EARBY have pulled off a major coup ahead of the new Houldsworth Solicitors Ribblesdale League season after snapping up talented batsman David Crotty as professional.

Crotty, 27, has left Foster’s Lancashire League club Nelson in order to take up his first role as a paid man and replaces Fahid Rehman as professional with the Applegarth outfit.

He is among familiar faces at Earby with ex-Nelson man Danny Kegg and former Colne skipper Matt Wilson already key members of Pete Baistow’s West Craven outfit.

Rehman, who left the Bradford League to play for Earby last term, and enjoyed a decent season with 1,150 runs in all competitions.

Crotty arrives at Earby with a top pedigree and has developed into one of the Lancashire League’s best batsmen.

He started his career with Earby’s West Craven rivals Barnoldswick but made his name at Seedhill and in 12 seasons at Nelson he scored more than 4,000 runs.

Meanwhile, Cherry Tree have also got their man for the new season after snapping-up 23-year-old South African Ruan Sadler.

Sadler has represented Northerns B and he is a key player for TUT cricket club based near Pretoria. He is a right-arm fast-medium bowler and left-hand bat.

Cherry Tree skipper Mark Hadfield said: “We’d like to thank Gary Hunt and Crickintro for finding him for us.

“Gary worked tremendously hard for us to ensure the process was simple and pain-free.”

Sadler replaces Kamran Anwar at Preston Old Road.