League Review - 1993

By Peter Stafford (March 1994)    Back

The season which leaves everyone in. suspense right up to the final over or two is the season which offers total satisfaction to players and spectators alike, and is what league cricket is all about. This had in fact happened in both 1991 and 1992, when Farnworth Social Circle and Bradshaw had claimed their titles. It ought really to have happened last season, and would have done, had the main actors in the show read their scripts correctly!

On the morning of Saturday, September 4th, with three games remaining, the position was that leaders Kearsley, on 105 points, led Greenmount by 7 points and Egerton by 15. No other club was in the running, and with 18 points at stake, all three front-runners were in with a theoretical chance. And to add a final twist or two to the plot, the directions on the drama's script dictated that Kearsley should meet Egerton and Greenmount in the final two acts.

Egerton remembered their lines, beating Astley Bridge fairly, conclusively thanks to runs from Tebay, Hornby and Storey, but over at Greenmount things went horribly wrong for a home side in desperate need of the win which would keep them in close touch with Kearsley. Farnworth, playing well and once again in line for the Special Competition award, chose that day to hit a club record score of 322 for 4, which meant that, realistically, Greenmount's chance had gone, unless Kearsley went down to lowly Social Circle. But Kearsley themselves had gone on something of a run-spree, and had sensibly declared at Piggott Park after only 39 overs with 238 on the board, leaving themselves 61 overs in which to bowl Circle out. In fact they needed just an extra four balls over and above the statutory 50 overs, and the title was theirs.

The remaining two fixture lists became academic, leaving for Kearsley only the satisfaction of widening the gap by beating Egerton the following day, whilst Greenmount were losing a high-scoring game at Little Lever. A little irony crept in on the final day of the season, when all seven matches were washed away with Greenmount very handily placed in their game against the new champions.

Whilst all this was taking place, Kearsley's Mel Whittle was engaged in a personal struggle to become the first amateur in the League's history to take a hundred league and cup wickets in a season. When the penultimate weekend arrived, he needed nine from the last three games. Six came during the championship winning effort at Piggott Park, and when he trapped Mike Booth leg-before early in Egerton's innings the following day he had attained his target. On 17 occasions he had taken four or more wickets in an innings. Nineteen had come during the cup run, 54 during the first half of the season and 48 in the second period.

However, whilst acknowledging the magnitude of the achievement, it must be remembered that Mel had a four-match advantage over some of his predecessors. Given those four additional games, Jim Bennett (94), and Frank Higson (91), would surely have reached the hundred in 1970 and 1961 respectively..,J3ut they didn't, and Whittle did, and perhaps the feat can be put into it's proper perspective by a look back over some of the names of the many illustrious amateur bowlers, from Dick Tyldesley to Sonny Ramadhin, who failed to get close to the magical figure.

Mel puts a great deal of experienced thought into his bowling, and that, together with the sheer variety in the line and pace of his attack, plus an unshakeable self-belief in his ability, has been responsible for his success, and an object lesson for any aspiring young bowler. That his exploits had much to do with Kearsley's championship goes without saying. Whittle, Dublin and Powell constituted an attack against which runs were never easy to come by, a fact reflected in the joint 360 maiden overs they sent down in 1993. On the more positive side they took 213 wickets between them at an overall average of fourteen runs apiece. They were well supported by fielding which was often brilliant and never less than good, as would be expected with skipper Lavelle leading by example.

The side's batting contained an evenly-distributed mixture of methods and styles. Craig Duxbury, Tom Whittle, Andy Harris and David Morris providing the orthodoxy, Craig Lavelle and Scott Woods the controlled aggression, whilst Steve Dublin had the ability and the power to create mayhem and turn a game on it's head in a matter of minutes. He was at his most destructive with the ball in the two important mid-season games against Egerton and Greenmount. On each occasion Kearsley's opponents had lost half their wickets before 20 appeared on the board. From situations like that there is simply no way back, and, in retrospect, those two victories were probably the most significant of the season. They gave Kearsley something of a cushion during the second half of the campaign, and in the end their success was comprehensive and well-earned.

