League Review - 1998

By Peter Stafford    (March 1999)    Back

Anyone picking up a League Handbook 20 years from now might glance down the list of League Champions, note that 1998 was the year in which Tonge completed a hat-trick of league titles, and then move on to the next page. That would be a bit like opening a history book, noting that an American President died in 1963, and then moving on without wondering about the circumstances surrounding the event, what led up to it, how it happened, and the aftermath.

In fact, the circumstances surrounding the climax to last year's cricket in the Bolton League are almost certainly unique in the League's history, in that both Tonge's first team and Bradshaw's second each won their respective titles on the final day of a season during which neither of them had topped their table at any previous point in the year!

Westhoughton had moved to top of the first-team table after 11 games, and stayed there until the last match of the season. Tonge, meanwhile, having begun the season carrying a ten-point penalty collected for a misdemeanor towards the end of 1997, were 36 points behind the leaders at the halfway stage, and appeared unlikely to hold on to their championship title. But then they hit their best form with a run that was to bring them nine wins and an amazing 220 points from their final 13 matches.

Westhoughton, too, enjoyed a good second half, but will look back in despair at the shock defeat they suffered at home to Eagley on August 15th, when excellent contributions from DeVos, Powers and Lord undermined the leaders. They recovered, however, and three straight wins over Egerton, Astley Bridge and Kearsley gave them a nine-point advantage over Tonge with one game to play.

Saturday, September 12th dawned wet and unpromising, as had so many match days during the season, and many fans swished their way up the motorway to the Reebok with goals uppermost in their minds, rather than runs and wickets. At Piggott Park, however, where Tonge were the visitors, a minor miracle had occurred. The rain had stopped, the ground was made as playable as was possible, and the game had got under way with the minimum 26 overs available to each side. Westhoughton were at Little Lever, and with the telephone wires between the two grounds almost having reached melting point, Little Lever too prepared their ground for a 52-over match.

By tea-interval, both teams in contention were satisfactorily placed. Tonge had contained their opponents to 74 for 5, whilst Rod Estwick's 5 for 39 had similarly restricted Little Lever, leaving Westhoughton needing 84 runs for the title. And that was the point at which fate stepped in, with a vengeance. At Victory Road, with Westhoughton having knocked off just five of the required runs in one over, a further downpour occurred. The ground, already saturated, couldn't take it, and Westhoughton's season, and challenge, had come to an end. At Piggott Park, just over two miles away, Tonge were allowed to move, unhampered by the weather, to 75 for 4, and to their hat-trick of championships.

Westhoughton, at that point unaware that their greatest triumph lay just around the corner, were understandably upset, whilst Tonge, who owed much on the day to Iqbal Sikander (4 for 24 and 36) were probably left pinching themselves to make sure that it had all really happened.

One thing has to be said. And that is that whilst conditions at both grounds were far from ideal on a day when no other first team games were started, any club, given Tonge's circumstances, would have moved heaven and earth to get the match played. It was the culmination of a wonderful season for the Castle Hill club. They had won their title in spite of the 10point handicap, and had remained unbeaten throughout their league season, only the second team in the League's history to achieve that particular feat, along with Kearsley in 1979. Again they owed a great deal to Iqbal Sikander, whose 110 wickets brought his five-year haul up to 558, a total unmatched by any Bolton League bowler over five consecutive seasons.

Sadly, 1999 will almost certainly be Iqbal's last season in the League, thanks to the appalling restrictions currently being applied to overseas professionals by non-cricketing authorities. For a hundred years, league pros have been signed by clubs using three criteria. Will he suit the team's requirements? Is he good enough? Can we afford him? Now, leagues are being bound by red tape, cricketing qualifications are being applied which are out of all proportion, and clubs' choice of professional is being largely dictated by petty bureaucracy. The fact is that 1qbal is a master of his chosen art, a joy for spectators to watch, and the perfect role-model for any aspiring young cricketer, and yet none of this seems to count for anything any more. One wonders just how many notable professionals of the past would have been denied us, had this new and ludicrous restrictive rule been in operation.

