League Review - 2003

By Peter Stafford (March 2004)    Back

The 2003 Bolton League season was not without a touch of irony. On the surface all appeared to be in good working order. Our flagship teams, the Inter-League side and champions Walkden, performed almost flawlessly. Dave Morris's team beat four other leagues to win the MEN Trophy and the Trinity Cup, whilst Walkden, with Mike Bennison at the helm, became the first club to retain the Thwaites LCB Cup for twelve years.

But below that glossy surface the League encountered problems, mainly those of non-fulfillment of fixtures at 2nd XI and junior level. There were, too, the usual quota of discliplinary incidents, some more unsavoury than others, all of which provided a sad contrast with the more positive aspects of the game as described in the first paragraph. These are not problems, I hasten to add, that are restricted to our own league, but nevertheless they do provide questions that need answering, the sooner the better.

At first team level, it wasn't long into the season before Walkden began to stake a serious claim for the title. After eight games they had opened up a 20-point cushion over their closest rivals, Westhoughton, and by mid-August the gap had increased to an insurmountable sixty points. On June 22nd the eventual champions had lost at home to Astley Bridge, a setback that only served to spur them on to a 12-match sequence during which they took 235 points from a possible 240, a run which included a record ten consecutive wins.

On September 6th they travelled, ironically enough, for their return fixture against Astley Bridge, knowing that just one point would clinch their tenth league title. Walkden batted first with their immediate target the 130 that would assure them of their championship. But for once their batsmen toiled. In the face of some excellent bowling from Dalugoda and Steve Holt, the firsteight players to lose their wickets had contributed only 57 runs between them. Fortunately Matt Parkinson was up to the task, as he was so often last season when a crisis loomed, and he batted through the remainder of the innings for an unbeaten 66. At the other end Bernard Reidy carried on where he had left off at Old Trafford a fortnight previously, and it was his huge six over mid-wicket that secured the necessary bonus point and with it, the title.

Their final three games, during which they conceded over 300 runs to Greenmount and lost to Kearsley, provided something of an anti-climax, although a last-day win over Farnworth produced two further records, the highest-ever points tally (425), and a 91-point margin between first and second-placed clubs. Curiously enough, their only three defeats of the year, two in the league and one in the Hamer Cup, all occurred at home, whilst in the 17 matches played away from the Oval they were undefeated.

The main reason for their success is not hard to fathom. A brief glance at the League bowling averages (and a slightly longer time involving a calculator!) reveals that Walkden's five bowlers, Smith, Smith, Reidy, Ingram and Parkinson, between them took over 200 wickets at the ridiculously low combined average of 14.5 runs apiece. The eminently watchable Michael Klinger and skipper Mike Bennison together hit 1,874 runs at a joint average of 52. Keays, Ingram, Sam Reidy, Hinks, and especially Parkinson played well when required to do so, and Bernard Reidy came with a late splurge, averaging 40 over his last five innings, although if anyone had told you before the start of the season that David Smith would have finished 66th in the League batting averages, you'd have had them certified! He did provide compensation with the ball, however, winning the League Bowling Prize thanks to his 61 cheap wickets. On the batting front, it goes without saying that someone will suffer, sooner rather than later.

Westhoughton stuck gamely to their task, but four defeats from six matches in late July and early August, the last of which was against Walkden, proved the end of the road, and they had to be content with the runners-up spot for the third time in six years. They had enjoyed splendid form in June and July, chalking up eight league and cup wins which included a 568-run spree in one weekend against Eagley and Bradshaw. Professional Dwayne Smith had an excellent first year in the League with 950 runs and 57 wickets, and when he ended his season with 128 at Little Lever, little did we realise that his next century to come to our notice would be for the West Indies in his maiden Test! Mike Crookson's productive all-round form proved to be something of a mixed blessing as it persuaded Standish to sign him as their 2005 professional. 

