EAST Lancs professional Brad Young on his return to the club and where the Lancashire League title could be heading

I played with East Lancs three years ago and it's good to be back this summer, this time with my fiancee Lyndall, and we are both enjoying it.

The weather is a bit better this time as well, apart from last Saturday when it was absolutely freezing. You have to deal with that though and we have been playing on a few wet wickets.

But my batting is coming a bit better and I've had a few runs in the last few weeks. I've also been bowling okay and getting a few wickets most weeks and the best thing is that we are winning.

We were a bit disappointed to miss out in the two knock-out competitions but we have set our sights on the league and it was good to go top of the table at the weekend.

We had heard during the day that Church were going well against Bacup and they ended up getting up. We are a few bonus points down on some of the other sides but we have only lost one game.

People might not have put us in their plans for the league but we have just snook along and being doing our thing each week. Our batting is improving and I think our bowling is always reasonably strong. If we keep getting things right we will be close.

When I left three years ago (after being picked for an Australian 'A' tour) we got to the final of the Worsly Cup and ended up winning that, the final of the Inter League Trophy and finished second in the league.

There's no point coming over here and playing if you don't intend helping on winning one of the competitions and obviously we want to win the league.

But it's still wide open and the season's not even half-way through yet. I think Rishton, Bacup and ourselves are going to be around the mark and Todmorden aren't far behind.

Rawtenstall have sneaked up there so I think there are half-a-dozen teams who could win it. It's all about who will be the most consistent from here.

I'm still having a few troubles with my knee and trying to get over that. I only played one Shield game last season and then busted it while I warming up for the second. I've come over to play some cricket before the summer and see how it goes.

I've also played some golf and it's good to have hit with some of the others. I played with Clinton Perren and Matthew Mott on Monday and it went down to the last hole.

They've got a few shots on me but we're pretty close and most of the blokes enjoy a round.

Motty mentioned he got a hat-trick last weekend. We said it must have been his first but he reckoned it was his fourth !

It's the final of the NatWest one-day tournament on Saturday between Australia and Pakistan. You've only got to look at them to see they are both strong sides and it's all about what happens on the day.

Australia have been very good under pressure and they've shown that when winning games they might not have done. Pakistan have played pretty good cricket but I would like to see Australia win, of course. And the way they are playing I think they will.