But 1 digress. fan Taylor's 64 wickets take him into the top dozen bowlers in the League's history, and once again he was vital to his team's cause, with Steve Shepley proving a reliable third bowler when he was required. The leading batsmen were Simon Anderton and Paul Berry, who shared over 1,300, and their runs, together with a similar number from the bats of Northrop, Sikander, Aspden and Warren, ensured that Gary Gamer's batting wasn't missed as much as it might have been. Rick Northrop's 45 victims took him to the top of the wicket-keepers' list, whilst Bob Wailer, Kevin Kirkpatrick and Nick Dimarcello each played important roles in the three close finishes against Little Lever, Bradshaw and Westhoughton respectively.

Westhoughton's triumph at Old Trafford is described in detail later in the article, and it is worth noting that they achieved their near-double (treble, if you include the jubilee) with a side containing seven players who have come through the club's junior ranks and two others, Bentham and Crookson, who learned their cricket not a million miles away from the Tyldesleys. It was the line, length and pace of Blianabai, Estwick and Holder, however, which was responsible for 165 of the wickets taken by the side, with Mike Crookson's spin providing variety, and a further 31 victims.

Patrick Holder added almost 800 runs, 240 of them in six-hits, to his 61 wickets, and it is surely only the previously-mentioned bureaucracy that stands between him and a professional engagement. Ian Pilkington hit 702, and with Rod Estwick, Rick and Steve Parker, Tony Forshaw, Paul Atherton and Stuart Harrison each adding somewhere between 270 and 500, runs were rarely a problem at the TyIdesleys.

If, as is rumoured, 1998 proves to have been Stuart Harrison's last season, 1, for one, will be very sorry. Since his junior days, when he once hit 194 for Westhoughton's 3rd team at Farnworth, Stuart has been a loyal, talented and wholehearted member of the side. In short, the kind of player who epitomises all that is best about the Bolton League.

Mike Bentharn had a superb season behind the wicket. He equalled Alan Lansdale's long-standing 7 in a match' league record, broke Jimmy Anglesea's 57 year-old club record for most in a season, and won the League Wicket-keeping Prize, all but four of his 44 victims coming in League matches.

Elsewhere, Egerton came close to honours, but, in the end, it turned out to be their season for near-misses. Runners-up in the Hamer Cup and beaten semi-finalists in the Lancs Knock-out, their third position in the table reflected the fact that they drew more games than any other club. Although unbeaten and in second place at the halfway stage, they fell away somewhat, and four defeats in July and August, including two horrible batting collapses at Little Lever and Heaton, cost them dear. Heaton themselves had a good season. They were rarely out of the first four, and in fact topped the table on three occasions during the first half, but in the end they had to settle for fourth place, a position they had held almost throughout the latter half of the season. During the winter months, however, their top six players have all drifted south to Walkden, Farnworth and Kearsley in the respective ratio of 3:2A, and it is difficult to see them building up any sort of momentum in the coming season.

Cup-winners Bradshaw finished fifth, and would have ended two places higher had it not been for the ball-tampering episode which deprived them of ten points two weeks into the season. Batsmen of the caliber of Tebay, Craig Duxbury, Morris and Neil Johnson made them a difficult side to bowl out, but they were probably one good bowler short. Sajid Shah and Simon Ainsworth took over 150 wickets between them, with ten of Sajid's 99 coming in the game at Eagley, making him the thirteenth Bolton League bowler and the first for 18 years to achieve an all-10. The curiosity about his feat was that having swept away the first nine, he had to wait a further 18 overs for the vital tenth, which could well be a Guinness Book of Records job!

Three team batting performances took the eye in 1998. Little Lever and Westhoughton both reached 302, against Waikden and Famworth respectively, Westhoughton declaring 23 runs and three overs short of the League record. But it was Little Lever's 294 for 2 against Farnworth that really endangered their own League record score. When they declared with David White unbeaten on 106, there were ten overs still to be bowled. Had they batted out their full quota, the chances are they would have finished much closer to 400 than 300, and put the record out of sight. As things turned out they needed three of their extra overs to dismiss Farnworth, a fact which, on the day, justified the decision.

