League Review - 2002

By Peter Stafford (March 2003)    Back

On Saturday, July 13th, my piece for the Bolton Evening News began with these lines. Just a thought, but as things stand at the moment, it isn't beyond the bounds of possibility that Walkden and Kearsley could find themselves in opposition in the Final of the Thwaites LCB Trophy at Old Trafford.'

I have to I admit now that those words were written more in hope than expectation, but, sure enough, six weeks later, when Fazal Akber sent down the first ball of the Final to Doug Watson, my rather tentative prophecy had turned into reality, and that delivery signalled the start of what was to prove one of the great days of Bolton League cricket of which much more later in the article.

On the domestic front it was Tonge who took the honours when, for a record fifth time in seven years, they clinched the Warburtons Championship Cup on the last day of August with two matches remaining. For most of the season it had been a three horse race, with all but three of the 18 published tables showing Horwich, Tonge and Walkden in the top three places in one order or another. Generally speaking, Horwich dominated matters for the first half of the season, having won nine of their first 13 games and lost only one.

Excellent cricket from seasoned campaigners such as Long, Harper, Partington, White, Steve Woods and, in particular, Andy Taylor, had set the pace at the top of the table, but then losing draws against Heaton and Tonge, plus a disaster at Greenmount, allowed the eventual champions to move into top place, a position they were to relinquish just once, and then only briefly. Walkden stuttered during the second half, winning only two of their last 11 games, whilst Greenmount, with a dozen victories from their last 16 matches, moved up into a final third spot behind Tonge and Horwich.

On the morning of August 31st, with three matches remaining, a win for Tonge at home to Egerton was all that was necessary to regain the title last won in 1999. At that stage Horwich, in action at Westhoughton, were their only realistic challengers, and by the tea-interval, the odds had swung dramatically in Tonge's favour. They had hit 241, thanks largely to Nisar's fourth century of the season coupled with 65 from Nigel Partington against his former club.

Westhoughton's 225 also contained a hundred from their professional, Abdur Khan, and it proved a bridge too far for Horwich, who, in spite of runs from Long and White, fell 53 short of their target. Tonge couldn't bowl Egerton out, but that proved to be academic as the game ended with the Longworth Road club well adrift of the required total.

Tonge's 15 points ensured that the celebrations could begin, whilst Horwich's runners-up spot was one for which they would almost certainly have settled at the outset of the season. The Castle Hill club's latest success was an undiluted triumph for professional Adil Nisar and for the evergreen and ever-willing Ian Taylor, each of whom, with 1,444 runs and 89 wickets respectively, set new club records. Rick Northrop, with 762 runs and 35 victims, was unlucky to do so in a season which produced more than a few candidates for the Player-of-the-Year award.

Dion Taijard, Nisar and Ian Eccleshare averaged 40 wickets apiece to provide support for Taylor, and Taljard, Simon Anderton, Kerrigan, Martin and, once he had found his true form late in the season, Nigel Partington, all backed up the two main run-scorers with match-winning innings. The two main run-getters in question hit a joint 15 half centuries and five 100's, and when your opening pair are capable of getting past 50 with such regularity, it does rather take some of the pressure off the other nine.

At Horwich, Andy Taylor enjoyed a season to remember. His 66 wickets, obtained at an average of 10, provided him with top place in the League Averages, the League Bowling Prize, and a place in the inter-league side. As something of an afterthought he threw in a couple of hundred runs and 12 catches just for good measure, and his name, like that of Northrop, must have been in some players' minds as they cast their votes for the Player-of-the Year.

David White, with almost 800 runs and 56 wickets, was his usual reliable self, whilst Long, Harper, Jon Partington and Steve Woods combined to provide another 1,700 runs. Pete Morris played at least one match-winning innings, that at Astley Bridge where a solitary run was the difference between the two sides at the end, and Nick Woods continued to make satisfactory progress. His major achievement in 2002 was to be selected as one of the first intake of the newly-conceived Lancashire Cricket Academy.

As a club, Greenmount's achievements in 2002 were many and varied. The first team finished third and were Hamer Cup runners-up. The 2nd Team won the Birtwistle Cup and were only deprived of the championship by three points during the last weekend of the season after having led the table throughout the second half. They won the Worrall Sportsmanship Award and the Crumblehulme Cup, and professional Robin Morris, who hit over 900 runs and took 99 wickets, was awarded the Professionals Prize.

