By Peter Stafford (March 2000) Back
The whole thing was best summed up by Westhoughton secretary Tom Parker in the Bolton Evening News of Friday, September 10th, when he was quoted as saying 'Tonge know how to win championships' No doubt Tom was speaking from between clenched teeth in almost certain knowledge that the following day his talented team would, for the second consecutive season, be resigned to the runners-up spot.
But if the reported interview was one that showed a commendable degree of sportsmanship, which it did, Tom was also being totally realistic, knowing that Tonge required a mere three points from their final game against Farnworth Social Circle, a target they had only failed to reach once in their previous 70-odd matches.
However, there can still be a world of difference between knowing how to do something, and actually doing it, as Tonge now have for a record four consecutive years. As well as the know-how, they had the vital components which are necessary if hopes and plans are to be turned into championship reality. Their batting line-up, shorn of players such as Garner, Berry, Bode and Nigel Partington, was now a thing of character, rather than heavy run-scoring. Only twice during 1999 did they exceed 200, and then only just, but the top-order batsmen knew that, should they fail, someone lower in the line-up would, as like as not, come to the rescue. They fielded well, with an excellent wicket-keeper at the hub of things, and they had two bowlers who, between them, took five or more wickets on no less that 20 occasions. These, then, were the quality parts that made up the whole, and never, as we shall see, were they more needed, or, indeed, more apparent, than on that final, climactic day at Piggott Park.
At the season's halfway stage, Egerton, unbeaten, led the field, 21 points ahead of Westhoughton and 52 in front of Tonge. But John Dudley's side failed to win any of their next seven games, and gradually dropped out of the reckoning. Tonge, on the other hand, entered a purple patch which was to result in a run of ten wins, only interrupted by an horrendous 58 all-out defeat at Bradshaw and a losing draw at home to Westhoughton. The Tyldesley's side, in spite of being rocked by a seven-run defeat at Horwich, had manfully kept up with Tonge, and, with three matches remaining, were only five points behind the Castle Hill side, who had moved to the top following wins in successive days over Greenmount and Little Lever.
At this point Westhoughton were faced with, on the face of it, a simple task at Astley Bridge, who had won only one of their previous 14 matches, whilst Tonge had a rather more difficult away game against fourth-placed Walkden. At tea-time Westhoughton had hit 233, and with Tonge requiring a tricky 154, another twist in the tail was very much on the cards. But Danny Rees, helped by the two Entwistles, chose this day to play the top innings of the season, and his 127 saw Astley Bridge home in the gloom with only two balls to spare.
Over at Walkden, Sikkander's 37 and Bob Waller's unbeaten 34 kept Tonge's winning streak on course. The following day Westhoughton sneaked home by two runs against Kearsley to keep their faint hopes alive, whilst Tonge crushed Farnworth by nine wickets. And so it was all to be resolved, yet again, on the last day of the season. It was all very reminiscent of 1998, with Westhoughton at Little Lever and Tonge at Piggott Park, but this time the cards were stacked firmly in Simon Anderson's favour, with only those three points necessary to make the championship safe.
If there was a script to bring a happy ending to Tonge's season, however, Kevin Darlington hadn't bothered to read it, and in spite of a responsible 50 from Rick Northrop, when Kevin Kirkpatrick was run out Tonge had subsided to an improbable 98 for 8. Darlington had taken the other seven wickets and now Tonge were teetering on the brink of disaster. But first, rescue, and then, respectability, were provided by Mark Martin, who with an unerring sense of the dramatic, chose that particular day to register his first-ever senior half-century. The indefatigable Webby, previously regarded as something of a bits and pieces player, always a great team-man and brilliant fielder, and capable of a few runs here and the odd wicket there when they were most needed.
Now, however, he seized the moment, took centre-stage, and, four 4's and five huge 6's later, he had hit 51 out of 54, and ensured that Circle's target of 142, in the early gathering gloom of a September evening, would be far from easy. And so it proved.