Greenmount, League runners-up for the third time in seven years, had a fine season. The club's reliable form over the decade spent in the League is all the more remarkable when their seemingly never-ending loss of quality players is taken into account. Since Rick Warburton moved to Yorkshire, they have lost Mason, Foy, Ashworth and Williams to professionalism, the Neville brothers to football, and now Mark Stewart and Phil Heaton have signed professional forms in other Leagues. These are all players of inter-league standard who are not easy to replace. In 1993 Harvey, Heaton, Hansen and Pratt were the leading batsmen. Much will depend upon the new professional Richard Chee Quee, and now the door is wide open for the extremely talented Keith Webb, who announced his presence with 86 against Farnworth towards the back end of last season.

Paul Tebay hit over a thousand runs for Egerton for the second time, as did his professional Steve Storey, Farnworth's Ian Harvey and Grant Long, who added Tonge's professional run-aggregate record to the one already obtained at Horwich. Grant's biggest challenge in that respect lies ahead, and if he can complete the hat-trick at Astley Bridge then he will indeed have earned his money! Tim Mitchell and Otis Gibson performed equally well for Horwich and Farnworth respectively, and the West Indian's progress at Glamorgan will be watched with interest. Little Lever's Henderson Bryan e4oyed some golden moments, none better than his 123 against Kearsley, his second century against the Springfield Road side in consecutive years.

Amongst the amateur batsmen who reached new heights in 1993 were the Walkden pair David Smith (802) and Tony Keays (743), who each topped their previous best run aggregate, as did David Morris at Bradshaw, who hit 794. Simon Anderton again topped 700, and slipped comfortably into the role of inter-league batsman, hitting 143 for once out in his three appearances. Ian Edwards registered the season's highest amateur league score on the second day of the season when his superb 132 led the way as Circle came so close to the 273 they needed to beat Egerton.

It was, in the main, a batsmen's season, and all the more credit then, to the only two amateur bowlers other than Whittle who managed to top the 60-wicket mark. They were Tonge's Dave Tattersall, who took 66, and Horwich's find of the season Carl Drinkwater who, in addition to his 68 wickets, hit over 350 runs including a particularly fine 92 in an exciting win over Eagley.

It's been fourteen years now since any Bolton League bowler took 'all ten', but on the final day of the 1993 season, lan Taylor came remarkably close, having taken all nine Westhoughton wickets to have fallen when the game was washed out.

Incidentally, I just referred to 1993 as having been a batsmen's season. Now, here's a statistic for you to mull over. In the final batting averages of the 1973 season, 16 batsmen averaged over twenty. By 1983 the corresponding figure was 43, whilst in 1993 there were no less than 72. Anybody fancy a bowl in 2003?

If Kearsley were, by definition, the team of the year, then Eagley could not have been far behind. Having ended the 1992 season in bottom place, they hauled themselves nine places up the table to finish a very creditable fifth. Indeed, they surprised everyone, themselves probably included, by actually heading the table for the first third of the season. Their fine Hamer Cup win, which is dealt with later in the article, owed much to the consistency of Mike Ward, pictured on the front cover during the Final. He hit 225 runs during his four cup innings, and came to the rescue with his off-spin when the first round tie at Greenmount was slipping away. Chris Lord proved an excellent, thinking captain in his first year in charge. His job was made that much easier by the exceptional form shown by Pieter Strydom, whose all-round figures and general attitude left him with no serious rivals when the Professional-of-the-Year was selected.

Tonge dominated the 2nd Team scene even more comprehensively than was the case in 1992, when they finished 14 points ahead of their nearest rivals. Last season they extended that winning margin to 33 points, and the title was sewn up by August 21st, the day before the Birtwistle Cup Final. Ironically, Tonge made certain of their championship on the occasion of only their second defeat of the season, but Eagley's failure to take maximum points at Egerton meant that the Castle Hill side could no longer be caught. The following day they wrapped up the League and Cup double when they beat Heaton by 28 runs in the Final. On the day, two Tonge players represented the difference between the sides. Man-of-the-Match Craig Wardle scored 80 in a game during which no other batsman could reach 30, and Tony Bailey's bowling figures of 6 for 44 were, not for the first time, the best in the Final.