The impact of the overseas amateur could well be on the wane, with only four making much impression during 1998. Mike O'Rourke and Jason Swift both batted superbly yet again, and each reached the four-figure mark, O'Rourke for the second time. Patrick Holder's figures have already been mentioned, and Greenmount's South African Aldo Van der Berg hit over 600 runs. On the professional front, Iqbal Sikander was awarded the Professional's Prize for the third time and, in the face of 110 wickets and Tonge's championship, few would have argued. And yet a survey of all 14 professionals' figures throws up a surprising statistic. Accepting that 1,000 runs equates roughly with 100 wickets, which assumes that a '54or' is of much the same value as a half-century, then points awarded on the basis of one point per run, and ten points per wicket, the following would have been the top six pro's of 1998:

Having said all that, winning cricket matches is all about bowling sides out, and, on balance, I think 1 would prefer a hundred wickets from my pro rather than a thousand runs. Always provided, of course, that I had David Smith as an amateur to pitch in with 900 runs!

In addition to the six mentioned, Dirkie DeVos bowed out in good style at Eagley with 810 and 46 wickets; Shahid was slightly down on his wickets but up on his runs from 1997, whilst Parvez Mir at Kearsley showed all the elegance of his Egerton years without quite reaching the required volume of runs. Grant Long took 61 wickets but, for the second season running, mystifyingly failed to reach 500 runs. Perhaps he is in need of a new challenge. Bhanabai, Darlington and Nedd were all reliable and reasonably economical wicket-takers, whilst at Famworth, Desai looked a much better player than his figures suggested.

Gary Gamer was the League's outstanding amateur, a fact recognised by his peers, who correctly voted him Fort James Player-of-the-Year. Having begun the season well at Tonge, he survived what proved to be a traumatic transfer to Farnworth, and by the end of the season only four amateurs had exceeded his 61 wickets, and only four batsmen of any description had hit more than his 816 runs. He won the League Batting Prize and was Fort James Bowler-of-the-Year, by which time, all things considered, his Playerof-the-Year award was little more than a formality.

Ian Nuttall became the first player from Farnworth Social Circle to win either of the two major individual awards when he won the League Bowling Prize. In achieving one of his ambitions in the game, lan became only the second left-arm spinner to win the award in over 30 years, and in so doing narrowly pipped his former team-mate Rod Estwick to the Prize. Greenmount's Keith Webb completed the list of 1st XI prize winners when he headed the fielding list with 17 catches.

The 2nd M Championship, like that for first teams, was won and lost on that fateful last day of the season. Heaton had led the table from June 20th, and, moving into the last six matches, had built up a seemingly impregnable 53-point advantage over second-placed Bradshaw. But three washouts and defeat at the hands of Farnworth Social Circle proved their undoing. Over the same period Bradshaw were only washed away once, won the other five, and picked up their ninth Howarth Cup success, beating Kearsley by seven wickets on the last day thanks to a timely and unbeaten 65 from Neil Hart. Hart was the side's leading run-scorer, just ahead of Andy Kilner and Andrew Cole, a name not without significance in the Bolton League.

For Heaton Warwick Milne hit more runs than any other of the League's second-team batsmen, topped the League averages, and won the League Batting Prize. Eric Shaw and Chez Arif gave him good support with the bat, whilst Luke Pearson, Paul Mort, who won the League Catching Prize, Dave Walsh and Steve Butcher combined to take almost 200 wickets.

However, if there was a Player-of-the-Year award in 2nd Team cricket, and for the life of me 1 can't think why there isn't, then it would almost certainly have gone in 1998 to Farnworth Social Circle's Tony Bradley. He became only the third player in the decade after David Morris and Tony Bailey to reach 100 wickets, he was Man-of-the-Match in the Birtwistle Final, and, not surprisingly, he won the League Bowling Prize. Little Lever certainly saw enough of Tony in 1998 to last them a lifetime. In the three games between the clubs he took 22 wickets for just 108 runs, including 8 for 9 at Victory Road which won him the only other bowling prize available, that for the Best Bowling Performance.

