From now on it’s Loose & Leeds, says Davey
In focus
Loose Cricket Club have been forced into a name change as the fight to secure their own ground in the village rumbles on.
Club captain Cyril Davey has been trying for 11 years to secure a lease on land at Old Drive.
Various complications have stopped him in his tracks and, with the club playing at Tower House in Leeds for the last four years, they’ve had to come up with a new name – Loose & Leeds.
Before moving to Leeds, they were based at Maidstone Grammar School.
Davey, 76 next month, said: “We were given three years by the Kent Village League to get a ground back at Loose, which we haven’t been able to do.
“I’ve been trying for 11 years but so far I haven’t been able to get the lease we need to be able to go for ECB grants to make the necessary improvements.
“I’ve had planning permission to modify the barn but that runs out next month, so if we do get the lease, we’ll have to start all over again.
“Because we were using the ground at Leeds, the league said we must change our name to reflect that.
“We came up with a variety of names before deciding on Loose & Leeds. The league were happy with that and we had no objections back from Leeds & Broomfield.”
Loose train at Old Drive and Davey still prepares the square in the hope he secures the lease.
He added: “It’s all a bit up in the air at the moment. Something always seems to go wrong but I’ll hang on in there and it’ll be a proud day if we finally get the ground.”
Loose suffered a six-wicket defeat by Bobbing Court & Lower Halstow in their latest Kent Village League Division 5 match. They’re without a win this summer but will soldier on.
Davey said: “We got 162 on Sunday, which meant we got a batting point but we need to tighten up on our bowling.
“We bowl fairly tight and then all of a sudden we drop in a wide one or one that sits up and it gets smacked for four.
“I’ve set the team a target of 190 for the next game and if we practise, we’ll achieve it.”