Cleckheaton Cricket Club will have made a bob or two from Wednesday’s Twenty20 warm-up match against Yorkshire – and the coffers for their end of season do was boosted too thanks to Iain Wardlaw.

Club cricketers will be well aware of the fines system in place in dressing rooms all across the county – £5 for late arrival, £2 for dirty whites, £2 for a misfield... I even saw a team-mate fined £10 for showing pain once. The crime: a dislocated finger!

“We had to fine to him 20 quid for warming up with the opposition,” revealed Cleck’ skipper John Wood after Wardlaw, who played for the Bradford League outfit, was asked to warm up with Yorkshire by Jason Gillespie and Andrew Gale.

Mind you, Wood believes Wardlaw’s willingness to enter into such ‘banter’ is an example of his superb attitude to the game, his club and county.

“Wardy’s a fantastic bloke,” continued the former Durham and Lancashire bowler. “He’s never ducked a game for us and he’s just one of the lads in the dressing room. He’s just brilliant.

“I was speaking to Paul Farbrace (Yorkshire’s second-team coach) before the game and asking him about Wardy, and they think the world of him. His attitude is fantastic.

“I would imagine he’s a coach’s dream. He works hard, gets on with it and doesn’t moan. That’s what you want out of a cricketer. If the end result is he’s bowling well, he’ll get picked because you pick people who don’t give you any hassle.”

Wardlaw, 26, is right in the mix for selection for Yorkshire’s Twenty20 campaign, despite having struggled to nail down a place in their County Championship line-up.

And Wood can see why: “He’s always been a fantastic death bowler. He bowls fantastic yorkers, as good as anybody. He’s got lots of variations, he hits good areas and bowls with good gas,” he explained.

“But Championship cricket’s a whole different thing because it’s about consistency, hitting the top of off-stump with every ball.

“I’ve known Iain for four or five years now. If he’s bowled five dot balls and is on for a maiden, he’ll try and bowl a magic ball. If he can start taking the ball away from the bat rather than the in-swing that’s more difficult to hit in one-day cricket, I think he’s got a really bright future.”

However well he does for Yorkshire or Cleckheaton though, he will struggle to avoid getting fined.