Tonge 2nd's consistency over the past eight years has been little short of amazing. During that period they have been champions four times and runners-up on three occasions (the 1987 side disgraced itself by dropping to 4th!). The Birtwistle Final has been reched in five of those years and won three times. Perhaps it might appear invidious to single out any one player when so many others must have contributed, but Tony Bailey's bowling figures over the period, 423 wickets at just eight runs each, are particularly noteworthy. Not surprisingly, he has topped the League averages on five occasions and won the League Bowling Prize five times.

Steve Whittaker's Eagley side ended the season as runners-up after a running battle with Greenmount which occupied the second half of the season. Two players with a lot of first-tearn experience, Bradshaw's Chris Isherwood and Tim Calderbank of Heaton, were the leading run-scorers, each topping the 800-mark, with Tonge's trio of Jim Aspden, Steve Goodram and Craig Wardle in the top six of the averages. Stephen Holt (70) and Nick Swift (71) took most wickets, whilst Greenmount's Clive Kelsey put forward a strong case for the unofficial title of all-rounder of the year, ending the season in the top five of both batting and bowling averages.

The First Round of the Nouvelle Hamer Cup competition produced half a dozen memorable individual performances, none better than that of Farnworth's lan Harvey, who created a new Hamer Cup record against his former team-mates from Astley Bridge. On the second day of the season the two sides had met at Bridgeman Park where Harvey, to the delight of his ex-colleagues, had been run out for nought. This time he made them pay in full, as he batted through the fifty overs for an unbeaten 147, upping his own Hamer Cup record by 2 from the previous season. 246 proved too tall an order for Astley Bridge, and they went down by 97 in the face of Gibson's, 5 for 51.

Eventual winners Eagley, at one stage of the game at Greenmount seemed to be on the way out at the first time of asking. Lord, Richards and Ward scored runs as they totalled 183, but when Hansen and Ashworth approached the 100 without being separated, things began to look bleak for the Dunscar side. Eventually, however, it was the spin of Strydom (5 for 28) and Ward (4 for 36) that undid Greenmount, and in spite of a late 32 from Gary Chadwick, Eagley got home by 33 runs. Heaton's 196 looked respectable at Egerton, but a long first-wicket stand between Tebay and Todd laid the foundation of a seven-wicket win, with Todd remaining undefeated on 124.

Kearsley's visit to Tonge appeared an intriguing affair, heralding as it did Dublin's return to his old stamping-ground, but it was Whittle who stole the show. He took seven cheap wickets as Tonge folded to 93 all out, and although Kearsley experienced a doubt or two along the way, they got through by five wickets, Dublin top-scoring with 33. At Horwich it was a day for the bowlers to savour. Rob Turnbull took 6 for 54 as Horwich were bowled out for 108 which, as things turned out, was precisely twice the score they needed to win the match! Drinkwater (7 for 23) took advantage of a wicket which was scarcely a batsman's dream and Little Lever, hustled out for 53, perhaps understandably grumbled their way home! Pete Morris's 31 had been worth it's weight in gold on a day when no other batsman reached 20. In the other tie, Westhoughton beat Walkden by 13 runs, the home side contributing to it's own demise with two run-outs towards the end of a close, if fairly undistinguished game.

The quarter-finals won't be forgotten in a hurry by supporters of the two Farnworth sides. At Bridgeman Park a fine Brian Cole half-century kept Bradshaw's hopes alive against another productive spell of bowling from Otis Gibson, whose 6 for 52 restricted the Rigby's side to 140 all out. Lawton and Newton appeared to have put Farnworth on the right path, only for the home side to lose it's way as Rayment and Moss made inroads. When last man Phil Hall joined Martin Hodgkiss seventeen runs were still needed. In a tense atmosphere the difference between the sides was whittled down to four as the last over began. An edged boundary through the slips brought the scores level with one ball remaining and, from it, the batsmen scampered through for a risky bye to the keeper when in reality, survival was all that was necessary for them to go through on the 'fewer wickets lost' rule.