A quick wicket for Taylor was followed by a period of defiance from Davies and Hope, but when the latter was caught in the gully by Sikander for a fine 35, it was the beginning of the end. Tonge's fifth wicket and fourth title arrived when Chris Barrow was caught behind, and the fact that the umpires quite rightly brought the game to an early finish at 80 for 7 mattered not one jot to anyone. Ian Taylor had taken 5 for 35, and Rick Northrop had added four victims to his 50, but all in all, the hour and the day belonged to Martin. Westhoughton's match at Little Lever had similarly been frustrated by poor light with neither team in sight of the winning-post, and unless earlier starts can be agreed upon for the end-of-season programmes, it really is only a matter of time before a championship is decided on the last day by two pairs of umpires in different parts of town having varying opinions as to what are, or what are not, acceptable light conditions. On the day in question, of the 100 overs available in each of the two games, 27 remained unbowled at Little Lever, and 25 at Piggott Park. And that, on a generally dry day, is surely unacceptable.
Tonge were excellent value for their title. The recent, near-invincibilty is underlined by the fact that over the four seasons they have lost only ten of their 104 matches. Whether or not, to return to Tom Parker's phrase, they know how to win five consecutive championships is one of the more intriguing aspects of the coming season!
Westhoughton had begun the season well enough, beating Walkden and Tonge before May was out, but then suffered a crushing defeat at Eagley, a foretaste of what lay in wait for them at Horwich and Astley Bridge, and in the final analysis it was those three defeats against clubs from the bottom half of the table that cost them dear. Patrick Holder had a wonderful season with the ball, breaking Iain Hill's 13-year-old record, and Ian Pilkington came to within 33 runs of Nigel Heaton's best batting figure for the club. Skipper Steve Parker hit 667, and with brother Rick, Andy Forshaw, Holder and Steve Dublin each exceeding 400 runs were usually forthcoming at the Tyldesleys. In spite of Holder's 95 wickets, though, Westhoughton only bowled out nine sides compared to Tonge's 15. The signing of Shahid Mahboob, who took 102 wickets for Astley Bridge in 1999, should go a long way towards adding penetrative power, especially if, as seems likely at the time of writing, Bhanabhai stays with the club as an amateur. (Ed. - Bhanabhai is in fact the professional with Mahboob the amateur.)
Egerton, Walkden and Bradshaw were the other three sides who, at some stage or other, gave rise to championship speculation. Egerton, as has been stated, were on top after 13 games, and finished superbly with five wins in the Special Competition, but a disastrous July had already done for them by that point. Barry, O'Rourke, Partington and Clegg hit over 2,500 runs between them, Gavin Nedd and Stuart Hornby shared 144 wickets, and skipper John Dudley's 36 victims equalled the clubs wicket-keeping record.
Bradshaw, on the other hand, peaked in July, when six consecutive wins took them into second place, after which they fell back, exhausted, and won only one further game. They had a massive consolation, however, as we shall see, in the Hamer Cup. Renier Potgieter, once we had learned to spell his name correctly, made a tremendous impact with 789 runs, 48 wickets, which included 8 for 19 against Tonge, and both League Prizes for fast scoring. David Morris's 809 was the league's fifth highest, Paul Tebay's 589 left him an agonising 16 runs short of 10,000, and Paul Stafford contributed 520 at the top of the order. Sajid Shah's 87 victims brought his three-year aggregate to 262, but he could have done with a little more amateur support on the wicket-taking front.
Walkden never quite got into the frame, largely because they were unable to string together a winning sequence. Their best period came around the halfway mark with 128 points from seven games in late-June and early-July, but later defeats at the hands of Horwich, Farnworth and Tonge meant that they had to settle for fourth place. Bernard Reidy's return was a huge bonus. He topped the bowling averages and won the League Prize, whilst John Smith, back to his best following his 1998 injury, took 64 cheap wickets and fell marginally short of a new club record for the umpteenth time. Mike Bennison and David Smith combined well as an opening pair and shared 1,500 runs. Tony Keays was as reliable as ever, and Steve Clarkson, whose Likeable and bright personality will be missed, bade the League goodbye with 641 runs. Phil Ingram and Lee Sutton made valuable contributions, and Karl Bates, the League's Junior Player-of-the-Year, showed enough at senior level to spell out an excellent future. Two Little Lever players will not forget 1999 in a hurry. Wicket-keeper Paul Blinkhorn set new standards in his department of the game. His 52 victims constituted a new League record and was a huge achievement in what was his first full season of first eleven cricket.
Justin Orchard simply swept the batting board. Fort James Batsman-of-the-Season, top of the averages, four centuries, League Batting Prize, and the only player to pass the 1,000-mark. In batting terms, it just doesn't get any better than that!
