'No excuses' for Papplewick failure to win title

Rhodes gave his verdict on a season that promised so much but delivered so little.

The Papplewick Hall outfit were in the NPL's leading pack all season and stalked leaders Clifton in second place for several weeks.

But two defeats in their last four games saw them tail off and finish fifth, 35 points behind Clifton.

That was one place lower than last year and hardly the ideal return for a star-studded squad that contained high-profile ex-professionals such as former Test players Phil DeFreitas and Stuart Law, ex-county bowler Charles Dagnall and South African captain Martin Bekker.

Said Rhodes: "We have made progress but, ultimately, we have failed. I find it remarkable that we won 12 of our 22 games and still finished fifth.

"We are gutted. We felt that we were there or thereabouts. But even winning 12 games was not enough to win the title.

"But we have no excuses. We can moan and groan all we like. We have to improve and come back and do better next year.

"We finished where we did and we will address what we need to and come back stronger next year."

Only second-placed Caythorpe won more games than Papplewick. Indeed champions Clifton won only seven, relying instead on nine winning draws, of which the locals had only one.

Papplewick also had three games abandoned because of bad weather, compared to Clifton's one. And it was an abandoned crunch-match against Caythorpe on August 8 that Rhodes felt had a big bearing on their season.

"It wasn't the playing that did us, it was the not playing," he said. "Our season hinged on the game against Caythorpe and they did not want to play because they felt the pitch was unplayable."

Papplewick have received criticism for shipping in so many inexperienced stars, while home-grown youngsters, such as Simon Roberts and Notts CCC duo Luke Fletcher and Mark Footitt, have fled the nest to play elsewhere. Indeed Roberts captains champions Clifton and Fletcher is one of their professionals.

However Rhodes tried to justify the policy. "Those players wanted to leave," he said. "We did not allow them to leave. They chose to leave.

"We wanted them to play for Papplewick. We want every player from our youth system to stay and play for Papplewick. But if they get offered decent deals with other clubs, they are going to take them."

Rhodes said that he hoped to have Aussie ace Law and former England all-rounder DeFreitas back next year.

At the start of the summer, Law said he would be heading back to Australia to retire at the end of the season. But Rhodes said: "Stuart is staying in this country now to market the Mongoose cricket bat and to forge his TV commentating career.

"So we would love him to come back here. Phil as well. We will try to retain our playing staff and strengthen.

"We need a quality slow-bowler. That is the missing ingredient. And with our second team gaining promotion to the Premier Division of the Bassetlaw League, we hope to bring through some players from there."

Rhodes insisted: "There have been more positives than negatives this season. It is the games we have had called off that have done for us.

"Phil DeFreitas has had a superb year, as has Jim Rhodes, who took more than 40 wickets. Alex Lloyd has been a fantastic signing for us as an opening batsman. And Martin Bekker has captained the side excellently."