Oldham set for new era

ON HIS WAY OUT: Paul Thompson has decided to leave Oldham after serving the club for 29 years.

Cricket:

Club survives but captain resigns and stalwart moves on
OLDHAM Cricket Club will fulfil their fixtures in the 2012 Lake Garage CLL season.

But they will do so without Paul Thompson —who played for the club for 29 years — and, probably, another Pollards stalwart, Chris McDonnell, who has resigned as captain.

As reported in the Chronicle last week, the club’s future in the league was in serious doubt because of a lack of players.

McDonnell called a crisis meeting which was held at Blue Coat School last night.

Indoor nets were cancelled as around 20 players gathered to discuss a rescue plan for Oldham.

And McDonnell insisted: “The club will be carrying on. The meeting was all positive. We have a few new players coming in and there will be sponsorship, too.

“There were a couple of lads there who we had not seen for a while, and there are players, such as Zaffer (Jatoi) and Saeed (Waseef) who know others who have said they will come.

“The players have new ideas and, to be honest, the position there now is better than it ever was when I was captain.

“I feel I have taken this as far as I can, so I have resigned the captaincy.

“I haven’t decided whether I will be staying or going elsewhere. I just want to enjoy playing cricket this season.”

Thompson, who joined Oldham at the age of 11, was McDonnell’s vice-captain for several seasons.

He and McDonnell rallied the troops to keep Oldham afloat when it looked odds-on the team would fold in 2009. Thompson, who will be 40 this year, said: “I need a change, but would rather not say at this stage where I will be going. I felt I had done all I could at Oldham.”