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Lancashire League, Todmorden, July 1999: scored 300 and lose. Scored 280 and tied. Scored 240 and win (at last).

If someone had forecast this scenario, I would have suggested they take a little more water with it!

Entertaining indeed, but all apparently is not well in the Lancashire League . . .

Many players feel there is too much cricket to be able to give their best consistently. The loss of many top amateurs to local leagues and a lack, in any volume, of youngsters to replace them, has resulted in a generally accepted fall in standards.

Quality not quantity is clearly the key, and is the message from the ECB's ``Raising The Standard'' blueprint for the game's future.

We need to get the best players, on the best grounds, playing against each other in a contest where skills are improved and rewarded, not lost by being ground down by fatigue.

In a spirit of being constructive, I would offer the following for consideration:

1) Combine the Lancashire and Central Lancashire leagues into two divisions with four-up four-down relegation and promotion.

2) Replayed games and inter-league cup to be scrapped.

3) Professionals to have coaching qualifications and coaching duties as firm parts of their terms and conditions at senior and colts level.

Tradition is important. Over the years, the Lancashire League has arguably been the strongest in England. However, the tyrannosaurus-rex was also once upon a time pretty formidable. But then things got chilly, and it did not evolve . . .