Indeed all in all, it was a good year for South Africa. In addition to Orchard and Potgieter, three other of their countrymen finished in the top ten of the batting averages, Andy Lawson's sound technique and Boycott-like hatred of getting out brought him 866 runs, Craig Norris, with figures of 906 and 65, could lay claim to being the League's best all-rounder, and Eagley's Ian Mitchell, as well as breaking his club's individual score record, ended the season with 794 runs and, not bad for a wicket-keeper, 48 wickets. His amateur team-mate, Andy Bowker, hit 630 runs, whilst Dion Botha contributed almost 500 towards Tonge's championship. Add to that the 733 runs and 47 wickets of Barry Narrimore and Steve Wood at Greenmount and Heaton respectively, and South African influence was there for all to see.
On the home front David White had another superb season. His all-round figures of 731 and 81 were right up there with those of Craig Norris, and, as a result, David has landed the fourth professional engagement of his career, one which takes him back to where it all began for him at Horwich.
David and Matt Parkinson also each enjoyed a decent all-round season at Farnworth, as did their professional Garry Garner, and Darron Foy at Kearsley, whilst among the specialist bowlers Mark Stewart's all-ten at Little Lever was the first by an amateur since Doug Savage 19 years ago, and only the fifth in the League's history. Chris Barrow's six wickets for one run against Astley Bridge was an extraordinary performance during which each of his wickets cost him 0.16 of a run, whatever that is! Chris's team-mate, Ian Nuttall, arrived on the threshold of a career achievement, in that he now only requires another 20 wickets to reach a thousand, whilst Ian Taylor, who deservedly became only the second player after David White to be voted Player-of-the-Year twice, needs only 54 more to attain the same target in Bolton League cricket.
Heaton's League Championship at 2nd Team level would have been doubly welcome after the disappointment of 1998, when they were pipped by Bradshaw on the final day after having topped the table from mid-June onwards. Once again they led the way for most of the year, only conceding the top spot for two short periods, each time to Greenmount. But the Brandlesholme Road side lost five of their last six matches, and when the last day arrived, it was a straight fight between Heaton and Bradshaw, as it had been the previous season. This time, however, Bradshaw's bid for victory at home to Kearsley was thwarted by the weather, whilst Heaton, set a target of 211 by bottom-of-the-league Farnworth, rose to the occasion, cruising to an eight-wicket win thanks to 94 and 85 from Arif and Calderbank respectively.
Whilst the title win was basically a team effort, mention should be made of Tim Calderbank and Steve Butcher, who each topped 500 runs, and Mark Walker and Rob Slater who took 47 and 48 cheap wickets, so cheap, in fact, that Walker topped the League averages and Slater finished fourth. James Holt, Slater, Nigel Smith and Shaz Arif all scored runs, and the all-round experience of Luke Pearson and Paul Mort was also much in evidence. But perhaps the most encouraging aspect of the whole thing was the form shown by their young and very talented wicket-keeper, Gareth Carson, both behind and in front of the wicket. He won the League Prize, with 20 stumpings featuring amongst his 31 victims, hit 422 runs, most of them whilst opening the batting, and was selected in the Central Area squad for the L.C.B. Festival. And all that at the age of 15!
Another member of Heaton's 2nd XI who is just a year or two older than Gareth is Paul Mort, who in 1999, completed what must constitute something of a unique collection of trophies, During his career at Astley Bridge, Kearsley and, now, Heaton, Paul has won every possible team award from 3rd XI up to, and including, every available first team honour, even taking in the short lived Floodlit Competition played on Horwich football ground and won in it's inaugural season, that of 1983, by Kearsley.
In the Birtwistle Cup Final, Astley Bridge and Eagley produced above-average fare for an above-average crowd. It was one of those games that swung backwards and forwards, and in trying to forecast the eventual winners I recall changing my mind at least six times!
A good start from Franklyn and Lawson - 50 for 0 - fine bowling by Ian Wainman - 95 for 8 - a late rally from McDermott and Blake - 146 for 9. And after tea the same pattern continued. A good innings from Danny Rees - 65 for 2 - an excellent bowling spell by Glen Carruthers and McDermott - Eagley back in the game - a late partnership between Michael Craig and Chris McGuinness - Bridge not out of it yet. Finally, however, the decision went Eagley's way when Blake pulled off a fine caught and bowled to end Craig's resistance and to give the home side a 13-run victory.
