League Review - 1995

By Peter Stafford    (March 1996)    Back

For the fourth time in five years, the League Championship was decided on the season's last day. There appeared something of an air of inevitability that it should have been decided in favour of Little Lever, who thus kept up their record of having won the title once in each decade since their first success in 1946. If this sequence, almost amounting to an unwritten rule, was to be maintained, time was running out for them in the nineties!

At the end of June, however, they didn't have the aura of potential champions about them. Of their first twelve games, seven had resulted in draws, only one side had been bowled out, and this, together with a feeling of frustration brought on by opponents who, in Little Lever's eyes, put the block on far too soon, resulted in a position of fourth in the table. At this stage they were 12 points behind Kearsley, who were carrying all before them.

But then things began to change. A narrow three-run win over Westhoughton heralded an upsurge in the Villagers' fortunes. A superb run-chase at Egerton was followed by a crucial win over Kearsley. Next came the recovery of the season at Walkden when Little Lever, having lost six wickets for a handful of runs in response to the home side's 127, went on to an unlikely victory thanks to the resilience of Tony Settle and the tail-wagging exploits of Mel Whittle, Wailer and Ainsworth. The following day Greenmount were seen off a little more comfortably, and the Bob Waller-inspired win at Piggott Park a week later completed a run of six straight wins which resulted in Little Lever moving to the top of the table, a position they were never to relinquish.

A shock defeat came at the hands of Astley Bridge during the penultimate weekend of the season, but Westhoughton's win at Kearsley on the same day meant that the final 'double header' arrived with four clubs, Little Lever(101), Kearsley (100), Tonge(98) and Horwich (95), still in with a chance.

And to add further piquancy to the situation, those four clubs were paired off together on the last day.

Fine individual performances from Mel Whittle, David White, Grant Long and Craig Duxbury saw their sides safely through the Saturday programme, but Tonge lost to Famworth Social Circle in spite of Sikander's second 8-wicket haul of the season against Paul Rawlinson's side. Tonge, still on 98 points, were now out of the running, but their final trip of the season to Kearsley had lost only half of its importance, whilst the fact that Little Lever(107) were to entertain Horwich(101) meant that the various permutations were almost endless. just to add a little spice to the situation, the weather forecast promised us heavy rain 'later in the day'. When the tea-interval arrived, no-one was very much the wiser as to the eventual outcome. Tonge's 227 for 5, which included a Sikander century, had presented Kearsley with a Herculean task - and yet if Horwich could overhaul Little Lever's 160, a two-point draw would be enough to give Kearsley the championship! In the end, of course, there were only two winners. The weathermen who, for once, were spot on, and Little Lever, who had been generally spot on since the beginning of July. When the rain arrived Horwich needed another 49 runs with six wickets left, whilst Kearsley, with Dublin still to bat, required a further 109 from their last eight wickets. Speculation as to what would have happened had the rain held off for a couple of hours is pointless. Nevertheless, it is fascinating to think that had Horwich won, and Kearsley managed a one-point draw, neither beyond the bounds of possibility, then we would have been faced with the first three-way tie in the League's history, which would have provided huge interest for the spectators, unbearable tension for the players, and mammoth headaches for the play-off sub-committee in just about equal proportion!

All championship sides deserve their success, and Little Lever were no exception. Their batting was remarkable for it's sheer depth and reliability, rather than for individual brilliance. Ten players averaged over nineteen, and of these ten, all but one exceeded 40 in an innings at least once. Tony Settle provided immense stability in the early order, and carried his good form into inter-league cricket. Simon Helmot was the leading run scorer with just over 700, most of which were scored with great panache, and he also fielded well enough to break Fred Gregson's 49 year-old club catching record. Bob Waller played match-winning innings in mid-order, and if the injury-hit Nigel Hallows suffered a below-par season by his own high standards, he hit the team's only century, a decisive 101 at home to Eagley. Baldwin, Whittle, Wallwork, Worrall and Hilton averaged over 300 runs apiece, and with so many significant individual scores coming from the lower half of the order, Little Lever's batting could never be written off until there were ten wickets showing on the board.

