He might not be captain any more but Matthew Doidge’s retirement for Pudsey Congs really is the end of an era.

The 40-year-old has just been involved in his sixth JCT600 Bradford League title with Congs, the previous five coming as skipper, and he has also led the Britannia Ground club to four Sovereign Health Care Priestley Cups, winning another under Babar Butt’s captaincy.

Add to that four Black Sheep Yorkshire Champions’ trophies as skipper and it has been a glittering 12 seasons at Intake Road for Doidge, who also led Farsley to the Priestley Cup in 1995.

The left-hander, who has scored over 11,000 league runs and taken 318 wickets, is modest about his success, however.

He explained it this way: “We just got together a group of mature league cricketers, such as Neil Gill, Gary Brook, Babar Butt, Andy Bethel, Neil Nicholson and Glenn Roberts.

“Babar was a man for getting runs when we needed him too, although he probably wasn’t quite as consistent as some of the others. He could also bowl or keep wicket, although expecting him to bowl fast is a bit much!”

Doidge was well known for running a tight ship but he laughed: “I can’t have been that unpopular if a lot of the players stayed with me for nine or ten years!

“I didn’t leave any stone unturned in our bid for success, such as extra practice, knowing the opposition, knowing the grounds and, on occasions, trying to beat the weather.”

The 2010 season did not only mark the end of Doidge’s Bradford League career but also his team-mate Mark Bray’s, the seam bowler having taken over 400 league wickets.

Doidge, who will be golfing next season, said of Bray: “Mark might only bowl medium pace these days, rather than the brisker stuff of his prime, but he is utterly dependable.

“He is great in the dressing room and was always glad if someone else was successful, not bothering if he wasn’t himself. He never gave me a moment’s bother.”

This sixth title was different to all the others in that Congs came from behind, rather than being pacesetters.

Doidge said: “We lost three successive games – to Cleckheaton, Undercliffe and East Bierley – in July but we scored a phenomenal amount of runs, often 280, 290 or 300, through the season.

“And we won the title without Jeremy Batty, who we lost at a late stage of the winter, and Mohammed Naveed, whose absences would have affected any team badly.

“But we signed Alex Hewitt, who, although still learning, took a bit of the weight off the rest of the team, while Eugene Burzler was a major factor in the second half of the season.

“He only took 13 or 14 wickets in the first half of the campaign but something like 40 in the second half.”