Sean McDermott, with 39 not out and 3 for 36 deserved his Man-of-the-Match award ahead of Wainman, Carruthers, Craig and Blake on a day when all 22 players, the host club and the umpires had provided a taste of Bolton League cricket at its very best.
If Tony Bradley had been unofficial Player-of-the-Year in 1998, then that honour last season belonged firmly to Eagley's Nigel Franklyn. Like Justin Orchard at first-team level, Nigel carried all before him. Top of the averages with 78.47, five centuries, most runs (1,177) by a mile, the highest individual score of 148 not out, the League Batting Prize - all of these were his, and what made his run-total even more remarkable was the fact that for most of May he played in the first team. His team-mates Ian Wilcox and Matt Lawson each clocked up over 700 runs, as did Egerton's golden oldie Graham Firth, and Nigel Duxbury at The Rigbys, who outscored everyone bar Franklyn with 837.
Bowlers had a much leaner time. Only three went past the 60-wickets mark, Tony Bradley inevitably, James Sharples at Greenmount, and Bradshaw's Mark Wallwork, who topped the list with 69, as well as proving in a Jubilee Cup-tie that he is probably still one of the best half-dozen wicket-keepers in the area. On the subject of all-rounders, Paul Rawlinson led the way in 2nd Team cricket, appearing in the top six of both batting and bowling averages.
The first round of the Nouvelle Hamer Cup was completed on the due date with the weather giving no hint of the traumas it had in store for us in both Round Two and, sadly, the Final. Tonge had lost at Westhoughton the previous day, and Walkden compounded a miserable weekend by ending their cup hopes in a tie dominated by the Smith brothers. David top-scored, hitting 50 of his side's 159, and then John (4 for 30) wrapped up the Tonge reply when Nigel Hallows and Ian Taylor were beginning to look threatening. Astley Bridge came unstuck against Horwich, whose professional Iqbal Imam hit 79 out of 196 for 6. Martin Seddon's half century in the second half of Bridge's reply offered his side some hope, until Andy Taylor brought matters to a head with four late wickets leaving Astley Bridge 27 runs short.
Kearsley had Pete Morris (34 not out) and John Partington to thank for their three-wicket win over Westhoughton. David White and Garry Tonge had bowled the visitors out for a below-par 144, but Steve Dublin's three cheap wickets against his former team-mates had the game balanced on a knife-edge until Morris and Partington tilted it Kearsley's way. Bradshaw were left with a target of 226 after Mike Frost (54) and Kevin Darlington (65) had put Farnworth Social Circle into a healthy position at the Rigbys, but the cup-holders needed only their first four batsmen as Tebay (79), Stafford (48), Morris (51 not out) and Johnson (32 not out) paced the reply to a nicety, leaving three overs unbowled at the end. The closest finish was that at Bridgeman Park, where Eagley had collapsed to 46 for 7 in response to Farnworth's 127. Unlike Bradshaw, it was Eagley's last four batsmen who gave their side an unlikely victory when Tim Wallwork (41) and Steve Foster added 55, leaving last pair Steve Powers and Nick Biggar to knock off the remaining 27 runs. David Parkinson, who took 5 for 17 from 10 overs, must have felt just as aggrieved to have finished on the losing side as Steve Foster (6 for 44) was relieved to finish on the winning one!
Gavin Nedd's 8 for 73 was the difference between the two sides as Greenmount's visit to Egerton ended in a 31-run defeat. Nigel Partington and Keith Webb, who each scored 43, and Tim Barry, who went two better, were the pick of the batsmen on the day.
Round Two took five days to complete. Only one tie, that at Little Lever, was started on the Sunday, when Eagley were bowled out for 143 on a wicket they wouldn't want to bat on again. Paul Rayment took 6 for 65, with only Chris Lord and Andy Bowker topping 30. The following evening Justin Orchard hit 52 from 35 balls, and that knock proved to be the difference between the two sides as Little Lever got through by five wickets.
Two other ties started on the Monday evening, when Egerton bowled Horwich out for 115 and Kearsley moved to 117 for 3 at Heaton. On Tuesday Walkden and Bradshaw at last managed to get started. Walkden making an encouraging opening, ending the night on 161 for 4. Over at Horwich, meanwhile, Nigel Partington's 47 out of 118 for 6 was important as the home side went out, and Kearsley's innings ended on 204 for 6, thanks largely to Simon Thompson's undefeated 73. Heaton replied with 80 for 3. Whilst these protracted Hamer Cup-ties are not exactly popular with players, they do offer splendid choice for would-be spectators, and on Wednesday evening I went first to Heaton, where a fine 61 from Warwick Milne kept his side interested. David White, however, had the last laugh, ending with five wickets as Heaton fell 41 short of the required target, whereupon many in the crowd decamped to Walkden.