There were other important factors surrounding their success. An excellent team and club spirit prevailed, partly engendered by the fact that of the main body of players used in the season, over two thirds had played junior cricket at the club, and partly, I'm assured, thanks to the influence of the professional, a consideration that carried some weight with the judges when they awarded him the Professionals Prize. If doubts had been raised in people's minds at the start of the season as to the wisdom of signing the veteran Whittle, any such reservations had surely been dispelled by the end of it. He and newly-arrived brother Les bowled over a thousand overs, mostly in tandem, and combined to take 159 wickets at just over 18 runs apiece.

Les beat off the challenge of Westhoughton's Patrick Holder to deservedly win the League Bowling Prize in his first season. Little Lever's trio of championship-winning bowlers was completed by the admirable Simon Ainsworth, whose effort had been recognised by the league selectors earlier in the season. With a maximum of concentration required for both jobs, good wicket-keeping captains are fairly thin on the ground, but the tactically-aware Tim Wallwork fulfilled both roles expertly, and threw in just short of 400 runs for good measure.

By the second week in July, however, few people would have gambled against Kearsley moving to an eighth title.

They had held the upper hand in 12 of their first 14 matches and it wasn't so much the 10-point lead that was so impressive, rather the manner by which it had been achieved. Steve Dublin was in his usual imperious form. Already he had hit 94 against the champions-to-be, and smashed his own fastest century record with a 35-ball hundred against one of his team's other main rivals, Horwich. At the end of the season he finished just one decent innings away from the 1,000-run mark, and his 78 wickets represented his best bowling figure to date for Kearsley. Chris Sainsbury took 70 at the other end, but the absence of a third bowler capable of taking 30 or 40 wickets meant that both he and Dublin had to be seriously over-bowled, and it could well have been that lack of support which, in the end, cost Kearsley the title. Together, like the Whittles, Dublin and Sainsbury totalled well in excess of a thousand overs, possibly the first time that this has happened at two clubs in the same season. Craig Lavelle and Stephen Davies each hit over 600 runs, but the player of the year at Kearsley, or anywhere else, come to that, was clearly Craig Duxbury, whose 1, 100 runs beat Brian Lones' amateur record and came to within 71 of an all-comers highest for the club. His consistency was underlined by his twelve half-centuries, and there is little doubt that he has the technique and temperament to maintain the kind of form he showed last season. If he stays in the Bolton League I would expect him to join his father in the '10,000-run club' somewhere around 2006.

Horwich and Tonge were the other two sides to seriously contest the 1995 title. Both their professionals produced superb figures, which came as a surprise to no-one. Long passed a thousand runs for the fifth time, took 41 wickets, and completed a fine all-round season by holding on to 31 catches, easily the highest figure since the League began. Iqbal Sikander finally accomplished what he had threatened the previous season, when with his fourth wicket against Social Circle on the penultimate day of the season, he went past Fred Hartley's 1941 League record of 128. From Cec Parkin in the League's early days, through Maurice Moroney, Bryn Howells, Hartley himself and Vinoo Mankad, to Jack Dyson and Trevor Hohns in more recent times, Tonge can boast a rich heritage of fine spin-bowlers to which Iqbal Sikander is a worthy successor. His wicket-keeper, Jon Partington, became the first in League history to go past the 50-victirn level, and Tonge's batting was bolstered by that of Simon Anderton, back to his best form after a disappointing 1994, and by Jim Aspden, who exceeded 500 for the first time. For Horwich David White produced his usual fine all-round figures, and Charles Dagnall's 44 wickets came at a very healthy average.

When Heaton became the only side to top 300 in early May (an innings notable for young John Whittle's maiden Bolton League century) professional David Fitzgerald hit 82 of them. The following week his 129 against Westhoughton meant that he had reached 513 runs in his first five innings, a unique feat in Bolton League annals. His next knock, of course, cricket being what it is, produced a nought against Astley Bridge, but by the season's end the Heaton professional had run up 1,487 runs, the fourth highest ever total. Shakeel Ahmed and Chaminda Fernando also topped the thousand at Egerton and Bradshaw respectively, whilst David Smith became the first WaIkden amateur to reach the same figure, and one of only two 1995 batsmen to score over 150 in an innings, when he hit 159 at Greenmount. The other was Westhoughton's Ian Pilkington, who left his record-breaking 151 at Egerton until the final weekend of the season. Ian's 718 was only five more than his team-mate Andy Forshaw, one of several excellent young players who came of age in first-team cricket in 1995. Andy hit over 700 runs for the first time, and came to within a whisker of his first hundred when he was left stranded on 98 in the win over Kearsley. Richard Parker staked his claim for regular first team cricket at the Tyldesleys with 77 on the second day of the season against Greenmount, who themselves had two young players who made people sit up and take notice. jimmy Horrox included a century in his 721 runs, and took 33 wickets into the bargain, whilst in his first season of Bolton League cricket Richard Ankers showed an overall consistency (if a lack of concentration in the 40's) by hitting over 500 runs without managing a half-century. Heaton's Nick Holt and John Whittle continued to progress, as did the Parkinson brothers at Piggott Park in what was generally a good season for the emergence of young talent.

