LOWERHOUSE Cricket Club are set to leave their Liverpool Road home and may have to share grounds with another club to fulfil their Lancashire League fixtures next season.

The lease on their Burnley venue expires at the end of next April and there's no sign that it will be extended long-term.

One of the league's founder members is therefore set to look for a new ground with a number of alternative sites in Burnley currently being considered.

That's a long-term project, however, and of more pressing importance is being able to play next summer.

Agreeing a stay of execution with ground owners the Dugdale Trust, appears to be the likely solution.

But if that's not feasible then ground-sharing will have to be considered, although Lowerhouse chairman David Wren said that no other clubs had yet been approached.

Wren said: "We are still negotiating with the landlord. Plans have been put forward to transfer the ground to another site and we are just looking at all the options.

"We can't complete the 2000 season (as things stand) so it's fairly important we get something sorted out, and there is quite feverish activity to try and get that secured.

"We are keeping everybody informed. We've got a November 30 cut-off when we have to make some sort of decision and contingency plan. We are negotiating with everybody and we've got to do something that suits everybody. "Either we ground-share or he (the landlord) says we have a five-month extension. If we have five months of playing it gives us another 12 months to sort something out."

Lowerhouse, who have already re-signed prolific South African batsman Martin Van Jaarsveld as their professional for the year 2000, had previously hoped to buy the ground or negotiate another long-term lease to allow them to upgrade at Liverpool Road.

But with the owners proposing alternative sites that option no longer appears to be on the cards.

Wren added: "The landlord owns quite a lot of land in Burnley and they have put proposals to us. We are looking at all the options but there is no point in staying where we are.

"What we want to do is develop the club. We have spoken to Sport England who are interested in helping clubs develop but that depends on them owning their own land or a long-term lease.

"We've got to try and secure that on the current land or elsewhere. There's no point in staying on a five-year extension."

While Lowerhouse's short-term future is clouded in uncertainty, the club is hoping that a new ground would allow them to flourish.

"We are trying to take the opportunity of really developing the club," said the chairman.

"We are close to winning things and it's a great frustration for myself, the players and everybody connected with the club. We are in the top four or five clubs in the league and while Burnley obviously see themselves as the town club, so do we. "We want to take the next step forward and by doing that we will be able to attract the best kids because at the moment our facilities are appalling.

"We don't want to stay as we are. We've got to improve our turnover and facilities if we want to move on and attract the best young players and professionals.

"If we can secure something long-term and a future development was the outstanding ground in the Lancashire League that would be quite a coup, from having the worst ground in the league to the best."

Lowerhouse are keeping the league informed of developments with the league currently acting in a "supporting role."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.