Here David Smith's superb century had seen his team up to 211, and Bradshaw, in reply, struggled up to 66 for 1 from 25 overs, leaving themselves with something of a mountain to climb on the final evening. Climb it they did, but it was a mighty close-run thing, with only three balls left when Sajid Shah and Potgieter saw them through by seven wickets. David Morris batted superbly for his 84, having shared a long 2nd-wicket stand with Tebay, but it was the South African who was Bradshaw's hero. He took on the Walkden bowlers, hitting an unbeaten 61 from only 21 balls. To produce that kind of innings against any old attack is quite an achievement, but Reidy and the Smith brothers aren't just 'any old attack', and against them, the performance was doubly meritorious.
The reward for the holders was a home tie in the semi-final against Little Lever, and, as it turned out, a rather more comfortable victory than that at Walkden. The visitors, batting first, collapsed from 82 for 3 to an all-out 122, Shah taking 5 for 43 and Myles Cunliffe 3 for 23. Once again Morris and Tebay laid the foundation with a 2nd-wicket stand of 69 as Bradshaw eased into the Final by seven wickets.
Kearsley's win at Egerton was less straightforward. With just one delivery remaining Dave Leonard's side were all out for 154, owing almost everything to another fine cup innings from Simon Thompson, who hit over half his teams runs before being stumped for 80. He was last man out, having batted almost throughout the innings, and the two sixes he had hit during the final over assumed even greater significance once the winning margin had been established.
Egerton began disastrously when Partington, O'Rourke and Barry all failed to reach double figures, but a mid-innings family partnership between the Hornby's restored the balance. In the face of some good, tight bowling from White, Tonge and Morris, however, Egerton's task became more and more difficult, and the game ended, sadly from their point of view, with 10 balls remaining and 13 runs still required when Dudly was run out. Nedd, who had earlier taken 6 for 51, was left unbeaten on 11, and probably regretting the fact that he had been deprived of a chance of a final, desperate assault.
Thw Final, played at Heaton, featured the two most successful clubs in Hamer Cup history - Kearsley, with ten Final victories to their credit, against Bradshaw with nine. Batting first, Bradshaw had reached something of a crisis point at 52 for 3, but Potgieter has his own way of dealing with these things, and two sixes in his first four balls announced his intent. Together he and Paul Tebay added 105 before Foy trapped the South African lbw for 75. Soon afterwards the storm-of-the-Year descended on Lower Pools, and within minutes the ground was living up to it's name!
On Monday evening only 14 overs were possible, during which Bradshaw took their overnight total of 183 for 6 to a final 198 for 8. Tebay had hit 64, which meant that he and Dave Morris, in the four cup-ties had aggregated an astonishing 416 runs. Add to that Potgieter's 144 for once out, and their combined cup average of exactly 70 speaks volumes about reliance and reliability. Another player who performed superbly during the 1999 Hamer Cup campaign was Kearsley's Gary Tonge, who, throughout the course of their four ties bowled 40 overs during which he took 9 for 98.
On Tuesday night Kearsley advanced from 18 for 1 to 95 for 2 with David White still there on 48 and all things possible, but it all went wrong in the final session. White went for 59, and although Darren Foy, coming in at the fall of the third wicket, batted through the remainder of the innings, a disastrous series of three run-outs at the other end made an uphill task steeper by the minute. Foy and last man Steve Pellows took the score from 149 to 182 to give their team one final hope and get the crowd a little closer to the edges of their seats, but, inevitably, it seemed, that hope was dashed by a fouth run-out. Foy was left unbeaten on 51 with twelve deliveries left and 16 runs the margin of defeat.
The competition, which should, given the weather, be completed in four days with 13 periods of play, had in fact been stretched to 22 periods over 12 days. Neverthless it had provided many fine individual performances together with the usual quota of exciting finishes. Now Bradshaw's ambition should be to do what no other club has achieved in the past, and go on to win three consecutive Hamer Cup Finals.
