Lancashire League: Healy helps Todmorden Nash dash (15 Sep 1998)

15 September 1998

Healy helps Todmorden Nash dash

The Lancashire Evening Telegraph

Todmorden can thank Australian wicket-keeper Ian Healy for recruiting new professional Brendan Nash.

The two play together for the Northern Suburbs club in Brisbane.

And after Nash scored nearly 1,200 runs in the Pembrokeshire League this summer, Healy suggested to the 20-year-old all-rounder that he should look for a stiffer challenge.

The Lancashire League will provide him with that and so following discussions at Centre Vale, Nash will again follow Vasbert Drakes into a job.

Drakes was a professional at the same Welsh club some years ago and a chance phone call between the two clubs set up the deal for Nash.

Drakes has not been retained next season by mutual consent after a summer in which the West Indian scored 493 runs and took 53 wickets.

And Todmorden are happy to go for an up-and-coming player in Nash, a left-handed bat and left-arm medium pace bowler who holds a British passport and who has played at under-19 and under-21 level for Queensland. Next year's World Cup in England may pose one or two problems for Lancashire League clubs recruiting overseas players.

Three clubs - Church, Lowerhouse and Rishton - have re-engaged their professionals for next season with Neil McGarrell, Matthew Mott and Corrie Jordaan returning.

McGarrell may be an outside bet for the World Cup, however, depending on how he fares in the domestic campaign and on tour to Bangladesh next month and India in November, the latter being with the West Indies 'A' side.

McGarrell signed off for Church with an unbeaten century and four wickets against Haslingden on Sunday to finish with over 750 and 56 wickets.

"I was pretty much pleased with that, although for the wickets part of it I was looking for 70 or 80," he said before flying home shortly for some welcome Caribbean sun.

Source :: Lancashire Evening Telegraph (https://www.reednews.co.uk/let/)