On the other side of town, Farnworth Social Circle also needed every one of their 330 balls to see Egerton off. Half-centuries from Tebay and Storey had helped the home team up to 220 for 9, and in reply, Circle were given the kind of start they needed by Hallows and Edwards. Hallows went on to dominate the innings before being run out for 89, David Hayes hit a valuable 33 before suffering the same fate, and when Jon Partington faced up to the game's final delivery, Circle stood on 218 for 7. Two runs had to be scored, and scored they were, the result of a dab down to third man, some frantic running and, it has to be said, a fairly wayward throw.

Kearsley's Scott Woods and Andy Harris enjoyed the Horwich wicket more than Little Lever's batsmen had done, each hitting 60 in a total of 205 for 6. Horwich were hit by one of Dick Powell's cup-tie specials (6 for 30), Whittle mopped up the other three, and that was that. Eagley's home tie against Westhoughton was a rather laborious affair, as 301 runs were ground out of the 109 overs sent down. Eagley, thanks largely to Ward and Franklyn, hit 191 of them, and so progressed into the semi-finals by 81 runs. Again Strydom bowled well, taking 4 for 29 from 20 overs.

An all-Farnworth Final was on the cards when the two clubs were kept apart by the semi-final draw, but, in the event, neither of the two neighbouring sides made it. The Eagley/Farnworth tie was the pick of the two. Yet again Mike Ward managed to forget his indifferent league form, settling down to a fine, controlled 101 which provided the backbone of Eagley's 254 for 7, Nigel Franklyn adding a more sprightly and unbeaten 56. Ward's innings lasted for 52 overs, and when the dust had settled it had been the difference between the two sides. Steve Lawton began as if he intended scoring the required runs himself, but when he went for a bright 31, Farnworth suffered a mini collapse. A fighting 48 from Larry Booth kept the visitors' hopes alive, as later did Mayoh and Spencer, but three run-outs played into Eagley's hands as the game ran away from Farnworth and 31 runs as the final difference.

Kearsley eventually had a far easier task against Social Circle at Springfield Road, although a rescue act had been necessary after four home wickets had gone down for 39. Appropriately, it was skipper Craig Lavelle who took charge. Still, 116 for 6 was a long way from safety, and as Lavelle surged on towards a superb 103, he would have been grateful for Mel Whittle's support. Powell and Jolly added icing to the cake, and at 234 for 6 Kearsley could breathe more easily. Circle suffered a worse start than had Kearsley, but this time there was no rescue act.

Things went from bad to worse, and respectability was only achieved by a fighting half-century from Dean Eckersley batting at number nine. Whittle's 4 for 28 from 20 overs took the bowling honours as Circle finally ran out of ideas at 113.

And so, for the first time in a Hamer Cup Final, Eagley and Kearsley came face to face. Both League games between the two sides had already been completed, Eagley having won the first with consummate e~, Kearaley the second with rather more difficulty. A key absentee from the Final was Richard Powell, holidaying in France, and Eagley would have taken heart from the fact that, of the four games played since his departure, Kearsley had won only one, and had failed to bowl a side out. Second team captain Chris Lomax was drafted in but, in the event, only bowled one over, and the general feeling was that a longer rest for Dublin during the Eagley innings might well have paid dividends. The decision to put Eagley in was, in hindsight, possibly another error of judgement. The previous day Kearsley had batted first against Westhoughton, all their batsmen had scored runs, and the resulting 253 for 4 had put the game out of their opponents' reach.

Eagley's early batting in the Final was businesslike, rather than in any way dramatic, but when Nigel Franklyn joined Mike Ward at 80 for 3 the tempo quickened. Seventy runs were added as Franklyn moved quickly to a fine half century, and with Saffy, Richards and Seddon keeping the momentum going, the innings ended on 202 for 7. Whittle had done everything asked of him, with 5 for 87 from 27 overs.