Famworth's quintet of Taylor, Bennison, Nash, Rayment and Lawton all produced excellent figures in 1995, and their departures leave a hole that will have brought worried frowns to the brows of the powers-that-be at Bridgeman Park. Having become the second player to make the transition from Junior-Player-of-the-Year to club professional within the League, Greenmount's Andy Williams had an outstanding season, finishing only three or four good shots away from a thousand runs.

1995 was not one of the vintage years for overseas amateurs. Patrick Holder bowled superbly again for Westhoughton, and came very close to winning the major bowling prize, whilst Locky Allardice, also on his second visit, batted well for Astley Bridge, hitting 768 runs. Young Mark Higgs (693 and 35 wickets) played some good all-round cricket for Bradshaw, and Heaton's New Zealander, Richard Evans took 55 wickets and picked up two Bowler-of-the-Month awards.

Tonge's continued dominance of 2nd Team cricket would have come as a surprise to few people. Yet again their main bowlers monopolised the top of the League averages with four, Holt, Whitelegge, Ian Tattersall and Bailey, in the top six. The experience of Alan Evans, Steve Goodram, Tattersall and Alan Bradbury took care of most of the runs, with Evans adding the League Batting Prize to that for wicket-keeping, whilst Keith Wardle's 162 against Eagley was the seasons's top individual score. If experience is the word which springs most readily to mind where Tonge's 2nd team is concerned, it is worth remembering the names of Paul Whitelegge and Simon Entwistle, two fine young players who responded well to the opportunities offered to them last season.

Farnworth Social Circle's John Hutchinson hit 864 runs, more than any other batsman, with Walkden's Andy Coop, who hit four centuries in six innings towards the end of the season, finishing with 746. Other batsmen to top 700 were Alan Evans, Andy Skinner and Keith Eastham of Greenmount, Kearsley's David Price, and Larry Booth, whose Farnworth side proved a major threat to Tonge for much of the year before falling away badly over the last two weekends. Stephen Holt's 57 cheap wickets won the League Bowling Prize, with Chris Lomax, Chris Flynn and Frank Hinks the only players to exceed 60 wickets.

Heaton became the first club to retain the Birtwistle Cup for over twenty years when Kearsley were narrowly beaten in the Final by nine runs. The eventual winners had to recover from a dreadful start during which their early batting was shot away by Horrobin and Jameson, neither of whom deserved to finish on the losing side, but a total of 133 proved just enough, thanks to a match-winning bowling spell of 5 for 35 from Man-of-the-Match Dave Syddall.

By far the two most exciting finishes of the 1995 Hamer Cup competition occurred in the first round and in the semi-final. Both were won and lost by crucial run-outs, and both involved Farnworth. Round One threw up a local derby with the two Farnworth sides in opposition at Bridgeman Park, and after good bowling performances from Estwick and Matthew Parkinson had restricted the home tearn to 144, Circle, in the persons of Rawlinson and Tonge, appeared to be in control with only a handful of runs required. But then fate stepped in. Rawlinson was run out, and Tonge bowled by Taylor, and when Mick Dunn became the second of two run-outs with two balls of the tie remaining, the winning margin was a mere three runs.

Walkden were overwhelmed at Tonge by Sikander's eight wickets and Simon Anderton's unbeaten 60, and Eagley never looked like beating eventual winners Kearsley, once Duxbury's half-century had set his side on the right path, although the Shuttleworth brothers could well have wondered what they were doing on a losing team. Dave took 6 for 34 out of Kearsley's 182 and James kept Eagley's slim hopes alive with 58 of Eagley's 136 all out.