His wicket-keeper, Robert Taylor, won the League Prize by a mile, whilst Chris Barrow, junior Player of the Year, also had such an encouraging season that his 2nd team days must surely be numbered. His 60wicket haul was second only to Bradley, whilst the pair of them shared an astonishing 750 overs, over 250 of which were maidens.

Eagley's 2nd XI provided something of a curiosity by managing to finish fourth from the bottom with a team that included five different centurions, four of whom finished in the top dozen in the League averages.

The Birtwistle Cup Final, a low-scoring affair, appeared to be virtually over and done with by teatime, at which point Tonge had bowled the home side, Farnworth Social Circle, out for 109. Stephen Holt had bowled with accuracy and intelligence to finish with 5 for 36, Dave Barlow taking the other 4 for 67. The whole Circle innings revolved round stands of 49 for the 3rd wicket between Darren Mullineux and Tim Barrow, followed by another of 40 shared by Mullineux and Taylor. At the time they appeared to be useful rather than match-winning stands but when Tonge's reply had disintegrated to 14 for 6, the 90 runs hit by those three Circle players had been put into a truer perspective. Skipper Ian Senior did his best to stop the rot, but the final wicket fell at 49 to give the home side a victory they daren't even have dreamed about during the tea interval. Tony Bradley's 6 for 26 earned him the Man-of-the-Match award, although Chris Barrow's final analysis of 17-12-11-2 made Tony's economy rate of almost two runs an over seem disgracefully expensive!

In a season during which so much cricket was ruined by rain, amazingly only one tie in the whole of the Nouvelle Hamer Cup competition was affected by the weather. Round One was notable for two reasons, in that it produced the highest scores, both team and individual, at Kearsley, and, at Tonge, what could arguably have been the quickest finish ever, when the tie was won and lost in less than 24 overs. 1qbal Sikander took 5 for 6, and Ian Taylor 5 for 24, as Farnworth were bundled out for 34, after which Gary Gamer, playing against his future team- mates, and Kevin Kirkpatrick knocked off the required runs in 28 balls.

But the real fireworks came at Springfield Road, where Kearsley went merrily along at over a run a ball for the duration of their 50 overs, ending up on a record 325 for 6 at the expense of Eagley. Darron Foy's unbeaten 199 provided an unforgettable memory for everyone on the ground as he hit 22 fours and 9 sixes in compiling the fourth highest Bolton League score. He faced the penultimate ball of the innings with his score standing on 198, but with everyone on the ground willing him on, a long single deprived him of a much-deserved double century. He was excused bowling duties as Mir and Southworth shared Eagley's ten wickets.

Little Lever beat Waikden in a game that provided half-centuries for Keays, Swift and Ingram, whilst at Horwich, an undefeated 77 from David Smith saw Heaton through by eight wickets. At Piggott Park FarnworthSocial Circle collapsed to Gavin Nedd, having got themselves into a winning position against Egerton. Nerld's 5 for 28 gave his side a 35run win, whilst Westhoughton's comfortable 63-run win over Greenmount was largely set up by a fine all-round performance from Patrick Holder (62 & 4 for 46) and four cheap wickets by Mike Crookson.

It was Holder to the fore once again in Westhoughton's quarter final win at Astley Bridge. His 61, along with 72 and 43 from Ian Pilkington and Andy Forshaw respectively, saw his side up to 248 for 7, but it was Ranjit Bhanabai who had the final say when, in his second spell, he took 7 for 13, after Shahid Mahboob's 62 had got his side away to a good start.

Little Lever had Lancashire off-spinner Gary Yates to thank for their narrow win over Kearsley. After top-scoring with 32, the deputy pro took 5 for 69 as Kearsley were bowled out for 138, seven runs short of their target. Egerton's win at home to Heaton was more straightforward. Skipper Tim Barry hit 75 of his side's all-out 208, before Stuart Hornby's 7 for 42 bowled Egerton to a 95-run victory. Eventual winners Bradshaw followed their first-round bye with a last over success at Tonge, where Sajid Shah and Simon Ainsworth gave some hint of what was to come in the Final by bowling out Tonge for 155, in spite of a fighting 47 from Simon Anderton.