Our inter-league season, if not actually one of unmitigated disaster, came close! It all started brightly enough with an excellent win at Heaton in Round One of the M.E.N. Trophy, when we did all the other leagues a big favour by getting rid of the Northern League, generally accepted as being the strongest side in the competition. Stephen Davies, David White and Simon Anderton each got into the 30's, with Dave Morris's 51 the top score in a total of 217 for 7 in the allotted 45 overs.
At 127 for 1, however, the visitors were well in control when a friendly shower of rain (Lower Pools again!) caused a hold-up in proceedings. When the game resumed, five wickets, including the important one of Neil Bannister (64), fell for 13 runs, after which the innings folded in the face of an excellent sustained spell of hostile bowling from Stewart, Taylor, White and Hornsby, who wrapped things up with a 3 for 0 spell. In the Northern League's innings nothing was better than Tim Wallwork's display behind the stumps where, standing up to White and Hornsby, he pulled off a catch and two beilliant stumpings. Chris Barrow, too, impressed on his debut, taking 1 for 29 from his ten overs.
It all went downhill from there, though. In the semi-final the Ribblesdale League won at Astley Bridge thanks to a fine 103 from Terry Little. He was, however, badly dropped twice, and those chances were probably the difference between victory and defeat. After a very ordinary start, Neil Johnson played superbly for his 70 and was well backed-up by skipper Barry, Pilkington and Eckersly, as the League recovered to 193. David White, Man-of-the-Match against the Northern League, was again the pick of the bowlers. He took 3 for 38, and Barrow improved on his first-round figures with 1 for 19 off 10. In the end, though, the visitors got home with three wickets and eight balls remaining, and the chance of an all-Bolton Final had gone, although judging by the way we batted in the Trinity Cup game at Tonge, that may well have been an embarrassment avoided.
If the Northern League tie had been the season's highlight, then the Trinity Cup was, in Wanderers terms, the 'Prenton Park' of the cricket season! In the Association's innings Iqbal Sikander and Kevin Darlington jointly took 5 for 30 from their 20 overs, with 1 for 108 coming from the rest of the attack. Perhaps it would be kinder to draw a veil over our reply which produced 117 runs from 45 and a half overs. Never at any stage did we look likely winners, and perhaps the only consolation was that, last year, the Association had a very good side indeed, which went on the win the M.E.N. Trophy, for which our congratulations are due to Steve Walsh, Derek Bannister and the whole of the squad.
Things didn't improve much at Westhoughton with a third successive defeat, this time at the hands of the Manchester Association, although it should be said that David White was the only member of the Bolton League side to have played in any of the three previous inter-league games. In our total of 180 for 5, he hit 46, Rick Sellers an unbeaten 59 and Ian Pilkington 35. The only other League highlights as the visitors inflicted a 6-wicket defeat, came from Gary Tonge, who bowled beautifully, taking 2 for 15 from his nine overs, and Christian Walsh, whose wicket-keeping, especially whilst standing up to White and Tonge was impeccable.
Neither was the season particularly notable for our clubs in the L.C.B. Thwaites competition. Bradshaw and Tonge each fell at the first hurdle, beaten by Denton and Widnes respectively. The game at Bradshaw was highlighted by a century from a Bolton League player but, unfortunately, it came from Steve O'Shaughnessy, Denton's pro! Tonge made more of a fight of it, going down on the last ball of the game by four wickets despite a half-century from Simon Anderton.
Holders Westhoughton survived a scare at home to Leyland DAF, before going through on the 'least wickets lost' rule after tying the game on 156 apiece. Steve Parker took two cheap wickets and later hit 49 as his side ended on 156 for 8. Egerton batsmen Nigel Partington (49) and John Conlon (50) led the way in a comfortable 43-run win over Penwortham whilst John Whittle starred in Heaton's run-chase at Clitheroe. He contributed 61 towards a winning total of 151 for 5.
Greenmount drew the short straw in Round One, facing last year's beaten finalists, Bootle, at home, but Garry Chadwick's side progressed safely into the 2nd Round, overcoming the Liverpool Competition side thanks to a good team performance in a low-scoring game. That proved to be the full extent of their progress, however, losing out as they did to Carnforth when their batting let them down. Heaton also bowed out in Round Two, losing narrowly at home to Ormskirk after scoring only 93 for 9 in their 45 overs. Ian Moss and Nigel Barlow each took three wickets as Ormskirk struggled to their target, finishing on 94 for 7 with only 11 balls to spare.