Greenmount added third position in the League to their Hamer Cup Final success, and once again they were indebted to Robin Morris, whose 1,010 runs and 75 wickets must have given Wade Wingfield a run for his money in the Professional's Prize stakes. As ever, he was backed up well with the ball by Mark Stewart, and Gary Chadwick's huge recovery of form following two very ordinary seasons brought him two centuries in his final total of 736. But among the amateurs it was Egerton's Gary Garner who set the standards in run-scoring. By the halfway stage he was past the 600 mark, and his final 1,001 tally found him comfortably ahead of Mike Bennison and Paul Rayment, whose excellent form for both club and league resulted in 943, a mere 60 runs short of the Heaton amateur record held by Gary Garner! Rick Northrop was outstanding in a disappointing season for 2002 champions Tonge, who didn't register their first win until the second week in June. In addition to his 32 victims, Rick hit 883 runs, 420 of them coming from his last six innings at an average of 140, which went a long way towards the late recovery by the Castle Hill club that ensured the small consolation of the Special Competition. Adil Nisar completed 1,000 runs for the second consecutive year, and Safwaan Ismail looked very much the part. hitting almost 600 runs in his first full season at senior level. Elsewhere David Morris and Grant Long were reliability personified at Bradshaw and Horwich respectively, the 'other' David Morris was Kearsley's leading run-scorer in a fairly ordinary season for the Springfield Road club, and Farnworth Social Circle's Quasir Rashid's day of days against Farnworth left him stranded on 198 not out, just ten runs short of a new League amateur record. His team-mate Zeshan Khan came even closer to a new club professional batting record, when his 792 left him just a single run short of Rod Estwick's 1995 figure. 

Rashid's monumental innings did, however, help provide his club with a new record. that for the highest team total in a league game. On that day Farnworth Social Circle amassed 366 for 3, to which Farnworth, on the back of Chris Barrow's aggressive 106, replied with 222 for 8, thus creating a new all time high run-aggregate of 588. Headline-making records such as this usually last for a fair amount of time. Little Lever's previous top figure, 325 for 3, had stood for 16 years. Circle's lasted for just 14 days! At Astley Bridge, two weekends later, it was overhauled by Kearsley, for whom Dublin, Morris and Chris Monks each donated a half-century towards a new record of 369 for 9.

Other than those already mentioned 7 paid players (of the official variety!) who caught the eye were Bradshaw's South African Wade Wingfield, who became the club's eighth recipient of the Pro's Prize with 997 runs and 74 wickets, David White of Horwich, who, in terms of airfare and accommodation must be the cheapest pro in England, maintained what is becoming a seasonal average of 877 and 67, and Chuck O'Rourke, whose 818 runs and 44 wickets comprised only part of his value to the Eagley club. The rest lay in his superb coaching of, and encouragement to the younger element at Dunscar. Little Lever's professional, Sajeewa DeSilva produced satisfactory figures (740 and 56), but received insufficient support from the remainder of the attack for the club to make any real headway. On the bowling front Narendra Hirwani's 94 wickets took his Heaton tally to 284 in his three years at Lower Pools. Ian Taylor, who started the season with an eight-wicket performance against Greenmount, ended up with 63 in all, and Fazal Akber ended his four-year stint at Kearsley with 78, giving him a final total of 311. But the most successful bowler in terms of dismissals was Astley Bridge's Amal Dalugoda, whose fourth wicket on the season's last day, that of Aaron BartonWells, took Amal's final figure up to the magical hundred, which stood nicely alongside his 687 runs. The Sharples Park pro had bowled well in tandem with Will Halton, who took another 60, and together the pair became the 31st in the League's history to share 160 wickets for the same club in the same season, the only other Bridge partnership to achieve the feat being Cec Wright and Ray Eccleshare in 1974. Sadly, of course, Will is off to (professional) pastures new, and everyone in the League wishes him well in his career move.

On a generally high-scoring opening day in the 2003 Hamer Cup competition, Farnworth Social Circle were the only side to feel the draught, when they were dismissed for a paltry 72 by Tonge, for whom Ian Eccleshare took 4 for 28 and Adil Nisar an incredible 4 for 0 from 20 balls. It was quite a day for Nisar, who earlier had hit 102 out of Tonge's 228 for 8. The only other all-round performance to come close to that of Nisar was achieved for Heaton by Hirwani, who contributed 70, as did his captain Paul Rayment, towards his side's 258 for 4, and then took 6 for 55 as Little Lever struggled to an all-out 135. The closest game was that at Egerton, where Tony Keays' unbeaten 38 saw off Egerton with two balls to spare. Garner and Nigel Hallows jnr had each hit half-centuries in the home side's 178 for 5, against which David Smith, Klinger, Parkinson and Bennison all played well early in the reply before the late, late show came from Keays.

