By Peter Stafford (March 1981) Back
Rarely, If ever before can a Bolton League season have opened under better
weather conditions. May Is usually the time when bowlers worry about their
footholds, batsmen worry about 'the ball not coming on', and groundsmen worry
about practically everything. In 1980 they were all happy. Hard wickets
abounded, so much so that scores, of two hundred became accepted as the norm. On
May 11th, 2,264 runs were scored, over a thousand more than, say, August 23rd, a
time when we tend to expect happier batting conditions. The sunshine continued
to warm the batsmens' backs until June 14th, when we had our only complete
washout. From then onwards, a warm, sunny day became a major talking point, and
the bowlers took over.
1980 was our Jubilee year, and If that particular event was not the success that
It might have been Iii terms of celebratory occasions. at least the cricket
played, and the agonisingly close finishes to the various competitions could not
have been more spectacularly made to order. To return to the matter of the
Jubilee. In June a Celebration Evening was organised at Rivington Barn. The
evening Itself was a# superb success. and a credit to the organising
subcommittee. The League was appropriately toasted Into Its next fifty years by
Little Lever's Billy Lansdale, the only surviving member of the 1930 League
Committee, and everyone who attended had a throughly enlovable time. What was
rather disconcerting was the fact that two or three clubs were considered by
their absence. To them I can only say that you missed a fine evening. The next
comparable event will be 2030. Put It Into your diaries now!
The League Championship resulted quite simply In the closest finish ever
recorded. Of the fancied teams, Kearsley and Bradshaw quickly slipped out of the
race. Horwich never quite made a challenge, Tonge dropped out about
mid-August, and it was left to Little Lever and Westhoughton to battle it out
until almost literally he last ball. It is always a pity that when the fight Is
usually at Its most intense in early September, the weather too often takes a
hand. At least this. year, on a wet September 14th, both main protagonists
managed to get on to the field and play. Westhoughton were at home and thus
responsible for their own destiny, but Little Lever owed a vote of thanks to the
Egerton officials who moved heaven and earth to get the game under way. The two
results are now a matter for the history books, and In rejoicing for
Westhoughton, surely everyone must have spared some thought for Little Lever,
who had headed every table' published 'throughout the season, except the only
one Ithat really mattered. The exodus of players Xrorn the Tyldesleys towards
the fleshpots of professionalism will make their task of ,retaining the
Warburton Cup doubly, some would say Impossibly difficult, but there tare, as
always, plenty of young players willing to step into the side. Whether or not
those youngsters are ready, only time will tell.
The Hamer Cup always produces one or two surprises and close finishes. In 1980
it excelled itself. When Round One was played, we were, still in sunny May.
Plenty of batsmen enjoyed themselves, none moreso than Watkinson and Hohns, who
hit centuries in the same match. Bradshaw beat Heaton, Little Lever and
Westhoughton bowed out,' despite having totalled 413 runs between them, and
Walkden. still without a win in the League, caused eyebrows to raise with a fine
Ahmed-inspired victory over Kearsley. In the second round, no-one won without a
worry or two. Horwich squeezed home at Farnworth by four runs, whilst Eagley and
Bradshaw had Mitchell and Senior to thank for victories gained after awkward
moments chasing small totals. Still WaIkden had not won a League match, but
their cup progress continued thanks to a stand between Wilcox and Ian Seddon.
Both semi-finals are described In more detail on the appropriate club pages.
Suffice It to say thatneither ground was a place for faint hearts. Both Horwich
and Walkden were virtually out of the competition at some stage in the games,
but each of them clawed their way back to earn the right to meet at Westhoughton
on August 3rd. The competition throughout had been a good one, and it deserved a
good Final. The one it got almost defied description. Horwich, already in the
quarter-final of the Greenall-Whitley Trophy, and destined to play In the Final
at Old Trafford; against Walkden, firmly entrenched at the bottom of the League
with but a solitary win to their credit. On paper It was no contest, but Walkden
went on to prove that paper can be very flimsy stuff Indeed. They batted first,
and when a couple of quick wickets were lost, Ahmed and Seddon shored up the
Innings. Then another minicollapse was halted by Gordon Wilcox, 'whose fine 37
gave Walkden a respectable, ;but far from unbeatable 172 for 7 at the
'tea-interval.
