Lincolnshire County Cricket League Handbook 1971

THE LEAGUE CRlCKE'T CONFERENCE K.O. COMPETITION (ROTHMAN CUP) Season 1970 saw yet •another chapter of success added to the relatively short history of the Lincolnshire County Cricket League by .the remarkable performance of the League's representative side in the League Cricket Conference Competition, formerly the Rothman Cup. For the -th ird time in four years the Lincolnshire League carried off the winners' trophy for Britain's major inter-League cricket competition-and in doing so set a new record of wins for any single League. It may have sounded iron ic to other members of the League Crkket CpQfe·re:nce when Warwickshire's Alan Smith, ·refer~ed . to 'Lincolnshire's "professional" approach as_.hj:i;{l:r~sented the Trophy to Martin Maslin, Captairi\ of...,iiur :~;ide; following the League Xl's victory in the Final at ·Birmingham. For almost every other side in· the cqrnpet ition employs professionals ,and yet ·the Lincolnshire .League has swept aside virtually •all oppo– sition ·iri' Hs rise from the obscurity of :its entry into the Rothman Cup to its present standing as the most power.II.ii side in the League Cricket Conference. One of the outstanding characteristics of the Lincoln– shire League side, and, perhaps, a major secret of its success, has been the tremendous team spirit by which ind ividual iperformance has been welded into a common effort. There ·have been sacrifices of personal glory for the sake of the side's success and there is no doubt that ·that ,approach has been fostered by the spirit of cricket in Lincolnshire. It is equally certain that the challenge to ·the Lincoln– shire side will be even keener in seasons to come, for Champions are always subject to do-or-die efforts from the ir opponents. But the League side has ach ieved more than winning the inter-League trophy three times. It has ·instilled confidence ,and pride into the whole of the Lincolnshire League -and players who take their