Eventual cup-winners Greenmount were pushed hard by Bradshaw. Morris and Stewart took all the visitors' ten wickets between them as Johnson. Ward, Evans and Dave Morris each put together medium-sized scores to help Bradshaw up to 163. The home batsmen paced their reply sensibly, with Gary Chadwick's 47 the top score before Stewart hit the winning runs with three wickets and seventeen balls in hand. Against Farnworth, Astley Bridge's huge total of 283 for 9 had more or less assured a safe passage to Round Two by teatime. Tim Barry hit 79 and Danny Guest 53, with lesser contributions coming from Dalugoda, Steve Entwistle and Jimmy Dakri. Tim Barrow top-scored with 59 in Farnworth's reply, whilst Matt McGuiness's unbeaten 52 later in the innings against his former team-mates was a valiant effort but, in the final analysis, too little too late, as the Bridgeman Park side ended the game on 213 for 8.

In their home tie against traditional rivals Harwich. Westhoughton became the fifth team on the day to exceed 200. Dwayne Smith, who led the way with 43, received good support from Pilkington, Atherton and Rick Parker as they moved to 204 all out. A third wicket stand between Long and White, each of whom reached the 40's. threatened to take the honours, but a vital three wickets from Mulbarak Pate] swung the advantage Westhoughton's way, and the run out of Andy Taylor signalled the end of Harwich's hopes with 20 runs the difference at the end.

In Round Two Westhoughton made further progress at the expense of Kearsley at Springfield Road. When the home side batted first Steve Dublin carried on where he had left off in the league game at the Tyldesleys during which he hit 77. This time it was 83 as Kearsley totalled 179. Darren Preston, with 4 for 24 from his 10 overs, was the pick of the bowlers. After Akber had taken three early wickets, it was a match-winning-4th-wicket partnership between skipper Stave Parker (70) and Adam Coates (51) that carried the day, and after Dublin had dismissed both main run-scorers Atherton and Rick Parker saw their side home. Tonge's victory at Eagley could have been filed under 'Walkovers'. Only O'Rourke stood between the Tonge attack and total disaster. He scored 44 out of 98, with Ian Taylor returning the remarkable figures of 17-9-11-4. Nisar (67) and Ismail (28) knocked off the required runs at an unhurried four per over. Astley Bridge left it late at Lower Pools, where, having restricted Heaton to 157 for 9, they took exactly 49 overs to reach their target with three wickets left intact. Tim Barry enjoyed an excellent all-round game against one of his former clubs, hitting 47 after having taken three Heaton wickets for 18. For the losing side Mark Mort added another 40 to the 45 he had hit in Round One. The tie of the round was that at Walkden, who entertained Greenmount. The home side batted first, and only 55 from Mike Bennison saved them from something of a rout. When last-wicket pair John Smith and Bernard Reidy came together the total was barely over the 100-mark, but Reidy, not for the last time in 2003, probably thought to himself 'Crisis, what crisis?' as the two of them added 50 for the tenth-wicket to boost the final score to a more respectable 169 for 9, with Reidy four short of a much deserved 50. Sadly for Walkden, however, it was all to no avail. Greenmount's innings was, to all intents and purposes, the story of one batsman's domination. Faisal Lones, coming in following the fall of two quick wickets, stayed to see the game won, hitting an excellent and undefeated 85 out of 170 for 7 with no other batsman able to reach 20. Stuart Leach helped Lones add the final few runs after having taken 2 for 6 from seven overs earlier in the game.