In reply, Paul Tebay produced the first of two influential Hamer Cup innings, holding Bradshaw together with 53, before Castanade and Ainsworth edged their side into the semi-final with just a couple of deliveries remaining. It was on semi-final day that rain made it's first and last contribution to the 1998 cup competition, but only had it's full effect at Bradshaw, where the tie against Westhoughton didn't get started. On the other hand Little Lever, at home to Egerton, enjoyed more luck with the weather than they did with the eventual outcome of the game. On a day when the threat of rain and bad light was never very far away, the real miracle was that 100 overs were completed and 573 runs scored. Egerton hit 256 of them for 7 wickets, with Chuck O'Rourke marginally missing his hundred when he was run out for 95, having received excellent back-up from Barry, Keith Hornby and Clegg in the early order.

Little Lever's reply was a curious affair. Jason Swift, who opened with White, was clearly incapacitated after having been involved in a car-crash on the previous evening, but neverthless battled resolutely through the 50 overs to finish on an unbeaten 72. He was supported by White, who hit 33 at the top of the order, and by Ronnie Davis and Ian Moss, who contributed 29 and 44 at 8 and 9 after Nedd and Stuart Hornby had shot away the middle order. Given normal circumstances, Swift batting through an innings would be a guarantee of somewhere around 130 or 140, but that car-crush had cost Little Lever dear, and they finished in dreadful light on 217 for 8.

The Bradshaw/Westhoughton tie finally went ahead on the Friday immediately preceding the Final, following two weeks of arrangements, rearrangements, bad weather, league meetings and phone calls. In the event, the first-ever mid-week afternoon Hamer Cup-tie proved a great success, and a large crowd saw the home side emerge winners by 28 runs, thanks almost entirely to a superb 108 from Paul Tebay. He carried Bradshaw along on his shoulders to 172 for 8, after which Ainsworth (6 for 73) and Shah (4 for 42), with the help of five catches by Chris Evans, bowled Westhoughton out for 146.

The weather relented for the Final, superbly staged by Tonge, and deservedly won by Bradshaw, who thereby completed a hat-trick of Hamer Cup victories over the three sides destined to end the season in the top three places in the table. Bradshaw's innings of 156 for 8 revolved round a finely-crafted 62 from Neil Johnson, more than twice the number of runs achieved by anyone else on the day, and, in my opinion at least, an award winning effort. Stuart Homby bowled his heart out, taking 5 for 73 in 25 overs, and was unlucky to finish on the losing side.

Egerton's reply began slowly, with none of their batsmen seeming able or willing to take the game by the scruff of the neck, and when the total had reached 76 for 2, 36 overs had been used. Shah and Ainsworth turned the screws, and when the final wicket went down with 28 balls remaining, Egerton were 44 runs short. Sajid had taken 7 for 42, and Ainsworth's 3 for 54 meant that in Bradshaw's three-match cup run, their two opening bowlers had, in the space of 131 overs, taken all but one (a run out) of their opponents thirty wickets, as the club moved to its eighth Hamer Cup success.

The Inter-League season began well with an emphatic win over the North Lancashire League at Fumess in the first round of the MEN Trophy. Stewart, Taylor, Eckersley and Foy each bowled their quota of ten overs without conceding more than 30 runs, and wickets for all of them left the home team reeling on 85 for 7. A fighting and unbeaten 53 from skipper Mike Hughes engendered a mini revival, but Taylor and Parkinson wrapped up the innings at 144.

Gamer and Ward went cheaply, but then came the most prolific inter-league partnership of the season as Paul Berry (67) and Darron Foy (58) remained undefeated, having added 119 for the third wicket. Both played equally well, with Foy's 3 for 30 giving him the edge for the Man-of-theMatch award.

