AT a time when most cricketers are thinking of hanging up their boots, Geoff Fryers comes out of retirement on Saturday in an effort to help Skipton CC in their impossible mission of staying in Division A of the Airedale and Wharfedale League.

In his prime as a quality batsman with Keighley in the Bradford League and Colne in the Lancashire League, Fryers would have been able to tackle the responsibility with total confidence. Then, opening the batting against the likes of Michael Holding and Kapil Dev represented a very demanding challenge.

When he leads Skipton in the opening game of the season at home to Knaresborough, however, Fryers faces a much more serious test. He is now 50, hasn't touched a bat in a serious match since retiring from Skipton in 1993 and finds himself not only facing the challenge of relaunching his own career, but also captaining the side and becoming president of a club where only a couple of players remain from last season's first-team line-up.

Add the absence at this stage of an overseas player to spearhead his bowling attack because arrangements have broken down at the last minute and the magnitude of what the man is taking on begins to take shape.

"I'm genuinely excited about it," he says: "I haven't been involved with the club for a while. Initially I was invited to become president, which I was happy to accept, but then when I went to the net sessions, I found that the old urge to have a go and see how it felt got the better of me.

"To be honest, I was pleasantly surprised with the way things went and I decided to play. One thing then led to another and I was then invited to be captain."

While the 'I can do that' mentality is easily fostered in a net practice, Fryers knows only too well what a massive task he and his new bunch of players are taking on. Skipton have had to find a new first-team and while the process has not exactly involved scouring the highways and byways, the task has been a long and difficult one.