman who had a spell at Northern but played most recently for York; and Luke Tinsley, a wicketkeeper-batsman currently at Myerscough College who has already represented Shropshire at Under 21 level.

However, Cockbain is hoping that his spell in charge will benefit the whole club. “We’re looking to be successful at all levels,” he said. “The club is in good health and success feeds down from the first team. There are great people on the committee here, we already have sponsorship in place it’s a lovely wicket and we’ll be putting on the best teas in the league. I’d like to bring Jackson and his pals through and let’s see if we can celebrate that sesquicentennial anniversary by winning a trophy and returning to the Premier League.”