The annual friendly against the Manchester Association at Whalley Range was notable for only one performance, not including that of the weather, which brought matters to a sudden halt with the match interestingly poised. Gary Garner's fine 91 was the day's highlight, and after he was dismissed the innings rather petered away, ending at 158 for 7 in the 45 overs allowed. When the rain came, the Association's reply stood on 78 for 3, with 81 further runs required from 14 overs.

Gamer's next contribution to the inter-league cause was equally vital, but took rather less time than had his 91, when he hit the stumps to win a bowl-off against the Ribblesdale League at Clitheroe in the MEN semifinal. Tim. Barry was the other bowler to 'score' in a 2-1 win which saw the Bolton League through to its fourth successive Final.

The dreadful weather refused to let up for the Trinity Cup match at Atherton, which was abandoned with the Bolton Association struggling on 86 for 5 with only 13 overs to be bowled. Sajid Shah and Iqbal Sikander had bowled a joint 16 overs for 15 runs, but sadly, when the match was rearranged in September, they had both flown home, and with Gamer, Berry, Foy, Taylor, Wallwork and Stewart also unavailable, a very much under-strength side lost out in the replay by 20 runs. The bowlers performed well enough, bowling out the Association for 117, with Eckersley and Ainsworth each picking up three cheap wickets, but once White and Smith had gone at 2 for 2, things went from bad to worse. Ian Pilkington played well for his 27, and Dean Eckersley, Simon Ainsworth and Chris Evans managed to effect a recovery from 42 for 7 to 93 for 8, but Eckersley's was the vital wicket, and the end came at 97.

Perhaps the least said about the MEN Trophy Final the better, save to say that the hosts, Horwich, played their part to perfection. In truth, no one in the side performed to anything like their full potential. The fact that Tim Barry's 21 not out and Mark Stewart's 16 from seven balls provided the game's highlights from the Bolton point of view says it all. The home side's innings ended on 136 for 9, and when the Northern League claimed their fifth Final victory over us, they had eight wickets and 10 overs to spare.

Five clubs represented the League in the 1998 Thwaites LCB Knockout Trophy, and all survived Round One, Walkden with the help of a bye. Westhoughton's long trek to Old Trafford began with a tricky-looking home tie against Ormskirk, which they won by out-batting the visitors. All the Westhoughton batsmen scored runs, with Rick Parker's unbeaten 50 leading the way to a final score of 228 for 7. Four middle order wickets for Mike Crookson proved vital as Ormskirk ended 16 runs short.

Tonge were faced with a home tie against Vemon Carus from the Palace Shield, conquerors of Westhoughton the previous year. Paul Berry's undefeated 109 ensured a decent total, and the visitors, chasing 224, were never really in contention. They fell 58 runs short after losing four middle-order wickets cheaply, not to Taylor or Sikander, but to Simon Anderton, whose claim to all-rounder status was, on the day, denied only by his nought with the bat!

Kearsley, faced with a total of 173 at Wythenshawe, got home by three wickets, largely thanks to opener Scott Woods' 64, whilst Egerton batsmen Harper, Stafford, Mills and Clegg all contributed to their side's 235 against Edenfield, who missed out by 51 runs.

In Round Two Westhoughton disposed of Penwortham by 76 runs. Again Rick Parker top-scored, contributing 67 towards a total of 200, and Rod Estwick's 3 for 10 was the main reason for the Preston side's 124 all out. Tonge progressed at the expense of Denton West, who were bowled out for 155. A third-wicket stand between Nigel Harris (50) and Rick Northrop (46) was the basis of a six-wicket win.

Two of our clubs, however, went out at this stage. Walkden, always desperately short of front-line bowling in 1998, were well-beaten at Fleetwood, whilst Kearsley suffered the latest in a long line of unfortunate dismissals in this competition at home to Leigh. Darron Foy's 58 was the top score in Kearsley's 167, and when Leigh had slipped to 129 for 6, the home team appeared to be on a wicket-taking roll. But then rain intervened and when play was resumed it was calculated that Leigh required just 14 runs from 6 overs, a task they achieved with some case.

