SENIOR cricket at Helston formally came to an end last Thursday evening when the Jolly's Drinks League Management Committee accepted the request of the club to withdraw from the ECB Cornwall Premier League, due to a shortage of suitable players.

The LMC had no real option as the Helston club has been decimated with defections to other clubs, resulting in eleven of the first team squad of thirteen no longer available.

With their second eleven playing five divisions lower, the committee felt the gulf was just too much to fill week in week out, with health and safety of players playing out of their depth an issue apart from the inevitable mis-matches.

In a statement the league have said; "The Jolly's Drinks Cornwall Cricket League's management committee discussed the request of Helston Cricket Club to withdraw from the ECB Cornwall Premier League, due to their playing strength available.

The committee, reluctantly, accepted their request with immediate effect. For the remainder of the season the club will play two teams only. One team in Division Five West and one team in Division Seven West. The league management will be meeting with representatives of the Premier League clubs in the immediate future to discuss the implications, both short-term and long-term, regarding promotion and relegation and number of teams in the Premier League".

It ends a 100 years of the club playing at the top levels of Cornish Cricket and the sadness is no doubt felt in cricketing circles around the county. It leaves the club's Ist XI playing in Division V and they at least had the satisfaction of recording only their second win of the season on Saturday, following the previous week's success at Ludgvan.

Full report in this week's issue.