Baildon's cricket secretary Tony Reed has welcomed the news that Naveed Rana-ul-Hassan could miss a large chunk of the Bradford League's centenary season.

The Pakistani's international commitments mean that treble-winners Pudsey Congs might be without him for up to half the season.

Congs skipper Matthew Doidge said: "Naveed is doing too well at the moment.

"There is a one-day tournament in Sri Lanka coming up and a triangular international series in England too.

"He could miss only six matches if he isn't chosen for the England tour or it could be half-a-season, but we may have him available for a couple of weeks early on.

"Nevertheless, we are going to stick with Naveed rather than bringing anyone else in, and just play him when he is available."

Congs have won the title for the last three seasons, triumphing in 2000 by two points, in 2001 by 14 points and last season by nine points.

They also won the Priestley Cup and Black Sheep Yorkshire Champions Trophy last season, but Doidge says their chances of doing the 'hat-trick' again are "pretty slim" - even though their squad has been boosted by Northamptonshire's David Paynter and East Bierley duo Andy Bairstow and Paul Carroll.

Pudsey St Lawrence were runners-up last season and their cricket secretary Tony Moore says it goes without saying that Congs will be contesting the title again.

However, he added: "St Lawrence will be pretty strong.

"Also I expect Undercliffe, East Bierley and Hanging Heaton to be challenging too, and Woodlands have been doing some strengthening."

Moore continued: "Our cricket chairman Chris Gott is quietly confident, and it is likely that we will give 15-year-old Mark Robertshaw a run in the first team.

"Young paceman James Henson has been impressing in the indoor nets, and we have also signed Gary Fellows (Yorkshire) and Ian Fisher (Gloucestershire), although their availability will obviously be limited."

Undercliffe's Brian Lymbery says of his side's prospects: "We finished fourth last year, should have finished third and we are optimistic that we can do better than that this time."

East Bierley, a distant third behind the two Pudsey clubs in 2002, are certain that their signing of James Goldthorp from Baildon will strengthen their batting.

Hanging Heaton's prospects could depend to some degree on the availability of batsman John Sadler.

Signed from Undercliffe during the winter, he has a contract with Leicestershire, and should be free to play if he doesn't break into their first team.

Hanging Heaton's cricket secretary Nat Lawrence said: "Obviously we wish John the best, but even without him we will compete - we always do."

Baildon, another club in the mid-table pack last campaign, have suffered the blow of losing Richard Robinson over the winter.

They thought the Keighley player would sign for them, having had 13 previous years at Jenny Lane, but instead he has gone to Brighouse.

Reed said: "We would have been more positive had we had Richard, but with Simon Davies, Matthew Duce and Paul Spragg we will do some damage."

Ashley Metcalfe is looking forward to leading Farsley again.

"It will definitely be an interesting year because we have such a young side," said the former Yorkshire batsman.

"We will have some very good days, but we will also have the odd day when we lose things.

"I don't think we will win the championship, but you never know. If we get a good start then we will do nicely. We have a lot of natural talent."

And what of the promoted teams? Second Division runners-up Idle caused a major stir this week by signing experienced Pakistani Test batsman Ijaz Ahmed.

It will be interesting to see how he adapts to the Bradford League, but Mohammed Ishaq assures me that Ahmed is made of the right stuff and will fulfil his ambassadorial role to the hilt.

Idle skipper Mark Nicklin has also described the signing of Mark Gilliver from Esholt as "the icing on the cake".

Second Division champions Gomersal aren't expecting former Spen Victoria bowler Tosh Baker to be available much as they bid to cement their promotion.

Woodlands are hoping that the desire of Richard Pyrah and Chris Brice to prove they still have the ability to play full-time will be of benefit, while Spen, under new skipper Ian Wood, would be delighted with a mid-table finish.

Cleckheaton are "quietly optimistic" that they will extend their continuous stay in Division One to six seasons.

Cricket secretary Bob Speight said the availability of soccer players James Stansfield and Chris Siddall would be like having two new players they were injured so much last season.

Mirfield's priority, says secretary Patrick Neal, will be to stay up, with games against the other sides at or around the bottom particularly crucial.