Pilkington, King and Haynes were largely responsible for Westhoughton's 195 at Egerton, but Paul Tebay's 72 provided the bedrock of the home team's winning reply. At Greenmount Gary Chadwick (50 not out) fought something of a lone battle against Bradshaw's bowlers, of whom Gary Eckersley led the way with five wickets. After losing two early wickets, Hutchinson, Fernando and Nigel Duxbury saw their side home, although only one ball remained when the winning hit was made. Little Lever, however, enjoyed a much greater winning margin at Astley Bridge where an undefeated 54 from Bob Waller gave the villagers their only win over the Sharples Park team in 1995.

Of the four quarter-finals, the Victory Road tie, in which Kearsley made further progress at Little Lever's expense, was the only one not dominated by batting professionals.

After the home side had been held to a below-par 154 for 9, Stephen Davies guided Kearsley through to a well-paced victory, finishing with 68 not out as Peter Morris helped him pass Little Lever's total with nine balls remaining.

Horwich's 247 for 4 at the Rigbys was only eight runs too many for Bradshaw in a game the bowlers will not want to remember in a hurry. Grant Long hit 84 and Phil Ingrain 55, before Fernando's unbeaten 133 and Mark Hutchinson's 44 were largely responsible for a reply of 239 for 7.

Tonge must have harboured hopes of a semi-final place when, after good innings from Aspden and Nigel Partington had helped them to 182, they had disposed of Bennison and Lawton for single figures. But a stand between Lee Sutton (45) and Brendan Nash (53) put Farnworth back on course, and 55 not out from Rayment sealed Tonge's fate.

David Fitzgerald earned his money, too, at Egerton. He hit 61 and Tim Barry 40 as Heaton's innings ended one short of the 200-mark, with Stuart Hornby having taken five of the seven wickets to fall. Tebay and Ahmed opened solidly in reply, but the momentum was never there, and when Tebay was run out and Ahmed dismissed by Warwick Milne, the asking rate rose higher and higher as Milne conceded only 43 from his 21 overs. Fitzgerald, bowling his longest spell of the season, took four rather more expensive wickets during his 20 overs, and Egerton were 35 runs adrift when the game ended.

Each of the two semi-finals provided exciting finishes, but for different reasons, one being won by the closest possible margin, the other ending in a bout of hitting the like of which had never been equalled in sixty-six years of Bolton League cricket.

It came at Kearsley, where visitors Heaton batted first and scored 171 for 6 from their 50 overs. Nick Holt had held proceedings together with a fine, unbeaten 66, but sadly for him, what could have proved a semifinal match-winning innings was all but forgotten in the light of what was to follow. Having taken three wickets for 26 runs, thanks to Rob Slater and Richard Evans, Heaton must have been feeling that they had played themselves into a winning position, but a game against Kearsley is never over until the big man sings! Within a very short space of time Dublin and Lavelle, but mainly Dublin, had added another 99, and with the West Indian's score standing on 72, the 25th and incredibly, the last over of the tie started. Rob Slater was the one holding the ball and, as it turned out, the short straw, and six legitimate deliveries and three no-balls later, Kearsley were in the Final. Eight of the nine balls had disappeared for six - forty-eight from the over - letter to Wisden - Steve Dublin 120 off 46 balls - Kearsley 173 for 3 - game over! To try to put the feat into some sort of perspective, this didn't happen to an untried, nervous second team bowler. Rob Slater is an experienced first-team bowler with a 1995 runs-per-over record economically superior to those of three current inter-league bowlers. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time!

The fate of the other semi-final at Horwich was virtually decided when Brendan Nash was run-out in the last over. The home side had reached 213 for 4, thanks to a fine 81 from John Ratledge and a later half-century by Phil Ingrain, who reached his individual target with a towering six from the last ball of the innings. Farnworth's task was a formidable one, and three run-outs during the reply didn't do much to help the cause. But Nash was winning the game magnificently off his own bat, and when the final over arrived his score stood on 93 with his side needing seven runs to win. It was on the second ball that it all went wrong for Farnworth when, after having hit two from the first, Nash was run out going for a second run in a desperate attempt to keep the strike. Bill Noakes was caught by Wilson and when the final delivery arrived, three runs were still needed. Only one was scored, and a relieved Horwich had squeezed into their tenth Final.