The two semi-finals were played at Greenmount and Sharples Park, and while the two home clubs eventually progressed into the Final, there would have been plenty of doubts and misgivings along the way. At Brandlesholme Road, Westhoughton racked up 235 for 7, nine times out of ten a winning total. Seven of their batsmen made telling contributions with Alan Gaskell's 58 and Adam Coates' 35 giving impetus to the early part of the innings. Mark Atherton's unbeaten 43 included 20 from Robin Morris' final over in which the professional went for three consecutive sixes, not something that happens every day of the week. Greenmount lost Andy Bowker for 11, but then came one of those match-defining moments when Gary Chadwick, still on nought, was 'caught' off a no-ball! He went on to a brilliant 114, adding 150 with Robin Morris, who was still there on 66 when the final over began with seven runs still required. A six and a four
were all that Morris needed to leave Westhoughton cursing their luck and Greenmount contemplating their second consecutive Final and their sixth in all, only one of which had been won. At Sharples Park Astley Bridge made the worst possible start, losing a wicket to the game's first delivery. Their subsequent recovery was largely due to Paul Tebay, who hit 49 before over estimating his speed between the wickets, and to Dalugoda and Halton, whose stand of 73 steered their side to the respectability of 187 for 9. An opening partnership of 91 between Nisar and Ismail seemed to have cleared the way to a Tonge victory, but when Halton bowled Nisar for 65, the game's character changed. Dalugoda whittled away the middle order, taking 5 for 54, and,when Tebay had the last word (as is his wont!), bowling David Barlow to end the game, the visitors were still 17 runs in arrears with ten balls left unbowled.

Whilst the previous rounds had produced.32 individual scores of 40-plus, that target proved too many for any batsman in a Final that was dominated by the two bowling attacks. Andy Bowker and Gary Chadwick opened up with a stand of 55, easily the tie's highest partnership, after which the bowlers took centre stage for the rest of the day. Tim Barry's fine spell resulted in 4 for 24 from his ten overs, and Halton kept things tight, with the result that at one point 14 overs went by without the ball once crossing the boundary line. Danny Guest was at his superb best behind the wicket, and in their last 37 overs, Greenmount could only raise a further 102 runs for the loss of nine wickets. 

When Astley Bridge went in, looking for their first-ever Hamer Cup success in 75 years, nothing much happened until Ryan Senior was introduced into the attack. In his ten overs the young off-spinner completely altered the direction of the Final, taking the first four wickets to fall at a personal cost of just 18 runs. Barry, batting with a runner following a ham-string injury tried desperately to bring his side back into contention, but when Fallon brought his brave innings to an end for 23, it was also the end for Astley Bridge. Morris bowled an economical 23 overs at the Main Road end, a refreshed Stewart came back at the other to take the last three wickets, and yet again, for for the fifth time, a team from Sharples Park had been thwarted on the Final stage. Little wonder, then that at a subsequent League Meeting when the Hamer Competition was under discussion, Ron Fallows put in a plea that the Cup be loaned to his club .... 'just so we can see what it looks like!' Ryan Senior was correctly adjudged the Man-of-the-Match. He had changed the course of the game, which is what Men-of-the-Match do. The whole thing had been beautifully stage-managed by the Kearsley club. Everything had been right. The weather, the large crowd, the wonderful atmosphere, everything, as the Bridge followers would tell you. except the final outcome!

When the season came to an end, Ian Senior's 2nd XI at Greenmount had added the Howarth Cup to the club's silver collection. Halfway through the campaign Little Lever had led the table with ten wins from their first fourteen matches. but then a spectacular collapse saw them slide down to a final tenth place with no further victories and a mere 14points accrued from their last twelve games. The second half of the season developed into a titanic struggle between Bradshaw and Greenmount, with Astley Bridge a short distance behind, and the last programme of matches arrived with Bradshaw two points ahead but with a tricky match in the offing at Sharples Park. Greenmount duly saw off Farnworth Social Circle, but Bradshaw stumbled at the winning post when a seven-run win for the Bridge resulted in Greenmount being crowned champions for the third time.

