Women like to claim they are best at multi-tasking but Enfield’s Adam Bracewell is trying to prove that theory wrong.
The 26-year-old has the unusual role at Dill Hall Lane of being the professional, the captain and the wicketkeeper which certainly makes for busy weekends.
Bracewell’s first job is as Enfield’s professional and, after getting close to 800 runs last season and having his first spell as a paid man at Rishton, Bracewell became the pro at his home club at the start of this campaign.
He had been a wicket keeper in the past, winning various awards over the seasons but took over the role again during this campaign.
And the skipper’s role came about when brother David stepped down a couple of months ago.
"This season, because of injuries, I haven’t been able to bowl as much so decided to keep wicket instead. Luckily we have an abundance of bowlers so it hasn’t really affected us," said Bracewell. "Then David gave up the captain’s job a couple of months ago so I decided to take on that too.
"To be honest, I think being behind the wicket is the best place to set out the field as you have the same vision as the batsman so that has worked out okay."
But he admits the pro-ing bit of his three-pronged attack hasn’t gone to plan.
"I have been rubbish if I am honest. I don’t even look at the statistics anymore. I look at the scores and that’s that. It’s depressing.
"There are still nine games to go so I hope I can get more runs but I got injured at the start of the season and have never really got going."
For the record, Bracewell has 311 runs but Enfield are fourth from bottom of the league and lost both games at the weekend at Lowerhouse and against title chasing East Lancashire – and to add to his list of jobs around the club the pro even had to leave the field to help when the Dill Hall Lane electric scorebox played up on Saturday.
"I am not sure if this multi-tasking is working!" he admitted.
"I do want to stay as captain next season but I think the club will look for a new pro and I agree as it hasn’t really worked for me.
"I don’t mind the pressure of the three jobs as all the lads also do their bit.
"David still chips in on the field – he can’t quite let it go! – as I did with him and he does a lot of the off-the-field captain roles. It just hasn’t really taken off for us though.
"But we can still get a mid-table finish so that’s still the aim although we need to look to next season and are giving a few of the younger lads a try."
He added: "Asif Fazal is only 19 and has scored around 250 runs in the last five games. He has stepped up to the plate and it shows that, if you do well in the seconds, there are first-team places up for grabs.
"Also, in the last few games, we have played some tough teams in the likes of Haslingden and East Lancs. Now we are playing teams around us so hopefully, with nine games to go, we can move up – and I can get a few runs!"
The double header weekend didn’t make good reading for most of the Hyndburn clubs.
CHURCH, with Gary Brent as their sub pro, beat derby rivals Rishton on Saturday thanks to 100 from opener Ammer Mirza. He batted through the innings with seven boundaries and a six and got Church off to a good start with Craig Fergusson as the pair put on a 94-run partnership.
Rishton struggled in reply in the rain with Andy Bentley taking four wickets and Brent three.
But Rishton bounced back on Sunday with a narrow six-run victory over Colne – and it was closer than it should have been.
Rishton were cruising at 90-2 but then lost wickets quickly.
They were only defending 112 but had Colne reeling, losing two wickets without a score. They were 5-13 but a late rally almost upset Rishton but, thanks to pro Andrea Agathagelou’s five wickets, they held on.
Church, on the other hand, slipped to a loss at Nelson on Sunday.
They got the worst of the weather and chasing 215 was a tricky ask with not one of Church’s batsmen getting above 20.
And it was another weekend to forget for defending champions Accrington. They lost to bottom club Bacup on a faster scoring rate on Saturday despite a ninth-wicket stand of 75 from Jimmy Hayhurst and David Ormerod which took their score to a more respectable 128 in the defeat.
And then they lost to Burnley on Sunday, this time unable to defend just 98.