Pride of place, however, went to skipper Mark Stewart, who became only the second amateur bowler in the League's 73-year history to take over one hundred wickets. Mark's 103, a new League and Cup record, were obtained, in 72 overs less than Mel Whittle's 102 of ten years ago, but at a slightly higher cost. His positive style of batting enabled him to add 277 runs towards his thoroughly justified claim to the Player-of-the-Year award. Gary Chadwick and Jimmy Horrox hit the better part of a thousand runs, with the former's 137 the highest individual score of the year.

Walkden's bid to retain their 2001 title was undermined to a certain extent by a failure on half a dozen occasions to take the final couple of wickets, the difference between 8-point draws and outright wins, an omission which, in the final analysis, cost them in the region of 40 points. Their fivepronged attack of Reidy, the Smiths, Ingram and Parkinson took 218 wickets between them at quite a reasonable average, whilst at the top of the order Doug Watson, Dave Smith, Mike Bennison and Matt Parkinson combined to hit a massive 3,404 runs, with Watson's 1,123 relieving Bernard Reidy of his club professional record. At Heaton in June, Smith and Bennison shared in a 210-run stand for the 2nd wicket, and another outstanding performance was that of wicket-keeper Andy Kay, whose 42 victims provided the best figure to date by any Walkden keeper.

It was a good season for the League's pro's, with all 14 managing either 80 wickets or 600 runs. One further wicket and, one more decent score would have taken Robin Morris to the third 1,000-run/100 wicket double in the League's history, whilst Dheeraj Jadhav was a fraction short of a thousand runs for the second year running. Narendra Hirwani finished just six wickets away from Heaton's professional seasonal record of 108, and Abdur Khan, Fazal Akber and Anal Dalugoda each exceeded 80 wickets. Sajeewa DeSilva's all-round figures (802 and 60) were good in a Little Lever side struggling for success, whilst the same could be said of Famworth's Shafiq Ahmed (715 and 56).

On the amateur front Gary Gamer, Dave Morris and lan Pilkington each hit over 700 runs, whilst had he hit three other bad deliveries for four, Steve Parker would have joined thern. Astley Bridge's Will Halton took over 50 wickets for the first time, as did Dave Tattersall, Jon Fearick and Sajid Mahmood, who, along with Tim Rees, was rewarded with a contract at Old Trafford. The whole League wishes the two former Astley Bridge juniors every success in their blossoming careers. Another graduate of the Sharples Park junior Section, Egerton's Chris Tye, was voted Junior Player-of-theYear after havhig taken 40 first-team wickets in 2002. His greatest achievement came on August 24th when he took 7 for 9 from nine overs as Greenmount were bowled out for 33 just five days after having capitulated for 47 in the Hamer Cup Final. Chris completed a memorable season when, over the next two weekends, he took 5 for 64 at Tonge and 5 for 18 against Westhoughton.

The first round of the Hamer Cup provided three comfortable wins, two ten-wicket walkovers and a thriller at Kearsley in which the visitors, Bradshaw, managed to lose by five runs in spite of only having lost five wickets. Jordan Thornley (57) and Mel Whittle (35), provided over half of Kearsley's 164 before Bradshaw lost a couple of wickets in questionable light. Morris and Ward appeared to have retrieved the situation, but their dismissals signalled the beginning of the end. Fazal Akber took the wickets, Mel Whittle bowled the maidens, and Bradshaw couldn't find those extra six runs which would have made the difference.

Nisar and Northrop steam-rollered Astley Bridge, Morris and Chadwick did the same to Egerton, whilst at Heaton Steve Parker and Adam Coates saw Westhoughton comfortably into the 200's. Darren Preston took 5 for 26 as the home side crashed to an all-out 79 which was only made at all respectable by a late flurry from Simon Booth and Hirwani. Walkden's 172 for 9 proved 46 too many for Little Lever. John Smith took 5 for 29 on the ground where WAlkclen began and ended their 2002 cup campaign.

The home side's problems lay in the inability of any of their batsmen to stay in with Bob Waller, who finished the game unbeaten on 44. An excellent all-round performance from Eagley professional Imran Javed (59 and 6 for 56) ended Farnworth's hopes at Bridgeman Park, although the home side did produce two excellent individual performances from Neil Hyde, who took Eagley's last five wickets for 21, and Shafiq Ahmed, whose innings of 63, like that of Waller, lacked support at the other end.