The gloomy second round story was completed by Westhoughton, at home to Glossop. After Steve Parker (51), Ian Pilkington (46) and Steve Dublin (43) had seen them up to 228, Glossop moved to a five-wicket victory, with only 2nd Team bowler Neil Roberts, who took 3 for 52, able to inflict any real damage.
Egerton provided the only relief, succeeding at Great Harwood by virtue of an excellent run-chase in which they hit 181 for 4, winning a close game with only four balls remaining. Nedd and Hornsby were largely responsible for bowling the home team out for 179, and whilst all their first six batsmen scored runs, Nigel Partington, with 45, and Anthony Clegg, who remained unbeaten on 43, were the leading lights. Padiham exacted revenge on their League's behalf, however, in Round Three, scraping home at Longworth Road after having hit 157 for 7. In spite of 54 from Johnny Mills and Tim Barry's 29, Egerton's reply foundered when their middle-order failed to get to grips with the situation. Three run-outs didn't do much to help, and when the last wicket fell, the Bolton side were five runs adrift.
One club that did the Bolton League proud last season in non-domestic cricket was Farnworth who, in the National Knockout Competition got to within one game of a Lord's Final. Their progress through the six matches owed a great deal to professional Gary Garner, whose scores of 46, 54, 42, 77 and 40, when placed alongside three top bowling performances in the early rounds, had a huge influence on his team's success. In the seven-wicket win over Barnoldswick Tim Hayes contributed an undefeated 47 and Bill Noakes 3 for 29, whilst it was Hayes' bowling (4 for 25) that was important in the 26-run victory over Bowdon.
The group quarter-final resulted in an easy win over Prestwich, Hayes yet again starred with the ball, and David Parkinson's 56 was Farnworth's top innings in the game which incredibly, yielded a total of 72 extras, 46 of which were wides!
Denton West were the next victims as Farnworth ran out winners by 46 runs, thanks to Garner's 77 and 31 from Hayes. The group Final against Leigh was washed out after the Bridgeman Park side had posted 189 for 9, of which the Parkinson brothers shared 83. When it came to the bowl-off, Farnworth's bowlers put the 21 wides from Prestwich firmly behind them and 'scored four times', as they say in football circles, 'without reply'! Sadly, in what turned out to be their last game in the competition at Wolverhampton, Farnworth, as sometimes happens in every sport, contrived to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, going down by two wickets with only one delivery left.
Batting first, runs from Garner and Matt Parkinson resulted in a final total of 163 for 7. We were at Astley Bridge for the inter-league semi-final, and when Wolverhampton's reply was announced over the tannoy as standing on 57 for 6 it was time for celebratory noises which proved, alas, premature. 57 for 6 became 118 for 8 with David Parkinson (5 for 28) and Bill Noakes (3 for 29) the wicket takers. But when the home side reached 164 for 8 Farnworth's run of success had come to an end, and they were left with only the very small consolation of knowing that they had got closer to the Grace Gates than any Bolton League side in the past.
On the day following their championship clincher at Piggott Park, Tonge completed a double of sorts when they beat Horwich in the Jubilee Trophy Final at Little Lever. In the first semi-final Walkden were beaten when runs from Steve Shepley and Nigel Hallows saw Tonge win by three wickets, although the main feature of the match was the bowling of Ian Taylor, who took 1 for 6 from his five overs. Horwich won the other semi-final when Egerton gave something of an object-lesson in how not to play Jubilee cricket, holing out on the long-on and long-off boundary edges with almost monotonous regularity!
Horwich, batting first in the Final, were all out for 96, with Dave Barlow's 4 for 23 the top bowling figures. Rick Northrop's 39 in reply earned him the Man-of-the-Match award before Simon Anderton and Bob Waller edged Tonge home with a couple of overs to spare.
Indoors, in January, it was Walkden again. Truth to tell, they never looked in any real danger, other than in the Final itself when, having been bowled out for 73, they needed all the bowling and fielding resources which had been so evident all the way through. In the first two rounds they beat Kearsley and Horwich easily enough to book a semi-final date with Little Lever, who had themselves squeezed through against Astley Bridge and Farnworth from the last couple of balls in each case. But their luck had run out, and Walkden's 148 proved 65 too many for the villagers.