Walkden's opening bowler was young Paul Killey, whose only bowling contribution
so far In the cup-run had been one over at Astley Bridge which had cost his side
twenty runs. His name was. known, but not feared. Within the, next three hours
he wrote it indelibly Into the history of the Hamer Cup. taking the wickets of
Mudassar and the cream of the Horwich amateurs In a spell that read 20-4-72-6.
From a seasoned campaigner It would have been noteworthy. From a relatively
unknown junior it was unbelievable. He it was, too, who had to bowl that
nerve-wracking final over, with Horwich needing a mere five runs with three,
wickets in hand. Bakker was caught, McKnight stumped, and two runs were required
from the last ball. Shanty-Kumar was run out, and Walkden had almost achieved
the impossible in a match that will live on, for a long time In the minds of
those fortunate enough to have been present. Gordon Wilcox has asked me to
record somewhere in the handbook his appreciation of the manner in which the two
sides beaten so narrowly by Walkden In the final two rounds accepted their
defeats. This would seem to be the appropriate place, and it is equally pleasant
to be able to say that In this lunatic cricket world of ours where test players
bowl tnderarm and throw bricks into the crowd, .and national governments become
involved, hthe League Committee spent the entire year free of any kind of report
of the poor behavlour which Is currently threatening the sporting scene.
In the Greenall-Whitley Trophy, Kearsley had a good run which ended on Hamer Cup
Final day with a four-run defeat at the hands of Lancaster in the quarter-final.
It was left to Horwich to carry the League's hopes to Old Trafford after a fine
run which included early victories over Laporte, Read and Poynton. In the
quarter-final they were drawn at home to Werneth, whom they managed to contain
to 136, but after a poor start it needed two contrasting innings from Entwistle
and McKnight to steer them to a thrilling win with two balls to spare. The
semi-final against Lancaster promised to be equally testing, but the Northern
League team were brushed aside for a meagre 43, and Horwich went on to easily
avenge Kearsley's defeat by eight wickets.
For the Old Trafford final they were without two key players, Fairbrother and
McKnight, although in the final analysis this made no difference to the result.
Neither did any other matter which concerns cricket, for this game was victim to
the weather, and to the strange ten-over rule which dictated that Horwich's 48
for 2 had failed to equal Blackpool's 170 for 7. Had Rorwich, as the result of a
wild tenover slog, managed to raise 61 for 9, then they would have won, which
would have been similarly ludicrous. No matter, they did the League proud in%
1980, even though their only consolation was an automatic entry into the 1981
draw, as beaten finalists. The occasion must have been particularly galling for
Malcolm Warren, who had timed his retirement from active cricket to coincide
with this particular match. He, the rest of the players, and the occasion all
merited a better deal, both from the weather and the rules.
In addition to Malcolm, two other players of distinction may well have played
the last of their first team cricket In the Bolton League. Bob Goslin, who is in
process of moving out of the area, has been an Integral part of our cricket
scene for more years than he would thank me for mentioning. Cee Wright, for a
shorter period of time, seven years to be precise, has been a competitive,
talented, and popular professional at Astley Bridge, and was honoured at the
League Dinner by the award of the Pendlebury Memorial Trophy. All three In their
different ways have given an immense amount to the Bolton League. We are
grateful to them, and wish them well In their futures.
The inter-league side's first outing of 1980 was In the Jubilee Celebration
match against the Central Lancashire League, beautifully stage-managed by the
Little Lever club. It was played under Gillette Cup rules, and by the lunch
Interval the Bolton side appeared to have put the game out of the visitor's
reach. Glen Hughes had raced to a magnificent pre-lunch hundred, and was finally
run out for 140 after a superb stand with Mike Rogers, who carried his bat for
137. The huge total of 321 for. 5 was always going to be too many, and sure
enough, the end came In the 41st over with the C.L.L.'s score on 205. Les
Whittle's 5 for 63 were the best bowling figures.