Eagley's defence of the trophy, however, came to an end in Round Two when, at home to Greenmount, they went out in spite of another half-century from Javed. His 71 comprised more than half of the all-out 136, and Robin Morris added 41 to his 5 for 78 to ease Greenmount through with 19 of their overs unused. A Dave Smith century was the highlight at Walkden, where Horwich lost by 107 runs after further runs from Bennison, Parkinson and Ingram had catapulted the home side up to 246 for 3, the highest total of the 2002 competition. A 4th-wicket stand between Long and White held Walkden up for a while, but Matt Parkinson had the last word with 5 for 31.

Kearsley batted first at Tonge, and whilst it was Dave Leonard's 60 that held the innings together, Shahid Mahboob's uncultured but highly effective 40 proved the difference between the two sides in the final analysis. lan Taylor took 4 for 28 from his ten overs, but, when Tonge replied, none of their batsmen could give Nisar the support he needed, and when the hardworking Akber dismissed him for a fine 75, the writing was on the'Castle Hill wall. Kearsley's pro took 5 for 85, Foy nipped in with three cheap wickets, and in the end Tonge fell 39 runs short.

The narrowest win of the round was that by Westhoughton at Piggott Park. Good bowling by Tim Barrow and Tony Bradley resulted in a joint eight wickets for less than 100 runs, and the visitors were restricted to 160 for 9. Again Darren Preston was in good form, taking 3 early Circle wickets for 24 from his 10 overs, but runs from Rasheed, Ahmed and lain Hill levelled things out and introduced the prospect of a close finish. This materialised thanks to an excellent last-wicket stand between Bradley and Clover which was only ended by a run-out, leaving Circle four runs short of their target with just one delivery remaining unbowled.

The two semi-finals were haunted by rain and seemed to take an eternity before the two finalists were decided. So much so that, at one stage, there was some thought that the Final might well have to be postponed. In the end, however, they were both finished in the nick of time, and it was generally agreed that the two games had been worth the wait. For Kearsley, at home to Greenmount, Simon Thomson's undefeated 63 was as fine an example of a 'captain's innings' as you could wish for. Tom Whittle provided some support early on, but the last seven in the order could only muster 12 runs between them, and a final total of 130 was far below par.

Greenmount were pushed to the limit, though, by the accuracy of Fazal, Foy and Mahboob, and it was only thanks to Jimmy Horrox that the visitors achieved their target. Batting at Number 3, Jimmy was still there to hit the winning runs in the last over of the tie, and his unbeaten 61 was as important to his side as Thomson's had been to Kearsley. For Greenmount Mark Stewart had bowled two superb spells, finishing with 10-1-19-4. The other semi-final at Walkden also went down to the final delivery. It, was a truly memorable game in which the highlights came thick and fast. The home side made what was a poor start by their own high standards, and it needed a rescue partnership between Watson (73) and Ingram (31) to take them up to the respectability of 189. Paul Hart produced the excellent figures of 3 for 27, whilst Abdur Khan went for only 59 runs from his 21 overs and Mubarak Patel removed the dangerous Bennison and Dave Smith at a cost of only 24 runs. Adam Coates was the star of Westhoughton's reply, and so long as he remained at the wicket, his side were in charge of the game. He had hit 65 when he hoisted a pressure catch to Matt Parkinson, but a joint 35 from Hart and Patel kept their team in contention right up to the last ball, from which the win could still have been obtained. It wasn't, and Westhoughton could only look back with something approaching despair at the three run-outs in the middle of the innings which had cost them so dear.

After two such nail-biting semi-finals, it was odds on that the Final, played at Little Lever, would provide something of an anti-climax, and, sure enough, that proved to be the case. Once again bad weather intervened, with the major hold-up coming with Walkden perched fairly precariously, as we thought, on 111 for 6. Had we but known, they already had twice as many runs as they would need! When play was resumed, they owed much to Tony Keays, who played particularly well in company with Bernard Reidy to take the final total up to 147 for 7. The tie was never going to be decided on the Sunday evening, but when play was abandoned for the day, Greenmount were irreparably damaged at 30 for 5. Keays, Parkinson and, particularly Watson, had taken brilliant catches, the bowling had been exemplary in its accuracy, and when the match was resumed on Monday evening there was no way back for Mark Stewart's side. Reidy's three further wickets ensured a Man-of-the-Match award that must have been a close-run thing with Keays and Ingram. each having a justifiable claim.