Tonge, too, got to the last four fairly comfortably, having beaten Bradshaw and Greenmount, but then were almost pipped for a place in the Final by Egerton, who, batting first, scored 87 for 4. Tonge, pegged back by a splendid three-over spell by Stuart Hornby which only conceded eight runs, collapsed to 71 for 5 with only one over remaining. But Ian Taylor rose to the challenge, hitting 17 from the first five balls to set up the Walkden/Tonge Final.
As has already been said, Walkden were dismissed for 73, and two highlights of the innings and, indeed, the whole series of games, were Mark Martin's two acrobatic and accurate pieces of fielding, when he hit the only visible stump, once whilst lying full-length on the floor, to effect run-outs. Champagne cricket indeed! Walkden, however, as they had done throughout all their games, matched Tonge's athleticism in the field, and that, coupled with the pinpoint accuracy of their bowling, brought victory by 16 runs. Martin Axford presented the trophy that carries his father's name, and both Walkden and Tonge moved on to Old Trafford to contest the L.C.B. Finals.
They met in the preliminary match to decide the last semi-final place, and once again Walkden came out on top, overtaking Tonge's 116 with only two wickets down. Edenfield were sunk without trace in the semi-final, and then at last, at long last, Haslingden were beaten in the Final! It was always going to take a very good side to do it, and Walkden, after a full winter's indoor cricket, had developed into just that. Three weeks later they went across to Headingley for the North of England Finals where, in the quarter-final, they easily overcame Moddershall from Staffordshire by 38 runs. Bennison and Parkinson each scored runs, and did so again in the semi-final against Durham Univesity when the students were bowled out for 78, thanks largely to the best three-over indoor spell I've ever seen during which Phil Ingram took 2 for 3.
But it all went horribly wrong in the Final against Alvaston & Boulton when, batting first, Walkden were reduced to 27 for 4. A fifth wicket went soon afterwards, leaving Mike Binnison on his own. He battled it out for an undefeated 40, but 71 for 5 was never going to be enough and, well as Ingram and John Smith bowled, the Derbyshire side lost only one wicket as they progressed to the Lord's National Finals. Including the Old Trafford Indoor League, the Axford Trophy, the L.C.B. Finals and Headingley, Walkden had won 19 consecutive matches, and to lose with Lord's just one game away came as a bitter disappointment, not least to skipper Mike Bennison, who during the last six games at Old Trafford and Headingley had hit 200 runs without being dismissed. He can take consolation in that, along with Karl Bates, Phil Ingram, Matt Partkinson and Davis and John Smith, he did the Bolton League proud.
A major honour wa achieved in 1999 by one of the League's most highly respected and hard-working officials, when Life-Member May Barlow was chosen by the Bolton Evening News as the town's Sports Personality of the Year. Her most recent Achievements on the League's behalf have been her unremitting and successful efforts in the area of rate-relief which resulted in thousands of pounds being saved by our clubs, and also her ceaseless negotiations which, again successfully, ended with the presentation of a cheque to the League by Sportsmatch, which will increase the amount of expert coaching of our young players in the near future. May fully deserved the accolade, not just for her work in 1999 - that was just the tip of the iceberg - but for many years of loyal, unpaid and devoted service to her club and League.
Mention of coaching reminds me that, even as I write, the third School of Excellence Weekend is taking place. For that, and for so many other things, we are indebted to our sponsors, Fort James Ltd. They are very aware that our future as a League rests in the hands of our junior players, and with that in mind they have not only set up the School of Excellence, but have also doubled the amount of the grant awarded to us by Sportsmatch for the creation of Summer Schools, the aim of which will be to attract young players from local schools to our clubs. Whilst Fort James are our main benefactors, there are others to whom our thanks are due. Anthony Axford Ltd, by whose good offices we are able to run the only true League Indoor Competition in the county, and Little Lever Cricket Club for their continued sponsorship and organisation of the Jubilee Trophy. Nor should we forget the good people who, either as private individuals or companies, sponsor their own clubs in various ways. We are also grateful to those clubs who hosted our major events of 1999, especially Heaton, who were responsible for two.
On a personal note, may I use a few lines to thank the many people who took the trouble, either by telephone or by letter, to offer their congratulations on my appointment as League President. It is a huge honour, and carries with it a fair measure of responsibility. Denis Lyddon and Wilfred Crumblehulme were two men whom I admired in so many ways, and their acts will be difficult to follow. I will do my best.