Egerton went safely through after a home win over Didsbury, but Round Three saw the end of Tonge, who, weakened by the absence of Berry, Warren and Taylor, bowed out to Golborne. In spite of Sikander's spell of 9-5-10-4, Tonge found themselves chasing 187, and although they were given a good start by Aspden and Northrop, in the end they fell 20 runs short.

Possibly the best win of the round was that of Egerton, who came back from the dead to beat the powerful Chorley side. An all-out total of 135 seemed much too small for Egerton to defend adequately, the more so when Chorley moved to within 30 runs of victory with seven wickets still standing. But then a sorry collapse started, and when the last Chorley wicket fell they were still 14 runs adrift. Nigel Barlow completed a good allround performance, taking two wickets in an over during the tense latter stages of the game after having hit a crucial 24 towards the end of the Egerton innings.

Westhoughton's victory over Wigan was altogether more comfortable. After having bowled Wigan out for 121, they cruised to 96 for 2, the revised target following rain, with eleven overs to spare. Bhanabai's 3 for 17, together with runs from Pilkington, Forshaw and Sellars, made the task a relatively simple one.

Both Bolton League clubs survived a rainy quarter-final day by winning bowl-offs. Westhoughton went through 1-0 at Morecambe thanks to a hit by Paul Atherton, whilst Colin Crouch and Tim Barry's accuracy ensured Egerton's progress with a 2-1 win at Golborne, and with the two clubs kept apart in the semi-final draw, the chance of an all Bolton League Final at Old Trafford had become a very real one.

Sadly, Bootle put paid to any such hopes, by unleashing a furious attack on Egerton's bowlers at Longworth Road, which ended leaving the home side the task of scoring 250 to win. Clegg and Keith Hornby each got into the 30's, but Egerton fell 95 short of their target.

Westhoughton, at Kendal, produced a good team batting display to reach 168 for 6, and once again Bhanabai made quick inroads into the opposition. Stuart Harrison added the vital wicket of Terry Hunte to his match-winning 35 earlier in the day, and when Bhanabai's third wicket ended the game Westhoughton were home, dry and in the Final by a margin of 26 runs.

The match at Old Trafford, in which Westhoughton became the fourth Bolton League winners of the Lancashire Knock-out Trophy, proved to be a magnificent culmination to the season. Putting their disappointment of the previous day behind them, and knowing that they would need to be at the very peak of their game to overcome the strong Bootle side, Westhoughton did themselves, and the League proud. The bare bones of the proceedings were as follows:- Westhoughton 212 for 8 (Estwick 80. Sellars 66, Forshaw 20) Bootle 173 (Hitchmough 56. Crookson 4-35. Harrison 2-39) But there was so much more to it than that. After the game I wrote the following piece for the Evening News, most of which, for one reason or another, didn't appear. This, then, was what I thought at the time, and still do.

"Bootle simply weren't allowed to show the kind of form that had been so evident at Clitheroe, Ashton-on-Mersey and Egerton in the previous rounds, and on the day, they were totally outclassed by Westhoughton in every department of the game. The highlights were many and varied. Rick Sellars responsible batting; Forshaw's important back-up innings and superb run-out of Bean; Benthain's lively wicket-keeping; Stuart Harrison's bowling, once he had got the wides out of his system; and Mike Crookson's left-arm stranglehold on Bootle's middle-order which, under differing circumstances would almost certainly have led to a Man-of-the-Match award.

But standing head and shoulders over everyone else in the game, both physically and metaphorically, was Rod Estwick, whose all-round display of batting, bowling and captaincy was nothing short of magnificent. In these days of proliferating transfers and a lack of club loyalty which is the talk of the town, it's worth noting that this Final side contained seven players who have come through the club's junior teams, and two others, Bentharn and Crookson, who have been at the Tyldesleys for seven and nine years respectively. During the last three seasons they have been moulded into the formidable unit we saw on Sunday, and for that, according to the players themselves, Rod Estwick must take a very great deal of the credit.