Greenmount's all-out 47 was the third lowest total in Hamer Cup Final history, and, five days later, as 1 have already mentioned, they were dismissed for 33 at Egerton. The great irony is that these two batting disasters were sandwiched between 230 at Tonge, an excellent victory over Kearsley, 260 for 6 at Astley Bridge, and a comprehensive win over Westhoughton on the last day of the season. They had-done all the right things, then, but not necessarily in the right order!

Greenmount's 2nd XI offered the club some consolation, however, when they reversed the result against Walkden in the Birtwistle Cup Final at the Oval. The home side were given a reasonable start by their version of the 'three W's', Waring, Wolstenholme and Wantling, but then folded in the face of some accurate bowling, in particular that of Neil Roberts, who took 3 for 15. Greenmount, in turn, were rarely troubled in pursuit of 145, and moved to a convincing 8-wicket win with the bulk of the runs coming from skipper Dave Willetts and Man-of-the-Match Ian Senior, who both ended the match undefeated on 42 and 43 respectively.

For much of the season it had appeared that Dave Willetts' side would win a third championship for the club. They led the table throughout the second half and, with two games remaining, stood one point ahead of Kearsley, themselves league-leaders earlier in the year. But it all went horribly wrong in their penultimate match against Astley Bridge, when Ian Wainman and Paul Burton ran through them for 79, leaving a simple task for Astley Bridge in general and Steve Entwistle in particular.

Kearsley's win at Tonge, meanwhile, left them in the happy position of requiring just two points from their final game at home to Heaton. These were obtained with -some ease before the tea-interval, and although Kearsley went on to lose the match, their bowling bonus points had assured Greg Tonge's side a fifth and well-merited Howarth Cup. Theirs was a genuine team triumph. Six batsmen, Steve Marsden, Anthony Fisher, Steve Pellowe, John Mather, John Alker and Greg Tonge himself hit over 300 runs apiece. Wicket-keeper Paul Gregory contributed 30 victims, which won the League Prize, and 298 runs, whilst Chris Lomax, as ever, headed the list of bowlers. His total of 60 wickets was only bettered by Astley Bridge's Waininan and Burton, and by Social Circle skipper Dave Rushton, and Chris was well supported by the Mather brothers, Marsden and Simon Mort, who combined to take 136 reasonably cheaply.

Walkden's Phil Waring was the leading batsman in 2nd Team cricket. He ended his season just four runs short of 1,000, taking the League Batting Prize together with that for the Highest Individual Score, 130 against Tonge. The Greenmount pair, Chris Crawford and Dave Willetts, won the Bowling and Catching Prizes respectively, whilst lan Edwards' 8 for 56 early in the season at Little Lever was the Best Bowling Performance in 2nd Team cricket.

In what was generally a lean season for batsmen only two, other than Waring, topped 600 runs. Ian Wilcox hit 823 for Eagley and Steve Entwistle 756 at Astley Bridge, and both of them featured in the annual inter-league game against the Central Lancashire League. The match was played at Greenmount and resulted in an excellent win for the Bolton League who had been asked to score 190 for victory. Chris Lomax and Stephen Holt each took three wickets before the tea-interval, Holt's coming in a ten-over spell for just 19 runs which reduced the visitors to 38 for 3. Two stands of over 50 took the final total to 189 for 7, but the Bolton League produced two partnerships of their own which eventually proved conclusive. Skipper Ian Edwards and Steve Entwistle added 58 for the 2nd-wicket, with Entwistle's 58 the highest individual score of the match, after which Ian Senior and Dave Rushton made the game safe, coming together at 144 for 6 and taking the home side to within two runs of victory before Senior was dismissed. The series now stands at one win apiece with the other match tied, and has developed into an annual event eagerly anticipated by both leagues' players and officials.

The senior Inter-League season got away to the worst possible start with a complete washout in Round One of the M.E.N. Trophy competition. The game, held at Greenmount, was decided on a bowl-off, and, thanks to the accuracy of Phil. Ingram, Paul Rayment and Tim Barry, the Bolton League side moved towards the next stage at the expense of the Lancs County League. The semi-final, however, proved to be the end of the road. It was played at Milnrow against the Central Lancs League who, batting first, reached 187 for 9. All of the League's bowlers performed well on what was a true batting wicket, with lan Taylor's 4 for 20 from 10 the pick of the bunch.

