Anyway, that's all history. Along came SportNetwork and the site had found a new home. Page views have grown month on month to a high of over 65,000 in August, way in advance of our 2001 figures. Also, we have now accumulated a readership of over 2,000 per month (based on unique IP addresses). A superb performance and a big thank you to each and every one of you.

Unlike the players, Sting In The Tail is not about to enjoy a well deserved winter break. We are already hard at work re-designing parts of the site ready for the 2003 season. I am personally very excited about the 2003 season, as it looks very promising for Sting In The Tail. We are beginning to generate interest amongst sponsors, and, hopefully, I shall soon be able to announce a deal which will bring you the opportunity to view and purchase kit direct from this site. More on that later.

Sponsorship of various parts of the site is now available. Rates are very competitive and it is a great opportunity for local companies to tap into the large user base that Sting In The Tail has developed. Tile adds, like the ones down the side of each page, can be purchased for as little as £200 per year. The message board, the site's most popular feature, is available for sponsorship at £300 per year. Alternatively, you can go the whole hog and sponsor ALL of Sting In The Tail for a remarkably cheap £500 per year.

Any income from sponsorship will be split 50/50 with the network. The network's share will be spent on hosting fees, whilst Sting In The Tail's share will be put back into local cricket by improvements to this site, advertising and sponsorship. So, if you think Sting In The Tail could help you with your advertising needs, please contact alan@derbyshirecricket.info for more information and details of what you will receive for your money.

In 2003, I intend to give more credit to the official Derbyshire Premier and County League site on the Play Cricket network. Chris Higginbottom has done a great job setting up that site and I think he deserves more credit for that. Instead of blatantly copying articles such as reports, previews and results direct from his site, I shall be linking direct to his articles from the new Media Centre, which was launched a couple of weeks age. If you haven't seen the Media Centre yet, take a look here.

Finally, the first ever Sting In The Tail end of season awards have now been launched. I am delighted to say that owzat-cricket have kindly donated a £100 cricket voucher to the winner of the "Player of the Year" category and Savages have offered trophies for the winner of the "Best Youngster" and "Lifetime Achievement" categories. This is a great opportunity for the site to give some credit to the achievers of the 2002 season, so please get your votes in as soon as you can.

End of season awards links: Rules | Voting Form | Leaderboard

Stick with Sting throughout the close season for the latest news and gossip from "the independent voice of Derbyshire cricket".