If the Final itself never reached the dizzy heights of instant excitement engendered by the two semi-finals, it did nevertheless produce some unforgettable moments in the field, and at least one innings that will go down in the annals of the competition. Kearsley made a good start, 55 for the first wicket, but then a flurry of wickets, including an outstanding catch at long-off by Scott Henderson which deprived Dublin of a low flat six and at the same time cost him his wicket, meant that someone had to stay in and hold the innings together. The mantle fell on Simon Thomson, who responded admirably with his third half-century in a month, hitting 52 in 68 balls, and ensuring that Kearsley would at least use up their overs. That they did rather more than that was thanks to some late belligerence from Chris Sainsbury, whose 25 from 24 balls included three sixes and took his side to 204 for 8.

Ingrain and David White put on 37 for the first wicket, and when Ingrain went the game entered its crucial stage. Gradually Long and White whittled away at their target, and at 84 for 1, the tie was finely balanced. But then, as so often happens, the match swung as the result of two brilliant catches. Lavelle took off in the wide mid-on area to account for White, and Scott Woods' diving catch behind the wicket resulted in the fall of Long. From that point Kearsley were never going to lose, and although Drinkwater and Andy Taylor played well later in the order, the asking rate had spiralled out of Horwich's reach. When the end came they were 23 runs short, and if Kearsley owed a debt to Man-of-the-Match Thomson, they would have been grateful, too, to their professional, who had bowled throughout the Horwich innings and taken 5 for 76.

Kearsley was one of our four clubs involved in the 1995 Skipton LCA Knock-out. The others were Walkden, whose domestic form last season was so woefully inconsistent, Farnworth and Farnworth Social Circle. Paul Rawlinson's side, in spite of having the highest pedigree of the four in the county competition, were the first to fall by the wayside. In Round One they had a borne tie against Wigan, never the easiest of opponents, but in spite of a fine bowling performance from lain Hill before the interval, they were bowled out after it in pursuit of a total of 140.

Each of our other three representatives were faced with first round ties which amounted to little more than match practice. Kearsley's visitors from Liverpool, Essemmay, arrived with nine men, batted first, and were bowled out by Peter Morris, who took 5 for 13. Farnworth, too, had little more trouble beating Azzad, knocking off the 110 required for the loss of only two wickets, with Richard Hope hitting an unbeaten 50. Walkden, the only team lucky enough to bat first, rattled up 305 for 2 against Dyadra Dynamo, with Rod Brown helping himself to 155 not out and Dave Smith 105. The visitors couldn't even match Brown's score and so Walkden moved on to a much closer game at Golborne in Round Two. Smith and Clarkson provided the main contributions to Walkden's 180, and a half-century from the Golborne professional, Rob Turnbull, gave the visitors a few nasty moments before they finally came out on top by 10 runs.

Kearsley's Round Two game took them to Great Harwood, where in 1991 the Springfield Road side came unstuck as the result of a marginally poorer run-rate. This time the decision was reversed, even down to the manner by which it was obtained, although Great Harwood's 136 was looking very vulnerable when the rain came down with Kearsley on 94 for 4 with Leonard and Woods well-set.

Farnworth made short work of Fleetwood Hesketh's 168, with Nash and Bennison needing no help from their teammates after the interval, the end coming with Bennison in the 60's and Nash having passed 90. This set up an all Bolton League clash at Springfield Road in Round Three which sadly clashed with an inter-league game at Eagley, and there must have been many people other than myself who wished they could have cut themselves in half for the day

The first period belonged to Kearsley, with Lavelle, Dublin and Leonard all hitting fifties, and a total of 237 must have encouraged the home side to start thinking in terms of a quarter-final trip to Darwen. They would have gone to Darwen, too, had it not been for Mike Bennison. Opening the Farnworth innings, Mike was still there when the winning hit was made with just six balls remaining. He had 110 to his name, and whilst he received good support, mainly from Nash, Sutton and Rayment, his innings, a real tour-de-force, was the decisive factor. Again Dublin bowled well, taking 3 for 36 out of 238 for 7.