At 80 for 1, with Steve Parker and Dave Morris well-established, our reply appeared to be going according to plan, but then both batsmen went together and no-one else was capable, on the day, of the partnership that would have put us back into a winning position. lan Taylor (25) and Will Halton played well in a last-wicket stand, but it was too little and much too late to have any real impact on the eventual outcome, a 24-run win for the C.L.L., their first win over the Bolton League for 25 years.

At the end of July came the 32nd Trinity Cup match, played in near perfect conditions in front of a large crowd and beautifully stage-managed by the Darcy Lever club. The Association batted first, and runs from Bhazid Khan, Arindam Sarkar and Rob Faulkner took the final total to an all-out 189. At one point it seemed as if a score of around 230 was on the cards, but three middle-order wickets from Robin Morris, together with economic spells by Adil Nisar and Andy Taylor, pegged the home side back at exactly the right time.

The League made a bad start, losing Dave Morris and Paul Stafford for 14, but after Nisar had steadied things a little, a stand of 70 between Robin Morris and Rayment put their team back in control of things. A bit of welltimed aggression from Sajid Mahmood and Phil Ingram brought the target closer, and when the winning runs were scored Paul Rayment's unbeaten and imperturbable 53 had been vital to the League's cause. Robin Morris's 57 and 3 for 39 took the Man-of-the-Match award, and now the Trinity moves on to Farnworth Social Circle with the League holding a commanding 20-10 lead in the series.

The Thwaites LCB Trophy competition, which was to end in such a memorable fashion for the Warburtons Bolton League, began on a rainy May 19th with, for the first time, seven of our clubs in action. Sadly, two of them, Walkden and Astley Bridge, had been drawn together in Round One, and that tie, along with four of the other five, was decided on run-rate, although in fairness, the Bolton League side in each of them was in a commanding position when the weather stepped in.

At Walkden, Mike Bennison's 89 was the main cause of Bridge's downfall, although Will Halton was unlucky to be on the losing end, having taken 2 for 22 from his 10 overs. Dean Eckersley also hit 89 as Circle went through at Dukinfield's expense, and Westhoughton had Pilkington, Coates and Mark Atherton to thank for their 234 for 7 against Skelmersdale, who were on 80 for 5 when the run-rate rule came into play. Tonge, too, were well oii the way to victory against Blackburn Northern, having hit 76 for 4 from only 12 overs in reply to the Ribblesdale League club's 118. Ian Taylor (3 for 17) and Jon Kerrigan (49 not out) were the main men, as were Chris Monks (43) and Fazal Akber (45) for Kearsley. They took part in an Sth-wicket stand which saw their side exceed 200 against Norley Hall.

Eagley were the only club to win 'properly', squeezing through against Liverpool Manweb by just one run. Gary Prendergast, Glen Carruthers and Javed all took wickets to contain the home side to 111 after Javed had hit 32 of Eagley' s 112. The Dunscar club's good form continued into Round Two, when they overcame Winton in a low-scoring game in which the economical bowling of Brent Richards and Gareth Monk proved important. Walkden, in pursuit of 157, recorded a last-over win against Padiham thanks to half-centuries from Matt Parkinson and Doug Watson, and Kearsley were offered the easiest of all routes into Round 3 when Woodhouses conceded the tie!

The remaining three were all decided, and lost, as the result of bowl-offs as Tonge, Westhoughton and Farnworth Social Circle lost 2-1, 4-1 and 4-3 respectively to Little Hulton, Blackpool and Leyland. Tonge, the holders of the trophy, must have felt particularly hard done by, having hit 218 when the bowl-off was decreed.

Our three remaining clubs continued to be plagued by bowl-offs in Round Three. Kearsley, at 128 for 2, were well on the way to a match-winning total when the rains came, but justice was perhaps done when Great Eccleston were beaten 2-1. Eagley were spectacularly unfortunate to lose a bowl-off to Chorley after having been in total control in the context of 'normal' cricket. They had made 161 for 3, with 11 overs still left for Imran Javed to move to his century and beyond when the weather closed in . Tim Wallwork had hit 43, and with the Pakistani professional unbeaten on 86, a total well in excess of 200 could conceivably have been on the agenda.

Our final representatives, Walkden, comfortably disposed of neighbouring Little Hulton by six wickets, after the Association side had been bowled out for 112. Watson, Dave Smith and Parkinson completed the task after Walkden's main five bowlers had shared the wickets economically.