That it had been very much a team effort was underlined by the fact that none of their batsmen exceeded 400 runs and only one bowler, Neil Roberts, managed more than 25 wickets. Roberts' total of 63 was third only to the 65 taken by Astley Bridge's Ian Wainman and Dave Rushton at Piggott Park. However, the combined efforts of Chris Crawford, Ryan Senior and Craig Dootson resulted in a further 63 wickets at a joint cost of only 11 runs apiece. Two of the League's five batsmen to top 600 runs were Eagley players, Ian Wilcox and Steve Whittaker, whilst the other three, Anthony Fisher, Darren Mullineux and Steve Pellowe, shared each others company in the Birtwistle Cup Final which ended in a 23-run win for last year's champions, Kearsley. Pellowe took the Man-of-the-Match award for his 79 out of 203 for 9, against which Farnworth Social Circle foundered after Roberts and Coop had shared a 3rd-wicket partnership of 89. Their last seven wickets went down for just 35. however, to give Kearsley a second Birtwistle success. The first was back in 1981, when Neil Hamblett's side won a league and cup double, and one player, Chris Lomax, featured in both last season's team, and also in that of 22 years ago.

In the 2nd XI Inter-League side's annual game against the Central Lancashire League played at Crompton. the home team came out on top after having hit 229 for 9. In reply Bradshaw's Neil hart's 56 kept the Bolton League in with a chance of victory, and late runs from skipper Steve Dickinson, Dave Rushton and Neil Roberts took the total over the 200-mark, but when the final over had been completed the local side were still 18 runs short of their target. One Point of interest was that the last wicket to fall in the match, that of Rushton, was taken by Heaton's professional of 27 years ago, Geoff Greenop.

The senior Inter-league side enjoyed a season of unbroken success. In Round One of the MEN Trophy the Northern Premier League were our guests at Egerton, where rain earlier in the day eventually reduced the match to 20 ovens per innings. Despite economical bowling spells from Jon Fearick and Paul Rayment, the Northern League posted a not inconsiderable 166 for 6 which, it was generally felt, would take some getting at 8 and a bit per over. Garner, Kerr and skipper Morris contributed 69 between them at around six an over, after which the game became a oneman show. Jon Kerrigan was probably the only batsman in the Bolton team capable of the mayhem that was required if the tie was to be won. He didn't let anyone down, and when the winning run was hit there were still eight deliveries remaining. The bare statistics were these. 50 in 19 balls - 90 in 34 - eight sixes and five fours - game done and dusted in half an hour! In the match as a whole, 114 runs came in six-hits, and the overall run-rate worked out at 8.5 runs per over. It was an event that will live forever in the minds of those present, and all credit to Jon Kerrigan. 

An even greater run-feast lay ahead in the MEN semi-final, albeit at a less hectic pace. Batting first against the North Lancashire League at Furness CC, the League owed a huge debt to Paul Rayment, and only a slightly lesser one to Neil Johnson. Rayment shared an opening stand of 91 with Mike Ward, and another of 55 with Dave Morris, before finally being dismissed for a potentially match-winning 81. Kerrigan weighed in with a quick 22, but it was Johnson who then took control, hitting 53 as he steered the Bolton side to 268 for 8. Tim Barrow and the two Taylor's, lan and Andy, shared eight wickets, and when the home side finally capitulated the difference was 62 runs. The Final, played at Bridgeman Park against the Ribblesdale League. was again dogged by pre-match bad weather, but thanks to sterling work from the Farnworth club the game was only reduced by 3 ovens per side. The visitors owed a lot to Ian Scothern, who batted through their innings for 72. Will Halton and David Morris (the Kearsley variety!) bowled well, taking five of the six wickets to fall fairly cheaply, and the Bolton target was 177. During the afternoon word was received of the death, that same day, of Frank Baldwin, and whilst the League's success later in the day was greeted with elation, that deeply sad news put the whole thing into some sort of perspective. Westhoughton skipper Steve Parker had been the early hero in Bolton's reply. His 53, together with 31 from David Morris (the Bradshaw variety!), held the innings together and kept their side in the game. Matt Parkinson. batting at sever, looked similarly in control, but the loss of Johnson, Fearick, Evans and Halter, all of whom went cheaply, put the Ribblesdale tails up, and when Tim Barrow came in at Number 11, there were still another ten runs needed for victory. Tim, of course, with a first team fifty and 355 league runs to his credit, was a Number 11 in name only, and he and Parkinson together calmly knocked off the required runs with four balls of the last over remaining. Parkinson was toasted as Man-of-the-Match, presumably just ahead of Parker, and the League's players were able to celebrate a sixth triumph in this competition. 