Over at Longridge, Walkden joined Farnworth in the quarter-finals by beating the Preston team fairly comfortably. Clarkson, Brown and Smith hit the lion's share of their 220 for 4, with Longridge falling fifty short in reply. Farnworth made the short journey to Darwen, where another substantial opening partnership from Bennison (60) and Nash (81) virtually settled the issue. Darwen never came close to a target of 195, and although rain forced an early finish with their score on 97 for 8, there was a huge difference between the run-rates, and Farnworth deservedly went through.

Walkden's quarter-final against Radcliffe developed into a duel between Radcliffe's Andrew Aldred and the Walkden bowlers. Walkden, batting first, had reached 202 for 7, with half-centuries from Clarkson again, and skipper Tony Keays, and Radcliffe's one-man challenge ended only when Aldred was run out for an heroic 98.

With the two clubs kept apart by the semi-final draw, there was now every chance of an all-Bolton League Final at Old Trafford, but hopes along those lines were dashed when Farnworth came unstuck at Kendal. Their chances had received a setback before the match, when Nash, who had retired hurt the previous day, was declared unfit. A further blow came with Bennison's first-over dismissal, and Farnworth's eventual 172 for 8 owed almost everything to a stand of 82 between Rayment and skipper Martin Axford. But it proved not enough. Professional Eldine Baptiste batted through the Kendal innings, winning the game for his side in the final over.

Walkden faced the prospect of a meeting with an even more illustrious West Indian Test professional in their semi-final against Denton. In Lancashire K.O. matches, however, the world-class ability of any bowler is balanced out by the rule restricting him to eight overs, and although

Malcolm Marshall took 3 for 19 during his two spells, Walkden, bolstered by Keays and Clarkson at the heart of the innings, managed to get up to 150. Two early victims for Rod Brown, and three more in a devastating mid-innings spell from Dave Smith, pegged Denton back, and their reply came to an end 40 runs short when John Smith wrapped up a thoroughly enjoyable day with two late wickets.

Sadly, after having totalled over a thousand runs in their five matches en route to Old Trafford, it was their batting that let Walkden down in the Final. Brown, and particularly Martin Wolstenholme played well, but the support wasn't there, and 127 was never going to be enough against a side of Kendal's calibre. Andy Kilner, nursing an injury, bowled well, as did John Smith, and the fielding was as sharp as you would expect from a team defending a low score in a cup final, but in the end Terry Hunte was the difference between the two sides. He batted through from Number 3, hit a not out 55, and the winning hit came with four wickets and almost ten overs to spare. But the Wa11den players, whilst not doing themselves justice at Old Trafford, had brought honour to the Bolton League during 1995, as indeed had those of Farnworth and Kearsley during their shorter runs in the competition.

Another group of players who distinguished themselves last season were those of the Under-13 vintage at Astley Bridge.

Guided by Roy Thomasson and Alan Evans, the young lads from Sharples Park won the League Championship, the Harrison Cup and, as a bonus, the Arnold Sharples Trophy. They also won the Bolton section of the N.C.A. national competition in which they progressed to wins over Furness, Southport, Roe Green and Alveston, before going down narrowly to Wolverhampton C.C. in the Northern Final. In achieving all of this, the team won 27 of the 28 games played, a record probably unsurpassed by any side in the League's history. The boys who brought such distinction to the area were captain and wicket-keeper Chris Evans, Tim, and Danny Rees, Neil Platt, William Halton, Sajid Mahmood, Gareth Pryce and Matthew McGuiness. The League is proud of them.

At the opposite end of the age-scale, 1995 saw the playing career of Ray Eccleshare come to an end. At his best, Ray was one of Bolton's top ranking cricketers. His five spells of Bolton League cricket, all spent at Astley Bridge and Tonge, spanned a total of 17 seasons, and were interspersed with professional engagements at Lascelles Hall, St.Andrews, Walker Institute, East Lancs Paper Mill, and High View. Three professional years at Sharples Park in the early '70's brought him 150 wickets, and prior to that, in 1968, he won the League Bowling Prize with 65 wickets at 9.46 apiece, an average only bettered since by Sonny Ramadhin. In a career stretching over 29 years, Ray has taken over 2,000 wickets and hit somewhere in the region of 12,500 runs. Off the field, his words-per-minute average on the subject of the game probably outstrips any average he achieved on it, and now that his playing career is over, we spectators look forward to our listening role on the terraces!