The Northern League provided the quarter-final opposition for both Walkden and Kearsley. Kearsley, faced with a potentially difficult game against eight-times winners of the competition, Blackpool, batted superbly to put the tie well out of the seasiders' reach. Steve Davies was the main contributor, sharing a 125-run 2nd wicket partnership with Simon Thomson, who hit a half-century. Davies was eventually dismissed for 117, but a rapid 40 from Darren Foy took the final score up to 257 for 4. Only a mid-innings stand between Croft and former Circle player Chris Barrow allowed Blackpool to post a respectable total in reply, with Foy's 4 for 37 restricting them to 168 all out.

Walkden enjoyed an equally resounding triumph at Chorley. Batting first, they reached 202, thanks largely to Doug Watson's 74 and Phil Ingram's undefeated 38 before bowling the home side out for 135. Two wickets apiece for Ingram, John Smith, Reidy and, not wanting to be left out of things, Mike Bennison, did the damage, and, as they moved into the semi-finals, local speculation about the possibilities of a local meeting at Old Trafford began to grow.

For the semi-finals the opposition switched from one Premier League to the other, that from Liverpool. Both our clubs were given home advantage by the draw, but that became academic as, yet again, the weather had the final word, condemning both matches to be decided by what amounted to probably the most important bowl-offs in each club's history. Our bowlers held their line and their nerve, those from Ormskirk and Bootle didn't, and Kearsley and Walkden were set to contest the Old Trafford Final in what was to prove one of the most prestigious days in the League's history.

On winning the toss, Mike Bennison would have had no second thoughts about batting first, although he alone knows what his thoughts were an hour or so later when his fellow batsmen were, if not exactly crumbling around him, not batting particularly well. In the face of some very good Kearsley bowling, especially that of Fazal, Bennison alone stood between total collapse and the possibility of ultimate triumph. To cut a long story short, he moved to an unbeaten century, exactly 100 not out, reached during the final over of an innings in which none of his colleagues could muster 20.

Let's try to put matters into even clearer perspective. Of the 256 runs scored from the bat, he scored 100, whilst the other 21 players, many of them very fine league batsmen, and all of whom batted, averaged just over seven runs apiece! If ever Kearsley needed two batsmen to settle in and build a partnership it was now, but Bernard Reidy, back home, you might say, produced a superb nine overs in which he took 2 for 12, dismissing Davies and Tom Whittle, two of the more capable batsmen in the Kearsley side. Simon Thomson looked the part until at 25 he fell victim to Matt Parkinson, who then proceeded to run through Kearsley's middle order, taking 5 for 28, figures, which, on any other day, would have been the stuff of Man-of-the-Match awards.

Towards the end of the innings, Fazal and Mel Whittle showed some of the spark that had been missing, but Walkden weren't to be denied, and appropriately it was left to John and David Smith, survivors of Walkden's previous losing appearance at Old Trafford, to take the last two match clinching wickets. The following day, after the dust had settled, I sat down and wrote these two paragraphs for the Bolton Evening News, 'After it was all over, I couldn't begin to imagine how Mike Bennison must have felt after having hit an unbeaten century on a Test ground against his club's traditional rivals, the only one in the Final of this competition so far as anyone can remember, to have been hailed as Man-of-the-Match and, eventually, to have captained his side to victory in such a prestigious game. I also tried to imagine how Kearsley captain, Simon Thomson must have felt, having just had all his hopes dashed, but that, too, was beyond my comprehension. What 1 do know is that Mike and Simon, their two sides, and the host of supporters from both clubs brought nothing but credit to the Bolton League.' Those words were written six months ago, and 1 can't improve on them now.

Three weeks later, the whole thing was recreated, on a slightly smaller scale, at Little Lever, when the same two sides met in the Lyddon Trophy Final. Again Walkden batted first and fairly raced along to 188 for 6 from the 20 overs at their disposal, one of the highest totals ever recorded in this 26-year-old competition. This time it was far from a one-man show as Ingram, Bennison, Dave Smith and Reidy all made significant contributions. Kearsley, who had beaten Bradshaw by seven-wickets earlier in the day, suffered a disastrous start, losing Foy and Mahboob, Bradshaw's semifinal tormentors, inside the first three balls of the innings. Steve Davies hit an undefeated 50 and Tom Whittle 25, but Parkinson, Reidy and Bennison all took cheap wickets as Kearsley finished on 119 for 8, leaving Phil Ingram to receive his Man-of-the-Match award and WalkAen to collect their fifth major knock-out trophy in the space of a calendar year.