Fifteen days later came the Inter-League side's fourth and final challenge, the Trinity Cup match, played on bank Holiday Monday at Piggott Park. The Bolton Association made a poor start. losing Andy Griffiths and Arindam Sarkar on 17, both to debutante Dale Jones, who went on to produce his team's best bowling analysis, 3 for 28 from ten overs. Bazid Khan steadied the innings, however, and his 66 was half responsible for the visitors' final all out total of 227. The other half was provided by lan Critchley, whose undefeated 56 was largely responsible for the addition of a further 64 runs after a mini collapse had seen his team faltering on 163 for 8.

The league's reply started unconvincingly. Parker and Klinger only managed 33 between them after which skipper Dave Morris and Nisar took the total up to 87. The Tonge pro's dismissal was followed by that of Robin Morris, and when the other two Morris' also went in quick succession the home side had slumped to 112 for 6 with the whole thing having taken on the appearance of a bridge too far. And so, with another 116 runs required for an unlikely victory, Matt Parkinson was joined by Jon Fearick. To cut a long story short, this is how I described the ensuing partnership in the following Saturday's Evening News - 'Parkinson's match-winning stand with Jan Fearick was as good as it gets. played by two young players with old heads on their shoulders. It was a sensible combination of sound defence, good shot selection and brilliant running between the wickets, which reminded me forcibly of the decisive partnership of fifteen years ago at Atherton between Paul Berry and Mike Bennison. I can bring to mind no higher praise than that.

Parkinson collected his second inter-league Man-of-the-Match award. He will almost certainly win others in the future, but never will he have to work harder and dig deeper than he did for this one. The Bolton Association must have been mortified to have to concede the trophy after having had one hand on it. So much so that I almost felt sympathy for one of my closest friends in the game. BDCA President Tom Boardman. Almost, but not quite!

Only one of our seven participating clubs fell at the first hurdle in the Thwaites LCB Competition. Almost inevitably it was Tonge, coming as the tie did in the middle of their horrendous start to the season. Andy and Rick Northrop each topped 30 in a score of 141 for 7, and fan Taylor bowled well in his second spell , finishing with 3 for 17, but Great Eccleston scraped home by one wicket with three balls remaining. Harwich enjoyed a comfortable 41 run win against Denton West as Grant Long led from the front with 69 not out and 4 for 29. Walkden's home game against Penwortham turned into one of those mis-matches which resulted in the two sets of Leagues, amateur and professional, being split into different competitions within the LCB. Klinger and Dave Smith were the leading run-scorers in Walkden's 196, which proved far too many for their opposition. 

Kearsley enjoyed a particularly meritorious home win over Northern CC of the Liverpool Premier Competiton. In a game of reduced overs, Simon Thomson's side hit 121 for 6. and in reply Northern were soon on the back foot after losing two quick wickets to Fazal Akber. They were then pegged further and further back by Marcus McCheyne and Russell Jamieson, who shared five wickets for less than 50 from their 12 overs, and when Steve Dublin took their final wicket they were still 32 away from their target. Astley Bridge won at Moorfield, who were bowled out for 157, largely thanks to 5 for 19 from Will Halton. Dalugoda hit 57 and Steve Entwistle an undefeated 36 in the Bridge's three-wicket victory.

Greenmount progressed comfortably at the expense of Ainsdale, and Bradshaw even more comfortably when Croston CC conceded the tie, giving the Rigbys club a walkover into Round Two. In the second phase Horwich made further inroads by beating Rainhill at home. Long, White, Steve Woods and Chris Benbow all got runs in Horwich's 174, after which White's 5 for 28 ensured a 24-run victory. Astley Bridge were unfortunate to be drawn against Read, champions-to-be of the Ribblesdale League, and at teatime found themselves facing a total of 277. In spite of a substantial partnership between Dalugoda (69) and Halton (44), they lost out in the end by 79 runs.

