Chairman's Report - 1991

Ray Taylor (March 1992)

For our junior inter-league teams, 1991 was our least successful ever, with just one victory and four defeats. Despite 91 from Kearsley's John Ratledge, our under 18 team was beaten in the first round of their knockout by the Northern League by a comfortable five wicket margin.

Following a first round victory, our under 15 team was also defeated by the Northern League, with Astley Bridge's Richard Northrop, top scorer with 38. Our under 13 team was twice convincingly beaten by a superior Bolton Association, who now take a one match lead in the Gerrard Trophy matches.

The third team championship was taken by Eagley with a comfortable nine point margin over runners-up Greenmount. Led by Adrian Cooper, Eagley were a strong all-round side. Most notable performances were a century for Andrew Pendlebury, and two seven-wicket hauls for Paul Blake. Greenmount took their revenge in the Jake Tallock K.O. final at Eagley, whose Stuart Leigh was named man of the match. Three Greenmount players, Gary and Philip Neville and Matthew Moy were regular first team members during 1991.

Two years ago Heaton won the under 15 championship, and with substantially the same squad of players performed the same feat in 1991, this time winning the Mervyn Porter K.O. also. Four of their team represented the Bolton League; captain Stephen Hall, Nick Holt, John Hull and John Whittle, who also scored over 500 runs in the second team. Runners-up, Tonge, plus Astley Bridge and Egerton all made Heaton fight hard for their title win, with Egerton being our representatives in the later stages of the Lanes K.O.

In the Mervyn Porter final, Heaton's all-round strength eventually proved too much for Farnworth, who put up a brave fight, despite losing a couple of early wickets. Nick Holt was made man of the match for his half century and four wickets.

The under 13 league was an excellent contest with as many as seven teams still in with a chance with only four matches left. Egerton, after losing the opening league fixture remained undefeated to take the title with a two point lead over Walkden. Two of the Egerton team, captain Stuart Horriby and Paul Stafford along with Farnworth SC's Howard Farrow played second team cricket for their clubs.

1991 was a disappointing year for Heaton, who finished fifth, their lowest placing for some time. Since the competition began in its present form in 1984, Jack Taylor's sides have been easily the most successful in terms of league placing with only Bradshaw anywhere near them.

An excellent but low scoring final between second and third placed Walkden and Farnworth SC was won by the former, with the result in doubt until the last ball of the match. Walkden's Chris Morris was made man of the match for his 25 runs and excellent wicket-keeping. The outstanding bowling performance was four wickets for one run by Egerton's Nazir Rajob whilst Bradshaw's Robbie Edmundson became one of the few players to score a half century in the allotted four overs.

For the second consecutive year Egerton reached the under 13 Lancashire K.O. final at Old Trafflord, but as the original date was washed out, ended up playing a week later without their three County players. To make matters worse, the revised final coincided with a Harrison Cup tie with the almost inevitable outcome of defeat in both matches.

Once again the season was played in a sporting manner without any disciplinary incidents. A number of our junior players represented the County: Jason Kerr (Tonge), Wayne Luntley and John Ratledge (Kearsley) and Matthew Taylor (Horwich) at under 19 level; Craig Duxbury and lan Kelly (Bradshaw) under 16; Stephen Hall (Heaton), Philip Neville (Greenmount) and Greg Clough (Westhoughton) under 15; Keith Webb (Greenmount) under 14; Stuart Hornby and Paul Stafford (Egerton) under 13); Nazir Rajab (Egerton) under 11. Three players who took part in Bolton League junior cricket in the late '80s, Karl Krikken, Warren Hegg and Ronnie Irani are all making good progress in County cricket.

John Hutchinson will become under 13 secretary in 1992 with Jeff Small taking over as under 15 secretary following the death of Derek Slater. Derek had been involved in junior cricket for over 10 years, and will be missed by everyone who knew him.