In reply, Kearsley set off as if it was a Jubilee match! Scott Woods dispatched the first ball for six, and in all, 12 came from the first over. The stand between Woods and Duxbury prospered, and at 81 for 0, Eagley were in some trouble. But then Duxbury and Tom Whittle went quickly, and Steve Dublin appeared. In his two previous innings against Eagley he had only totaled eight runs, a fact that might well have caused a few thoughts in the fielders' minds concerning the law of averages! After scoring just three, however, he went for a huge straight hit, sliced his drive and as the ball flew high into the air above backward point, the game's moment of truth had arrived! Steve Powers held his nerve, held the catch, and the fielders' jubilation underlined just how important the moment had been. Scott Woods, desperately unlucky to finish on the losing side, went on to 62 before being beautifully caught by Franklyn near the boundary edge. Craig Lavelle was run out by his opposing captain, and Eagley's success was virtually assured. Strydom, having already taken the wickets of Whittle, Dublin and Woods, went through the tail to finish with 7 for 46, and he was adjudged Man-of-the-Match, presumably a whisker ahead of Franklyn. The Greenmount officials had enhanced the day by the quality of their arrangements, and Chris Lord's obvious pleasure as he received the Cup from Fort Sterling's Graham Fox reflected the progress made by the Eagley club over the previous 12 months.

The Inter-League side's first of four 1993 outings was in the First Round of the MEN Trophy at Atherton. For the third year in succession the two local leagues faced each other (1994 will be the fourth) and of the three wins achieved by the Bolton League, this was undoubtedly the most emphatic. Having said that, the Association did contribute to its own downfall with two or three dropped catches when Neil Senior was in full spate, but in the end, a margin of 99 runs said all there was to say. After Tebay had gone with only a single on the board, the League's batsmen ran riot with partnershps of 50 (Smith and Bennison), 94 (Bennison and Anderton) and finally 106 (Anderton and Senior). The last of the three stands came in just 32 minutes, the time it took Senior to race to an 81 which included six 6's and six 4's. Simon Anderton looked what he is, a batsman of class and temperament, and he took the opportunity afforded by Lavelle's injury to hit his first inter-league half-century, and to move his name from the selectors' list of 'possibles' to that of 'certainties'. Bennison's 73 contained one chance when he was 45, and he helped Smith and Anderton to set the stage for the carnage that was to follow. 268 for 6 was the final outcome, and although the Association began in determined fashion, it only needed a mini collapse to put the target beyond reach. That was affected by Neil Pratt, whose 3 for 12 from 10 overs removed most of the home side's middle order, and from that point the game was over as a contest.

The annual friendly against the Manchester Association was held at Piggott Park, and until the tea-interval at least, followed much the same pattern as the Atherton game. Dave Smith (64 in 81 balls), Ian Edwards and Neil Pratt scored the League's early runs, Anderton played well for an unbeaten 39, and Senior weighed in again with a 28-ball half-century to round things off at 234 for 5. But now the similarity to Atherton ended. After two early Mel Whittle wickets, Andy Snook and former Westhoughton professional John Hitchmough launched the counter-attack. Snook hit 68, but it was the superb aggression of Hitchmough that almost carried the day. He hit 86, including eight 6's. It was royal entertainment, and as long as he remained it was plain sailing for the visitors. But with the job nearing completion, he launched once too often into Phil Heaton's left-arm spin, and when the ball eventually returned to earth, wicketkeeper Jon Partington was waiting. Normal cricket was resumed, the League's bowlers pulled themselves together, and when the Association's overs ran out, they were 18 runs abort.

The draw for the MEN semi finals condemned the League to another trip up the M6 to meet the North Lancashire League who had beaten us up there in the 1991 Final. The word 'condemned' is not altogether inapt, as once again the Bolton League came away empty-handed. It all started well enough, as Smith and Tebay added 54 for the first wicket in 15 overs. But then 54 for 0 became 93 for 4, and it was largely thanks to a stand of 41 between Drinkwater and a fairly restrained Senior, and a later one worth 45 involving Wallwork and Whittle, that a respectable 194 for 7 was reached.

After a productive start to the reply, the home side was pinned back by an exceptional piece of bowling from skipper Dick Powell, who took 2 for 9 from his ten overs. That sparked- a mini collapse as four wickets went down for 14 runs, and when the northern league needed ten runs an over for the last nine, it looked odds on a third consecutive Final for the Bolton side. It wasn't to be, however, and once again it was that man Cowperthwaite who proved the stumbling-block. In 1991 he and Sample had added 93 in double-quick time, and now, in the company of fellow Cumberland player Martin Lewis, he helped add 89 in an assault which saw the North Lancashire League home with four balls and four wickets to spare.

