Hucknall ‘relax’ as they chase history

Hucknall Cricket Club might be on the verge of an historic promotion, but they’re intending to relax and go about their business in the usual fashion ahead of the final two games of the season.
Robin Maxwell off drives Alex Cobbett.Robin Maxwell off drives Alex Cobbett.
Robin Maxwell off drives Alex Cobbett.

The South Notts Division A leaders sit 28 points ahead of second placed Ellerslie, who have a game in hand.

For Hucknall, only relegation threatened Collingham and midtable Long Eaton stand in their way.

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But while captain Robin Maxwell is taking nothing for granted, he won’t be issuing any special team talks either.

“We just have to relax and prepare the same way for every game, and do everything in our power to win,” he said.

“we don’t want to hype the games up to be something they’re not, we just have to do what we’ve been doing all season.”

Maxwell has played in the Notts Premier with Kimberley, but should they clinch promotion, it would be Hucknall’s first ever experience of the top flight.

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The skipper said: “You have to get an invite from the Premier League, after winning the title, and some teams would turn it down, but we would jump at the chance.

“It would be massive for the club, only one team goes up so it’s quite elite, and it’s hard to stay in the league, but it would make a massive difference to us.”

Hucknall haven’t achieved their top spot in the league through an increase in expenditure, and Maxwell is proud of the fact that the bulk of the squad has remained the same for a number of years.

“We’ve had the same group for a long time now, and I think that’s our strength, the group has just got better and better over time.

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“Our overseas, Dale Campbell, who was here last year, has had a great year and we brought in Suhail Ahmed who has been fantastic, taking a fair few wickets.”

The men from Hayden Lane had what their rivals will be hoping was a ‘wobble’ on Saturday, when they played out a losing draw with seventh-placed Wollaton.

Maxwell knows it wasn’t an ideal result, but insists it’s a competitive league.

“A few things went against us, we had them in trouble in their innings and we were in a decent position in our innings, but lost a few wickets in a bunch, but we’re still in a good position.

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“We go into most of the games as favourites, but Collingham are scrapping against relegation and had a really good result last week, and they beat us at their place.

“Any game you can win or lose.

“We don’t really want to have to go to Long Eaton needing points on the last day, it’s never an easy game against them, but it looks like we might need something.”

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