His innings at Old Trafford was, in itself, the decisive factor of the game, and if the two consecutive sixes were the shots that stay in the mind, then each of the other 68 runs proved to be a small nail in the Bootle coffin as the game turned inexorably Westhoughton's way. He then still managed to find enough energy to bowl 47 balls for 16 runs at a stage when the Liverpool side badly needed to up their rate, whilst his field placements and the manipulation of his bowlers couldn't be faulted.

The crowning moment came with his last delivery, which splayed the stumps of Bootle's number eleven. On a day when he and his side had brought so much credit to their club and league, it was appropriate that Rod Estwick should have the final word, and the memory of him thrusting the trophy into the air on the players' balcony is one that will stay with me for a long time.".

The following weekend they did it all again in the jubilee Trophy Final at Little Lever, this time at the expense of Egerton. Westhoughton had reached the last stage by beating Heaton in the semi-final by 24 runs, again largely thanks to their captain, who hit 40 and took 3 for 19.

Egerton's 104 for 7 had proved four too many for Kearsley, for whom Pete Morris came to within an ace of putting his side into the Final.He ended the game on an heroic 61 not out, having failed to hit the necessary six off the last ball of the match. And so the Westhoughton v Egerton Final that might have taken place at Old Trafford had been postponed for a week.

Westhoughton batted first and reached 165 for 4 in an innings dominated by a 101-partnership between Estwick and Pilkington for the 4th wicket. Pilkington went for 55, but you-know-who surged on to an unbeaten 70, for which he was later given his second Man-of-the-Match award in eight days. Another memory of Old Trafford was revived by the bowling of Mike Crookson, who once again took four cheap wickets as Egerton could only muster 125 for 6 in reply, of which Keith Hornby hit 42 hot out.

The Anthony Axford Indoor Trophy was won by a new-look Walkden side, which comprised John and David Smith, skipper Mike Bennison and lee Sutton, lately transferred from Heaton, Phil Inghim from Little Lever, and the hugely-promising 16 year-old Karl Bates. All six made significant contributions as Egerton, Kearsley and Farnworth were beaten in the earlier rounds, and in the Final Walkden beat Farnworth Social Circle by 6 runs after having hit 111 for 4.

In the county finals at Old Trafford WalMen went on to beat Roe Green and Edenfield before losing in the Final to Haslingden, a fate that has befallen several teams in recent years. During the 7-match run, nothing was better than the bowling of a fit-again John Smith, and the unbeaten 42 hit by Karl Bates against Haslingden which, although it was never going to win the game, provided a significant look into what should be a very bright future.

During the winter months, two important rule-changes have been made, One of them, the awarding of 6-6 points for a washout, is mathematically sound, and can have no dissenters. Four points never balanced properly when weighed against 20 points for a win. The other one which rules that only one bowler may bowl more than ten overs in Hamer and Birtwistle Cup-ties is interesting, and will affect some teams more than others. Certainly it will add a bit more responsibility to the captain's role, which is never a bad thing. There will be times when, with 18 overs or so completed, and both bowlers performing well, a serious decision will have to be made. Whilst 1 have never been one for tampering too much with rules and conditions, this one, 1 think, will add a bit of spice to the game, give more players the responsibility of sharing in the attack, and will provide that important difference between league and cup matches that has been lacking in recent seasons.

Finally, our gratitude is, as ever, due to various clubs and individuals. To Tonge and Horwich for the excellence of their arrangements on our big match-days. To Little Lever, for the ever-popular jubilee Competition; to Tony A3dord and Fred Elmore for providing the oasis of cricket during the long winter months, and, let it be whispered, to the anonymous sponsor of our inter- league match balls for 1999. We know who he is, and we are grateful to him. Our thanks are also due to the Bolton Evening News, for the depth of their coverage in the past, and, in hopeful anticipation, for their extended coverage in the immediate future.

Our partnership with Fort James has grown and prospered over the years, and their most recent enterprise, that of the annual School of Excellence, illustrates their concern for the future of the game in our area. We are indeed fortunate to have such a generous and cricket-minded company batting on our side.