The 23rd Trinity Cup match was held on a rainy and windswept day at Westhoughton, at the end of which the only real surprise was that the game had taken place at all. The Westhoughton club and ground officials had worked wonders to get the game started and deserved a much better deal from the weather man. Once the match had begun, the umpires applied common-sense to the on-off situation that invariably arises on days such as this. Having been put into bat, Tebay and Smith got the League away to an enterprising start. They added 38 for the first wicket before both falling on that total. Strydom and Bennison both failed, and, at 51 for 4, crisis time had arrived. David Mason was bowling beautifully for the visitors, but the entry of Steve Dublin to join Simon Anderton was to change the course of the match. In 38 balls, the Kearsley professional raced to a half-century which included five 6's and three 4's. Equally important, he had forced the dangerous Mason out of the attack, and when he went for 59, he and Anderton (46), had taken the score to 123. Late contributions from Wallwork and Gibson took the final total to 210, at which point the last wicket fell on the final ball of the innings. There had been interruptions for rain, and the rule which dictates an 8.10pm finish meant that the Association were faced with a reduced' target of 139 from 29 overs, a figure they never seemed capable of reaching once Dublin and Gibson had reduced the reply to 14 for 4. There were three other rain-stoppages, between which Gibson, bowling with speed and hostility, took 4 for 24 from his 10 overs, while the Kearsley pairing of Dublin and Whittle took the others at a joint cost of 33. When the final wicket fell, again on the last ball of the innings, the Association's all out total of 64 was the lowest in the competition's history, and 75 short of the day's target.

Our four representatives in the Lancashire Knock-out Trophy, as always, enjoyed, and suffered, mixed fortunes. WaIkden's challenge was the first to end, as the result of a first round thriller against Bootle which went down to the last ball of the game with the Liverpool side's last pair at the wicket. Allibon had hit a half-century in a losing cause. Bradshaw totally overwhelmed Vickers Sports at the Rigbys in their first outing. Batting first, Bradshaw came to within a couple of runs of the 300-mark thanks to centuries from Brian Cole and Neil Senior, the first time in the club's history that two batsmen had each hit a hundred in the same innings. The ferocity of Senior's innings may be judged from the fact that he gave Cole eighty-odd runs start, and then almost beat him to the three figure target! Vickers were demolished for a handful of runs, but Bradshaw's run in the competition finished at the hands of Milnrow in Round Two. Bradshaw, batting first, could only manage 150, a total easily passed as Milnrow paced their reply to win by 8 wickets.

Heaton won three matches before meeting up with Egerton in the Quarter-Finals. They didn't make the most promising of starts at Sutton (St. Helens) in Round One, being bowled out for a 94 which included 32 from skipper Tim, Wallwork. But they pulled themselves together during the tea-interval, and excellent spells from Steve Crowder (3 for 20) and Rob Slater (3 for 19) brought success by 30 runs. West Indian Sports Club from Manchester provided the opposition in Round Two. This time Dave Walsh (3 for 11) and Ray Berry (3 for 29) were the bowlers responsible for Heaton's success. The West Indians were bowled out for 120, and, with unsettled weather around, Heaton's decision to bat on the Sunday evening in poor conditions paid off. Their 42 for 2 from just over the statutory ten overs was enough to see them through as the weather closed in and prevented any further play. A visit to Micklehurst in Round Three provided th best of Heaton's three victories. Again Rob Slater bowled well. His 5 for 41, together with Paul Mort's three cheap wickets saw Micklehurst bowled out for 157, and Slater completed a fine all-round performance, hitting 36. It was Quentin Still's fine 74, however, which held the innings together, as Heaton reached their target for the loss of seven. wickets, and moved into the last eight. In the meantime, Egerton, too, had reached the same stage. The only good thing to be said about going through on the toss of a coin is that it was preferable to not going through at all, and that was how Egerton progressed to Round Two at the expense of Standish. Their next opponents were also from the Wigan area, and their win at Orrell over Red Triangle was the outcome of the first of three big partnerships between the Australians Steve Storey and David Todd. It realised 161 for the second wicket as Egerton went on to total 226 for 8, Storey hitting 101 and Todd 56. Red Triangle made a spirited reply, ending the game 18 runs short with two wickets intact. Egerton's victory at Denton West was altogether more comfortable. The home side hit 167 for 9, and Tebay's dismissal with the score on 2 merely heralded the second of the stands between Storey (76) and Todd (79), who knocked off the required runs in a partnership of 166.