An opening stand of 144 by Andy Kerr (74 not out) and Wade Wingfield (83) set Bradshaw well on the way in pursuit of Stretford's 183, a target they eventually achieved with 7 wickets in hand. The weather forced the two sides into a 'bowl-off' at Greenmount in which the home team's bowlers proved more accurate than those of Kearsley, whilst Walkden disposed of Glossop to move towards what promised to be a more testing game at home to Kendal in Round Three.

Testing it certainly was, with a mere five runs separating the two sides when a decisive 3-wicket burst from Dave Smith ended Kendal's innings and hopes with only four balls of the tie left unbowled. Bennison's 83 had led the way when Walkden batted, with Parkinson (45) and Ingram (39) providing fine support as their side hit a match-winning 225 for 7.

A century opening stand between Bowker and Horrox, each of whom topped 60, was the main ingredient as Greenmount came out on top in the all-Bolton League clash at Horwich. A good spell from Chris Benbow (4 for 24) put the brakes on, but a final total of 223 for 7 proved 50 too many for the Railwaymen. Grant Long top-scored for the third time in the competition, this time with 45, but the required support from the remainder of the Horwich batsmen was, on this occasion, not forthcoming.

Bradshaw, batting second at home to Blackpool, were faced with 224 to win. Their reply was never really up to the required run-rate, and once Morris and Wingfield had gone, so, realistically, had the team's chances. At that point Mike Ward suddenly unleashed a barrage of fine shots which took him to 82, but it was all too late to make much difference to the result, a 34-run win to the seasiders.

The quarter-finals found both Greenmount and Walkden on their travels, Greenmount to Ormskirk and Walkden with the rather shorter journey to Hindley to face Hindley St.Peters. Walkden enjoyed an 8-wicket win, although to achieve it necessitated a 192 run-chase. Michael Klinger (81) and Dave Smith (56) were the only two batsmen dismissed, after which Bennison saw his side home with an undefeated 48. 

After winning the toss, Greenmount didn't do themselves any justice with the bat, being bowled out for 160 after a promising partnership between Morris and Chadwick had ended sadly with both batsmen dismissed a touch controversially. An unbeaten half-century from David Snellgrove saw Ormskirk home by 7 wickets despite a fine bowling performance from Ryan Senior (1 for 11 from 9 overs) which presaged a similar one in the Hamer Cup Final two weeks later. Sadly, the defeat also denied Greenmount the chance of a semi-final date with WaIkden which, in the middle of a spell during which they had won nine out of eleven games, they would have relished.

As it was. Walkden instead travelled to Ormskirk for the last calling point before Old Trafford. They made better use of the excellent batting surface than had Greenmount, none moreso than Klinger and Bennison, each of whom hit 85 in a final total of 228 for 5. Sam Reidy was Walkdeng s best bowler, taking 4 for 26, whilst dad was in typically mean mood at the other end, going for only 15 from his nine overs. When John Smith bowled Ormskirk's last batsman to signal a return to Old Trafford, the run difference was 86.

In the event the Thwaites LCB Final was delayed by 14 days due to the tragic death of opponents Wallasey's wicket-keeper, Kevin McCullagh, during a Liverpool Echo Knock-Out match 48 hours before the original set date, August 17th. And so, on the 31st, Walkden fielded first, faced with the opportunity of becoming the first club since Blackpool in 1990 to retain the Trophy. After an opening stand of 43, Wallasey's wickets fell at fairly regular intervals with only their Test professional, Paul Strang, able to make any real impact. He hit 53 out of the final total of 162 for 7 with, as ever, Bernard Reidy the most economical of the five bowlers with one wicket, that of the dangerous Rob Turnbull, for 22.

