ANOTHER Saturday afternoon spent staring out of the windows of a cricket pavilion watching the rain fall on a sodden field.

It is becoming an all to regular event in this season, a season that is threatening to turn into the dampest of squibs.

At least the endless rain allows for the topics of conversation to turn from the sublime to the ridiculous.

One of the subjects that arose on Saturday when I was supping a Guinness or two at Cherry Tree while waiting for the Ribblesdale League game with Great Harwood to be called off was the current decline in numbers of people who are actually playing members at each club.

Some teams are not able to field three teams each week and others are in an even worse state and have to call matches off.

This is alarming given the number of youngsters who train at clubs across the area several times during the week.

Maybe young players are losing interest as they get older, maybe the are not being encouraged to stay on.

Coaches and volunteers work tirelessly acoss the board and you would hope that people are not lost to the game.

So if anyone is missing out on a spot of cricket, get in touch with your local club.