Egerton were now confronted with Heaton at Lower Pools to decide which club would carry the League's colours into the semi-final. The tie was arranged for Trinity Cup day, which would have precluded Wallwork, Tebay and Bennison, on inter-league duty. It was washed out, however, and so when the two sides lined up on the following Thursday and Friday evenings, they were at full strength. Heaton batted first, and their 160 for 7 relied heavily on Lee Sutton, who remained unbeaten on 44, and, yet again, Rob Slater, who hit 35. It was all to no avail, though, as the old firm, Storey and Todd combined for the third time in the series. This time their second-wicket partnership of 79 provided the lion's share of the required 164 for 3.

Egerton had come to the end of the road, though. In a semi-final against Lancaster they simply didn't score enough runs on a slow wicket. Tebay's 45 was the only contribution of any note in a total of 125 for 7. Lancaster reached the target with six wickets to spare, and Egerton's, and the League's challenge was over.

Prior to the start of the season, the Longworth Road club had been the proud holders of each of the League's three first-team knock-out trophies. Eagley had already relieved them of the Hamer Cup, and in September, Farnworth took the Jubilee Trophy off them at Little Lever. Egerton had enjoyed an exciting win over Walkden in the semi-final, when Keith Hornby plundered 23 from the penultimate over, whilst Farnworth beat Kearsley in the other. The Bridgeman Park side's 102 in the Final didn't appear to be enough against Egerton's strong batting line-up, but Phil Hall had the last word, bowling accurately and economically to earn the Manof-the-Match Award for himself, and the Jubilee Trophy for his side for the second time in three years.

Egerton's third trophy disappeared, this time indoors, in January. Once again they had played well enough to get into the Final. The Anthony Axford Trophy, so generously sponsored by the Farnworth president, has for long been a popular feature of the winter months, and this year it was held for the first time in Bolton School's Sports Hall. Egerton began their defence with comfortable wins over Heaton and Eagley. Little Lever were summarily dealt with in the semi-final to set up a Final against Kearsley, who, in the quarter-final, had hit the competition's top score, 144 for 3 against Farnworth. In the Final they bowled Egerton out for 61, but their seemingly simple task was made difficult when Egerton's bowling and fielding rivalled that of their opponents. David Morris stood firm, however, and was awarded the Man-of-the-Match trophy for his efforts, which included 3 for 8 in Egerton's collapse. Both sides went through to the North West Finals, Egerton as last year's winners, and Kearsley as the result of their Axford Trophy success this year.

Ironically they met in the semi-final, and once again Egerton were easily bowled out, this time for 35, a new all-time low total in the competition. The unwanted record, however, was only to last for an hour or two. In the North West Final Haslingden, after hitting 115 for 4, bowled Kearsley out, unbelievably, for just 18, a sad end to Craig Lavelle's side's hopes and ambitions in the competition.

In November the League Dinner was highlighted by the presentation of the Hubert Pendlebury Memorial Award to Eagley's Harry Brown, a man who has been an enthusiastic, hard-working supporter of the club for a very long time. Over the years he has become a much-loved and highly respected figure on the Dunscar scene, and the reward was wholly appropriate.

Lastly, our grateful thanks to all our sponsors. To Fort Sterling for their continued support. To Greenmount and Little Lever for their efforts on Cup Final days, when they managed to produce the necessary weather to complement the excellence of their organisation. To Westhoughton, in particular, who were denied the weather on Trinity Cup day, but who coped admirably anyway. To Tony Axford, whose competition takes place come hail, rain or whatever, and indeed our thanks to everyone else, ladies, umpires, scorers, lady-umpires and lady-scorers, groundsmen, and club officials. The League, as ever, is in your debt.