Run machine Collis King lines up his new bat ready for the start of the local cricket season tomorrow.

King, who has piled up runs for fun for Stillington in the last few summers, has moved up to the premier division of the Hunters Estate Agent York and District Senior Cricket League with Dunnington.

He will be playing alongside fellow former West Indian Test star Alvin Kallicharan and they will be wielding willow crafted in Malton.

King, Kallicharan and Australian Daman Smith, who will be playing for champions Easingwold, have ordered bats from Nick Nixon in Spital Street, Helmsley.

Nixon, from Nawton, Helmsley, can make around 30 bats a week as well as offer a bat-mending service.

His range of bats includes the ProSelect, ProElite and ProBlanco, which differ in balance and weight. He's optimistic his venture will pay off.

"I've planted sets of sapling willow trees all over the place. They take 15 years to grow before you can harvest them so I'm obviously aiming to be here for the long term."

The Oxbridge Yorkshire ECB County Premier League also starts tomorrow with York entertaining Rotherham, while the expanding Horwath Pulleyn Heselton York Vale League also clicks into action at 2.15pm.

At a joint meeting of the Scarborough Beckett, Scarborough Evening and Derwent Valley Leagues, it was revealed that six clubs will not be able to play home fixtures - at least for the time being - because of the foot and mouth crisis.

Cloughton, Ganton, Scalby, Thornton Dale, Langdale End and Muston are nogo areas at the moment and these clubs will either ground-share with other clubs or try to rearrange games on Sundays or at any other free time.

Bernard Goulding, secretary of the Evening League and the Derwent Valley League said: "Obviously if the foot and mouth situation deteriorates or there are other outbreaks we shall have to reassess the situation, but at this moment we are hopeful that cricket can go ahead with meaningful games throughout the season."

Any division that is affected by a fixture disruption will be decided on a percentage basis. Thus if any team can only play say 14 of its 18 league games and wins seven of them then their percentage would be 50 per cent.

In such a case all the teams in the division would have their results converted to a percentage and so it may well be a couple of days after season ends before the formulas are worked out and the true position known.

Updated: 09:47 Friday, April 27, 2001