Their success continued at Bolton School Sports Centre in January, when they carried off the Anthony Axford Indoor Trophy for a fifth consecutive year. Having disposed of Greenmount, Horwich and Bradshaw in the early rounds, they clashed with Astley Bridge in a re-run of the previous year's Final. Bennison (52) and Parkinson (41 not out) contributed the lion's share of their 147, and in spite of an unbeaten 40 from Anthony Clegg and Phil Watkinson's 27, the Bridge finished 26 short. Parkinson took 2 for 33 to clinch the Man-of-the-Match award, whilst for skipper Mike Bennison this latest success means that in his career at Heaton, Tonge, Egerton and Walkden, he has now been on the winning side in 11 Indoor Finals spread over 22 years, a record which speaks volumes.

Both Walkden and Astley Bridge went on to compete in the LCB Indoor Finals at Old Trafford and, perhaps inevitably, met yet again in the Final. Bennison, Ingram, John Smith and Rob Slater all made substantial contributions, to a score of 142 for 2, and in reply Bridge, leaning heavily on Halton and Watkinson, fell 38 runs adrift of their target. It was Walkclen's third successive Lancashire Indoor title, and in winning it they had averaged 152 in the six matches up to and including the Final. A win over Derbyshire's champions, Alvaston & Boulton, put Walkden into the North of England Finals, with Ingram's bowling stint perhaps the major factor.

At Old Trafford two weeks later, Walkden defeated first Coseley CC, champions of Staffordshire, and then, in the Final, Lincolnshire's top team, Bracebridge CC, to become the first team from the Bolton area ever to qualify for the National ECB Finals at Lords. On the day they were particularly indebted to John Smith for some excellent all-round cricket, to Phil Ingram yet again for two fairly unplayable spells, and to Bennison for a batting rescue act in the semi-final. Walkden's consistent success rate indoors comes as no real surprise. They play with athleticism, a high ability level and a tactical awareness which, when combined, will always provide a major headache even for the most talented of opponents.

Generally speaking, there are two kinds of inhabitants in the Bolton League. There are those who flit around from club to club, often picking up a bob or two on the way, and then, when their playing days are numbered, devote their spare time to golf, bird-watching, line-dancing or whatever!

Then there are those who remain loyal to one club, at which they stay, playing, working, committeeing and generally putting back into the game more than ever they took out. One of the latter breed is Kearsley's Frank Thomson, father of Paul and grandfather of Simon, who, at the League Presentation Evening was honoured was the Hubert Pendlebury Memorial Award for services to the League. 

Frank started his playing career during the 1930's, as a batsman who enjoyed playing his shots and a cover-point fielder whose arm you took on at your peril. Apart from one season at Farnworth Social Circle he played all of his cricket at Springfield Road, and when he stopped playing he started working. Now, at an age when most men are happy just to sit around watching the cricket, Frank is still working on the ground, something he has been doing without any fuss, year in, year out, for as long as most people can remember. It is on unsung heroes such as Frank that the Bolton League depends for its very existence, and he was a noteworthy winner of the annual award.

In this article last year I was highly critical of the behaviour of players and expressed the hope that in 2002 the Disciplinary Committee would not see too much of each other. Thankfully, they didn't, which, hopefully, is a step in the right direction.

My most difficult task when faced with 'Looking Back' each year, is to find a different way in which to express my thanks on the League's behalf to all those people who offer that unstinting support, financial or otherwise, which is so vital to the clubs' and League's well-being. Last year I went all informal with the use of christian names, so this time round it's thanks to the Mr Axford's, senior and junior, to Mr Elmore and Mrs Barlow, to our keepers of the trophies, Mr Potter and Mr Smith, to Mr Sandiford for his immaculate ball-control, and to Mr Taylor, who I note with guilt that I have never previously mentioned in this respect. I, more, than most, should have some inkling of the amount of graft a League Secretary gets through in 12 months. Thanks Ray.

Our gratitude, too, to umpires and scorers, groundsmen, tea ladies, junior team managers and club and League officials, all of whom give so freely of their time.

Finally, this is the third League Handbook which has displayed Warburtons logo on the front cover. We feature it with pride, with our thanks, and in the sincere hope that the partnership will flourish in the years ahead.