The Inter-League side's 1995 campaign began at Greenmount when the Saddleworth League provided the opposition in Round One of the M.E.N.Trophy, and whilst to describe any match decided on run-rate as dramatic might be something of a contradiction in terms, this one came as close as you can get! David Smith's 6 for 21 ripped away the middle of the visitors' batting order and, faced with a total of 172, the Bolton League soon lost Tebay and Smith himself. White and Settle began to put things back on course, and were just starting to quicken the tempo when a providential phone call from the Ribblesdale area revealed that rain was heading our way at a rate of knots! The message was relayed to the middle, and thirtv runs from two consecutive overs saw Settle reach his 50, White 39, Bolton 99 for 2, and when the mathematics were over, it transpired that the Bolton League had won by 0.04 of a run which, in terms of measurement, works out at somewhere around thirty-three and a half inches! And so, thankful for an upturn in rain-affected finishes, we pre~ pared for a visit from the Ribblesdale League~11gerton for the semi-final. Before that, the League played host to the Star Club of India, a touring side composed of that country's most promising young players. The game was held at Little Lever, where a superb hundred from David White was the main contribution to the League's 263 for 8. What seemed to be a formidable score, however, proved to be totally inadequate as the young Indians cruised to a four-wicket victory with time to spare! The names of Pagnis and Haldipur are worth keeping an eye open for in the non-too-distant future, and the fact that even the redoubtable Sikander could hardly get a ball past the bat clearly demonstrated just how comfortable batsmen from the sub-continent are when faced with top quality wristspin. Ian Taylor showed his own brand of quality, however, following his 1 for 16 from 10 overs against the Saddleworth League with 5 for 48 against the Indians. Another friendly match, this time against the Manchester Association at Eagley, was notable for an exciting partnership of 164 between Tony Settle and Tim Barry, which took the home side to 220 for 3, Barry completing an unbeaten 103 in his first match for the Bolton League. Wayne Harper was the only player to trouble our bowlers, hitting 57 as the Association finished 36 runs short, David White taking 5 for 48.

Tim Barry carried his fine inter-league form into the M.E.N. serni-final against the Ribblesdale League, who, batting first, were restricted to 181 for 8 from their 48 overs. Dean Eckersley put in an early Man-of-theMatch bid with 4 for 25 from two excellent bowling spells, not to mention a couple of catches, but the League made a poor start in reply, with 18 for 3 becoming 111 for 6 with only ten overs remaining. At this point Tim Wallwork joined Tim Barry, and together they applied themselves with a mixture of brilliant running between the wickets and, when it was needed, sheer improvisation. Barry hit 21 from an over, which eased the asking rate, and he it was who finally hammered the winning runs in the last over to claim the Man-of-the-Match award and a place in the Final.

Farnworth Social Circle staged the Trinity Cup match, and after the Bolton Association had collapsed from 90 for 1 to an all-out 161, the only thing that could have prevented yet another League success was the impressive thunderstorm which took the big crowd by surprise when the home side needed only a dozen to win. It relented eventually, however, and David White was allowed to complete the job with 22 overs still in hand. White ended on 61 not out, well-supported by Grant Long's 39 and a hard-hit 33 from Sieve Dublin.

The M.E.N.Trophy Final, played at Kearsley, provided acute disappointment when the Bolton League lost out to what was virtually a Northern League second eleven, our opponents having made wholesale changes to accommodate clubs playing in a domestic competition. The plain fact of the matter was that the Bolton side simply did not score anywhere near enough runs. Hampered yet again by a poor start, the eventual total was 138 for 9 with Tim Barry top-scorer for the third time in the three inter-league games in which he batted. He hit 37, and Mike Crookson a whirlwind 24 during the last over or two. After tea our bowlers toiled manfully, taking seven wickets before the total was overhauled, but with so few runs on the board, the margin of error was tiny, and dropped catches by two of the side's more reliable fielders proved too costly. Taylor and White claimed a joint 5 for 45 from their 20 overs, but this kind of triumph, without six or seven of their leading players, added justification to the Northern League's claim to be, currently, the county's strongest league, a claim that the Bolton League will be out to dispute in the first round of the 1996 competition.