All looked well for Walkden when, following the early loss of Dave Smith, Klinger and Bennison confidentaly took the reply into the 70's. It was then that disaster struck, as a further six wickets went down for only a handful of runs. Sam Reidy hung around for a while, scoring 23, but when John Hinks joined Bernard Reidy at 111 for 8, all appeared lost. What followed will quite simply go down in the folklore of the Walkden club for many years to come. With Reidy the dominant partner, the pair slowly, oh so slowly, inched towards their target. Fingernails grew shorter by the minute. A huge Reidy six into the Washbrook stand released some of the pressure, and after what seemed to be an eternity, the last over arrived with six runs required, and then the last ball, with one still needed. Reidy stood up and hit the ball back over the bowler's head for as straight and relief-filled four as could be imagined. His unbeaten 39 spoke for itself and, of course, he was made Man-of-the-Match by adjudicator Andy Hayhurst. But don't let's forget John Hinks' part in all of this. Never looking like getting out, and appearing, on the surface at least, calmness personified, he had played the supporting role to absolute perfection. In conversation with a Walkden supporter after the game, I queried what might have happened had one of the pair got out. 'Not a problem,' he replied, 'We still had Smithy'. He'd 'ave seen it off!' Such was the mood of the day, he probably would have, too!

What I didn't mention earlier was that when Blackpool retained the trophy back in 1990, they did, in fact, manage a third consecutive win in 1991. So, Mike, that's the target for 2004.

Three weeks later Walkden added the Lyddon Trophy to their already well-stocked cabinet. On Finals Day at Little Lever they overcame Bradshaw fairly comfortably in the semi-final before beating the host club by 31 runs in the Final. Matt Parkinson picked up his third Man-of-the-Match award in six weeks following a fine all-round performance in the Final.

For a variety of reasons there is very little to report this year on the indoor scene. After just one day's play in the Anthony Axford Trophy the competition had to be abandoned at the understandable request of the Bolton School Sports Hall officials who had discovered that the sticking tape necessary to keep the mats from moving around had damaged the new floor that had recently been laid. Thus only two matches, in which Horwich and Farnworth Social Circle respectively beat Farnworth and Kearsley were played. Walkden, as last winter's LCB Indoor champions, and Astley Bridge, as the result of a draw, went forward to Old Trafford for the Lancashire Finals. After Bridge had disposed of MSJ Combined with some ease, they met Walkden, winners over Rapide CC, in the Final. Matt Parkinson hit 50 not out and John Smith 23 in the champions' total of 120 for 5, against which Astley Bridge collapsed dramatically to an all-out 37, thus providing Walkden with their fifth consecutive LCB Indoor Trophy. Two weeks later, however, Walkden themselves were beaten in a play-off for a place in the Northern championships by the top team from Staffordshire, Newcastle & Hartshill. David Smith hit 41 of an all-out 70, to which the Staffs team replied with 71 for 2.

At the Presentation Evening held in October at the Albert Halls, two men received well-earned recognition for their long and meritorious service to the Bolton League. 

Egerton's President, Brian Fairclough, was awarded the Hubert Pendlebury Memorial Trophy to honour a career in the League that began at Longworth Road in the third team during the 1940's.Following a short stay at Bradshaw between 1952 and 1957, Brian returned to Egerton where he captained the Ist Xl in 1965 and 1966, and by the tirrie of his retirement in the late 70's he was the eighth highest run-scorer in the club's history. Off the field he served for many years on the committee, was League Representative for a spell, and, on the sad occasion of Len Scott's death in April last year, Brian was elected as Len's successor. He has also stood as a highly-respected umpire since 1982. Over the years he has been a credit to his club and league, and the award to this most popular of men was most appropriate. John Roberts became the 24th elected Bolton League Life Member, and that he should take the place of his club colleague and friend. Frank Baldwin,is also wholly appropriate. John's long career in the game as League player, county cricketer, club professional, League official and highly qualified coach, has been well documented, and his contributions both on and off the field have, over the years, been hugely appreciated around the clubs. At the League's February meeting his colleague for many years in the organisation of junior cricket, especially at Under-18 level, Jack Ashton, took John's place on the list of League Vice-Presidents, and that honour, too, has been hard-earned over the years.

Finally, our gratitude is due to all those people who contribute so much to the Legaue year in and year out. To club and League officials, to groundsmen, umpires and junior team managers. and of course to our League sponsors, Warburtons. If this annual vote of thanks should ever appear to become glib, repeated as it is in handbook after handbook, I can only assure you all that it isn't. It really is heartfelt, especially in these times when the upkeep of clubs and leagues is becoming more difficult by the minute, both financially and in other respects. Rest assured, all your efforts on our behalf are most sincerely appreciated.