FORMER Kidderminster cricketer David Leatherdale took a stroll down memory lane this week and recalled with fondness his spell at Chester Road in the late 1980s.

"I enjoyed it," said the 37 year-old, who now leads a "double life" with Worcestershire where he combines playing mainly one-day cricket with his duties as commercial manager.

All-rounder Leatherdale had a four-year stint at Chester Road before going on to become a loyal and valuable and member of the county set-up. The popular Yorkshireman said: "I had my spell with Kidderminster when I first came down here. As we still do on a similar basis now, where players are billeted out to local clubs, it was Kidderminster where Worcestershire chose for me to play.

"It was a very good wicket and still is. That was one of the real bonuses to play your cricket there. A lot of league cricket clubs don't have the facilities to cover things up, which Kidderminster have always had, so you knew when you went in on a Saturday, unless there was a serious downpour, you were going to get a decent pitch to play on."

Although Leatherdale's days of playing for Kidderminster are long gone, he still maintains a strong link with the club and the town.

"We've got Peter Radburn here at Worcestershire, who is on our committee, and he's been involved at Kidderminster for a long, long time and we've numerous businesses involved with us from around that area.

"We've got a lot of supporters from Kidderminster and the other side of the town and it's disappointing really that we don't play championship cricket there now. A lot of our guys wicketwise love playing there and it was a successful hunting ground for us for many, many years. It was a real positive place to play.

"It's been a club policy that we still billet the younger guys out to the local clubs, but it changed about three years ago. We used to include clubs like Wolverhampton and those that we classed as slightly outside our area, but still played in the Birmingham League.

"But we have got only 18 or so on the staff now, not like in the days when we had 24 or 25 and there were 10 or 12 guys playing league cricket on a Saturday. That has just disappeared."

Leatherdale, who made his county debut in 1988, began his job as commercial manager at New Road last January and enjoys combining the role with his playing career which has been restricted so far this season by a calf injury.

He said: "It's been quite interesting. The aim is to combine two and a half days a week on the cricket side and two and a half days in the office - and it generally works out to be seven days a week! Some weeks it may be four days in the one role and three days in the other.

"When I played in the four-day game at Derby at the start of the season it did make it quite difficult when you're out of the office for a long period of time. But with the use of technology you can keep in touch. You can have your e-mails sent to you wherever you are. It's been very positive and I'm enjoying it totally."

Meanwhile, with Worcestershire now involved in a series of Twenty20 Cup clashes, two former Kidderminster players, James Pipe and Steve Davies, have a chance to reflect on their fortunes so far in the first-class arena.

Pipe, in particular, has good reason to be happy with his progress by being among the leading wicketkeepers in the country, having held 29 catches and made one stumping.

Two of his catches were at Chester Road last month when the county suffered an embarrassing eight-wicket defeat against Loughborough UCCE.

Highly-rated Davies, who celebrated his 19th birthday last Friday, made his mark last Saturday when he scored 49 in Worcestershire's disappointing 12-run defeat against Leicestershire in a Frizzell County Championship Division Two match Grace Road.

The former King Charles l High School, Kidderminster, pupil's previous four championship innings had yielded just six runs.