Finals day of the Jubilee Competition, hosted and efficiently organised as ever by the Little Lever club, was contested by Tonge, Walkden, Kearsley and Little Lever themselves, still one of only four clubs yet to get their name on to the trophy they have so generously sponsored for nineteen years! Last year they went out at the semi-final stage at the hands of the eventual winners, Tonge, who overtook the host club's 148 for 6 by four wickets, thanks to fine innings from Scott Richardson and, playing against his former team-mates, Simon Anderton. Kearsley overcame a disappointing Walkden in the other semi-final, but then found themselves very much up against it facing a huge 185 for 2 in the Final. Again Anderton was in the runs as he and Nigel Partington went past 100 for the first wicket at the rate of eight or nine an over. Partington's brilliant 91 resulted in a Man-of-the-Match award as Kearsley went down by 49 runs.

Craig Lavelle's side gained some kind of revenge for that defeat, however, indoors in January, first beating Tonge, then Heaton and Bradshaw, to face Farnworth Social Circle in the Final of the Anthony Axford Indoor Trophy. Paul Berry had been Kearsley's inspiration throughout, having hit 201 runs in four innings before being dismissed for the first time in the Final. Social Circle had accounted for Farnworth, Egerton and Astley Bridge, but let themselves down in the Final when they were restricted to 94 for 4 in pursuit of 120. Both finalists went through into the county stages, but again Circle's batting proved less than adequate when, chasing a mere 78, they were bowled out by Haslingden for 63. Kearsley completed an easy win over Edenfield before losing out to Haslingden by two wickets with an over remaining. Yet again the League is indebted to Tony Axford for his generous backing of the event, the moreso when one hears of other Leagues having abandoned indoor cricket due to the lack of that kind of sponsorship. Fred Elmore is also deserving of our thanks for the consistently efficient manner in which he organises the competition.

It was a very real pleasure to welcome former Famworth captain, Alan Rushton, as Chief Guest at the League Presentation Dinner back in November. Alan, wearing his other hat, or in this particular case, chain, was there in his capacity as Mayor of Bolton. He is no stranger to the Presentation platform, for during his three years as Farnworth skipper back in the early 60's, he led his side to the 1960 League Championship, and to the Hamer Cup Final in all three seasons, receiving the Cup on two of those occasions, oddly enough in 1961 from his mayoral predecessor, Alderman Bateson. When his year of office comes to an end in May, Alan will have attended somewhere around 650 functions, and we were privileged that he should treat our Dinner as something of a priority.

He was specially pleased to present the prestigious Hubert Pendlebury Memorial Trophy to John Roberts, almost his exact contemporary in terms of playing years, and a former adversary in Farnworth/Kearsley derbies of the 1950's. As player, coach and administrator few have packed so much into such a short space of time as has John. In recent years he has been very much in the forefront of our junior sections, and much of the success and the immense ultimate benefit gained by the League from that success- is down to John, and those who work alongside him. His work-rate and enthusiasm for local cricket knows no bounds, and the award could not have been aimed in a better direction.

Junior cricket is an aspect of our game very close to the heart of our cricket-minded sponsors, Fort Sterling Ltd., and it is especially gratifying this year to be able to thank Peter Clinton and Graham Yardley for an extension of our association with the company which will take us into the next century.

Thanks also to those clubs who staged our important games during 1995, and to the umpires, scorers, and, at the risk of being labeled sexist, to the ladies at the clubs who put in so many hours on the League's behalf. The current mini-crisis as regards the difficulties some clubs are experiencing in finding scorers for each of their teams, reminds me that Florence Brandwood, who comes into two of the categories mentioned above, has now been scoring for Astley Bridge and Heaton for upwards of thirty-five years. Florence almost certainly derives as much pleasure from her part in the game as does any player, umpire, official or spectator. And enjoyment, whatever our contribution, is what cricket is, or should be, all about. A very good friend of mine has developed something of a catch-phrase which he uses each week on Radio Lancashire. 'Enjoy your cricket'. Watching local cricket every week, I'm sometimes tempted to wonder if his message is getting through to everyone as much as it should do.