Whilst Bolton League junior representative teams have had more than their fair share of success in recent years, 1984 was outstanding in that none of the five teams were defeated in the nine matches played. Due to the inclement weather towards the end of the season, the Under- 18 team was unable to play the L. C.A. Cup Final against the Ribblesdale League, and this will, hopefully, be played early in the 1985 season. On the way to this Final the Under- 18 side beat the Lancashire & Cheshire League and the Bolton Association, both with some ease. Captain Lee Sutton, Graham Hill, Wayne Harper and Alan Gaskell all scored a good number of runs in the games, whilst Hill, David Parkinson, Paul Shaw and Gary Jakeman took most of the wickets. It is interesting to note that three of the four are spin-bowlers. During the season the Central Lancashire League were also beaten in what we hope will become an annual fixture.

 The Under-15 team, for the second successive season, won their competition at Old Trafford, thanks largely to a fine unbeaten half-century from captain Phil Warren in a rain-affected Final. In the earlier rounds the South Lancashire League was accounted for despite an early batting collapse on the Bolton players part. Warwick May and Ian Settle led the recovery with a century partnership, and the S. Lancs batsmen had no answer to the bowling of the Heaton pair, Eric Shaw and Colin Fort. The serni-final was played at Chorley against the Lancashire Colts, a representative team which appeared to encompass the Lancashire League. Northern League, Ribblesdale League and several other minor leagues. In reply to the Colts 197 in their 40 overs the Bolton League began slowly, but by the halfway stage the required run-state was increasing rapidly. A quick 30 from May gave Paul Berry the necessary impetus, and he went on to take Bolton to the brink of victory before being run out for a fine 97. The later Bolton batsmen continued the quick scoring, and from a seemingly impossible position, victory was secured with two overs to spare.

 In the three friendly matches David Parkinson, Steven Charnley and Ian Settle respectively led the Under-17, 16 and 14 teams to victory against opposition from the Blackpool Palace Shield and the Salford Youth League.

 Third Team Cricket

 It was hardly surprising that Westhoughton were League Champions and Jake Tatlock Trophy winners for the second successive year, as, with one exception, the same players were on duty as had won the double in 1983. Captain Graham Hill was, by 1984, an established first team opening batsman, whilst his brother fain and Stuart Harrison were also members of the club's senior team, with Michael Allison, Andrew Woods and wicket-keeper Martyn Seddon also making occasional appearances. Runners-up Walkden were led by another established first-team player, Alan Gaskell, who was well backed-up by Paul Berry and Paul Rushton, each of whom scored a lot of runs at second and third team level. Walkden just pipped Horwich for second place, whilst the latter club was beaten for the second consecutive year by Westhoughton in the Tallock Final. David White, Mark Knowles, skipper Peter Litherland and wicketkeeper Martyn Spencer played the greater part of the season in the first eleven, and as all are available again in 1985, Horwich must start as favourites for honours.

 Bradshaw, too, must be anticipating a good season in 1985, after having led the third team table for a high proportion of 1984, only to fade significantly towards the end of the summer. As is the case with Horwich, Bradshaw have a nucleus of experienced players in captain David Parkinson, Neil Johnson, Jonathan Legg, and David Senior, all of whom have performed well at first team level.

 Karl Krikken's arrival at Astley Bridge should help them improve on a satisfactory top-half position in 1984, as, along with Phil Warren, Krikken will be expecting to score a lot of runs, although the loss of Duncan Gleaves and Mick Skinner will affect the team's chances. Greenmount will also be hoping for good things, with Neil Earing having proved that he is capable of taking wickets and scoring runs at first-team level.

 The loss of Wayne Harper and Leon Reynolds at Kearsley, Michael Fletcher at Little Lever, Lee Sutton at Farnworth, Peter Cross at Heaton, and Chris Lord at Farnworth Social Circle, will considerably weaken their third teams, as all are very good senior players. However, each of those clubs have a sufficient number of younger players to enable them to perform reasonably in the coming season. These include Peter Morris, Jonathan Garstang and Erie Shaw, all of whom made first team appearances in 1984.

 In David Roscow and Mark Heath, Tonge have too good slow bowlers with first-team experience who also performed well at junior level in 1984, whilst Eagley and Egerton both have very young sides who can be expected to play together for g few more seasons.

 Under-15 Cricket

 The 1984 season was almost completely -dominated by two clubs, Walkden and Heaton, although Kearsley were in with an outside chance of the championship right up to the final couple of matches.

 When Heaton entertained Walkden in the last match of the season, the home team were already one up, having defeated Walkden in the local Gwilt, both of whom represented the County during the year. Several other young players around the League had good seasons, including the previously-mentioned Ronnie Irani, and Mick Booth of Egerton, who also played second team cricket. Steven Davies and Ian McClellan of Kearsley, Mike Ward of Bradshaw, Eagley's Martin Seddon and David Sandiford of Heaton all made good progress during 1984, some of them being young enough to play U-13 cricket in the coming season.

 Sadly, last season none of the Bolton League teams were able to progress in the N.C.A. competitions. With the games due to be played around Bolton Holidays, Westhoughton found themselves unable to raise a side. Little Lever, who took their place, Astley Bridge U- 1 3's and Heaton U-15's were all unable to win their knockout matches against clubs from other leagues.

 Bolton Junior League Committee 

During 1984, the Bolton League Junior Committee, which had operated on a more occasional basis in previous years, was organised on a more firm footing to run junior cricket. Meetings were well-attended by club representatives during the year, and generally, the competitions ran smoothly. Particular thanks are due to those representatives, as they are to the club's other team-managers and groundsmen, who coped so admirably with the extra burden of more and more cricket at all levels.

 The Committee would also like to thank the Committees, groundstaffs and ladies of Kearsley, Westhoughton, Farnworth Social Circle and Bradshaw, for organising and running the Inter-League fixtures played on those grounds with such efficiency.

 Finally, the Lancashire and Bolton Committees are pleased to announce that local shop, Kay Sports, will be sponsoring the Inter-League Knock-out fixtures in 1985 and, hopefully, in future years.