The Wilsons Trophy was retained, albeit without the excitement of 1979. The
first round match at Unsworth against the Lancashire & Cheshire League was
effectively over at tea-time. Dave Seddon, taking over as captain from the
Injured Hardcastle, had won the toss and the League batted first, a pattern that
was to repeat itself In all three ties. Half-centuries from Cole, Marsh and
Hughes, with lesser contributions from Meman and Rogers, resulted In a score of
251 for 4. Les, Whittle made an early breakthrough, finished with 5 for 13, and
that was that. In the semi-final we travelled to Great Harwood for a return game
with the Ribblesdale League, last year's first round opponents. This time the
bulk of the runs came from Marsh, Dixon, Seddon and Watkinson In a total of 199
for 9. Seddon justified his selection as Man-of-the-Match when his four wickets
broke the early resistance of the home side, and Watkinson wrapped up the game
with four slightly cheaper wickets. After the game most people left the ground
savouring the news that our Final opponents would be the Bolton Association, but
It turned out that we had been wrongly Informed. They had, in fact been beaten
by the Central Lancashire League and so the Final, to be played at Astley Bridge
became a repeat of that of 1979.
The first hour of the Final was the only time during the 1980 competition that
the Bolton side found itself in trouble. Cole, Marsh and Hughes went cheaply,
whilst Rogers battled hard alongside his captain. Eventually five wickets had
gone for 87, only twelve overs remained, and most people had begun to think in
terms of 130 or 140. But not Steve Dixon. At this point he decided that valour,
on this occasion, was the better part of discretion. He started to go for his
shots, and as his innings gained in momentum, so the fielding and bowling, until
that moment so tight and unyielding, began to wilt. He raced to his fifty In 47
minutes. His various partners were there simply because the rules demanded it
They had no real part to play as he swept on to 99 not out, having scored his
runs out of 138, and taken his side to a commanding 188 for 7.
Yet again Whittle made early Inroads into the reply, with two vital wickets In
two balls. Cooper defended bravely, Holder and Rocca flared briefly and were
gone, and when Phil Isherwood brought the game to an end, the winning margin was
56 runs. As Dave Sedden received the Trophy. there was. time to reflect on the
excellence of Astley Bridge's handling of the day, and to reflect, too, on the
fact that rarely can the League have been represented by a better side than this
one. The batting was a combination of brilliance and commonsense. The bowling
was accurate and penetrative, the wicket-keeping and fielding sound, often
brilliant. The bad news is, of course that six of last year's winning side will
be unavailable for varying reasons in 1981.
On the last Sunday In July the Trinity Cup match came along once more to ruin
an otherwise perfect season! At Eagley in 1979 Daisy Hill's Norman Jones played
an exciting short innings. At Clifton In 1980, unfortunately for the League, he
played. an exciting longer one, and, supported by his club-colleague Jeff
Shuttleworth and Paul Tatton, his undefeated 109 was largely responsible for a
score of 192 for 5. Nevertheless It seemed as though the League were well on the
way to victory, having passed the hundred mark with only one wicket down and
Muddassar and Geoff Marsh seemingly In control. But both batsmen went together,
and a collapse developed. Knight fought determindly but was out of touch, whilst
Ahmed did the Association's cause no harm at all by occupying the crease for
nine overs in the scoring of nine runs. In the end the League fell 15 runs
short. John Tonge was the best of the bowlers, Norman Jones, of course, the
Man-of-the-Match, having set a new Individual record for the series.
The Jubilee Trophy was again fought out at Little Lever, and West,houghton duly
added It to their 1980 collection. Bradshaw were winners of the Townson Trophy,
beating Kearsley in a low-scoring but dramatic Final. and our thanks are once
again due to Little Lever Cricket Club and to William Townson Ltd. for the
sponsorship and organisation of these two' hugely enjoyable events. David James
Ltd., recent sponsors of our Team-of-the-Month award, sadly went out of
existence during the late Summer ' and we offer to Messrs. Scully and Geldard
our sympathy along with our thanks for all that they have done on our behalf. In
their place we welcome Stowells of Chelsea, who have Promised to perpetuate the
award, and in particular Roy Hartley an executive with the company.
May I end, as always, by offering my warmest possible thanks to all those
involved in the League for their efforts on Its behalf during a successful and
memorable year. The coming season offers much that Is new. Fresh faces, both
amateur and professional, improvements In clubs' facilities, and not least, the
revolutionary step concerning the different format of our matches. It should all
make for an Interesting and, hopefully, enjoyable 1981.