Chairman's Report - 1998

John Hutchinson (March 1999)

The 1998 season at junior level, as at all levels, will probably best be remembered for the effect which the extraordinarily wet weather had on the various league programmes and cup fixtures. Indeed, at Under 13s level, with matches being played on Sunday mornings, several clubs had as many as four matches cancelled or abandoned because. of rain! Let's hope for better things in 1999, but, if we are unlucky again, please umpires - DON'T let matches start in the rain!

At inter-league level, the Bolton League's Under 18 XI reached the final of the Manchester Evening News competition, defeating the North Lancashire League and the Bolton Association along the way, key performances coming from Paul Atherton (58 not out against North Lancs) and Philip McDermott and Tim Barrow, who scored 53 not out and 63 not out respectively against the Bolton Association.

The final was a tense, low scoring affair which went eventually to the Northern League by a margin of two wickets. In the Annual Brian Hollows Trophy match at Farnworth Social Circle, the Bolton League Under 18s defeated the Bolton Association for the fourth year in succession, this time winning by four wickets with four balls to spare. The key performers for the League were Richard Sellars (67), Bobby Horrocks (4 for 33) and Chris Barrow (3 for 25).

The League's other representative sides again performed well in 1998. In particular, the Under 15 XI gained ample compensation for a Michael Roche Trophy defeat at the hands of the Bolton Association by beating the Association by 53 runs in the annual Derek Slater memorial match at Astley Bridge. The key performances for the League were a fine knock of 73 from Walkden's Karl Bates and a fine spell of off-spin bowling by Astley Bridge's William Halton, who took 4 for 10.

Meanwhile, the Under 13s XI took all before them, defeating the Bolton Association by two matches to one in the annual Teddy Gerrard Trophy Competition, and winning the North West Peak Sports Inter-League Competition at the first time of asking.

The Under 13s Peak Sports victory was highlighted (or should it be 'lowlighted'?) by a fortuitous win over the Central Lancashire League in the semi final. The original fixture, held at Astley Bridge, was abandoned due to rain with the Central Lancs side in a winning position then the same thing happened in the re-match at Radcliffe CC, although this time the rain came at the tea interval!

In a farcical 'bowl-out', which took place in heavy rain following some 'interesting' verbal exchanges between some of the spectators and the Bolton League management team, the Bolton League won by a score of 1-0 (from 11 attempts each) - not really an advertisement for straight bowling! In the final, held at Hawk Green CC near Marple, the Bolton League comfortably defeated the South Moorlands League from Stafford by a margin of 91 runs. Although the team's success was not down to any one particular player, there were a number of key performances during the season, notably Tim Rees' belligerent innings of 95 and 137 against the Lancashire County League and the Cheshire County League respectively. Alex Durm's crucial three wickets in the final leg of the Gerrard Trophy at Egerton and half centuries from Nigel Hallows and Tim Rees in the Gerrard Trophy matches and from Adam Rodzoch in the Peak Sports Trophy final. Also we should not forget the excellent wicket-keeping of Daniel Guest, who was on song throughout the season and remains a first class prospect in that specialist position.

In last year's Chairman's Report, I commented that 1 would not expect the Inter-League teams for 1998 to be quite so strong as last year" - wrong again!

On the League front, Farnworth Social Circle Under 18s won the Jake Tatlock Trophy for an unprecedented fifth year running, defeating Westhoughton in a low-scoring and nerve-tingling final at Piggott Park. The man of the match was Social Circle's Craig Nicholls, who turned the game with a devastating spell of leg spin, taking 5 for 12. Congratulations are due to manager jack Ashton, who has taken charge of all five of those Cup winning teams - it will be interesting to see how the team performs under rookie manager Christian Walsh in 1999.

The Under 18s League Competition was won by a highly consistent Astley Bridge side, closely pursued by Horwich CC. Congratulations to both clubs. The Under 15s Competition was won, for the second year running, by Astley Bridge, with Egerton emerging as creditable runners-up. The Mervyn Porter Trophy was won by Walkden CC, making a welcome return to success at junior level, in a one-sided final at Horwich.

Surely, the successes of Walkden and Horwich in 1998 - two clubs who were really struggling at junior level until quite recently - will be a spur to others to devote more time and effort into their junior sections. The rewards are there to be had - if you don't try, you don't get!

The Under 13s League Championship was shared between Little Lever and Farnworth Social Circle, both clubs finishing with identical playing records.

In the two Cup competitions, Little Lever defeated Horwich in a close final to lift the Harrison Cup, whilst Farnworth Social Circle lifted the Arnold Sharples Memorial Trophy at Egerton CC.

The Arnold Sharples Competition will be the subject of a new innovation in 1999, when it will 'double up' as the Bolton League section of the Lancashire Knockout Competition. Other notable changes for the 1999 season are as follows:

- Under 18s League matches will be played on Wednesday and Thursday evenings, with Under 15 XI fixtures transferring to Monday evenings.

-  Under no circumstances will a player who has kept wicket in a match be allowed to bowl in the same innings (or vice-versa).

-  Dave Clitheroe replaces myself as Under 13s League Secretary, though not necessarily as team manager for the Bolton League representative side. The team managers will be appointed by the various selection committees at a later date.

At Under 11's level, which remains a voluntary competition, the Frank Hinks Senior Trophy was deservedly won by Bradshaw CC, defeating Farnworth Social Circle in the festival final, again splendidly hosted by Walkden CC on August Bank Holiday Monday.

The new innovation of the Bolton League School of Excellence, which was introduced in 1998, has proved to be extremely successful. The most recent school took place in March 1999, and was a stimulating and enjoyable weekend for all concerned, be it the 18 invited players, the coaches, league officials or representatives of our generous sponsors, Fort James (UK) Limited.

As part of our ongoing commitment to introducing new junior players to the game of cricket, we are hoping to receive Sports match funding for the creation of two Summer Schools, which will be aimed at youngsters from local schools who are not necessarily members of cricket clubs. Let's hope that our application is successful.

As usual, the Bolton League provided a large number of players for the various Lancashire teams at junior level in 1998.

These included:

Under 13s

Tim Rees (Astley Bridge)
Nigel Hallows (Farnworth Social Circle)
Daniel Guest (Astley Bridge)
Martin Ainscough (Horwich)
Adam Rodzoch (Tonge)
Andrew Kerr (Tonge)

Under 14s 

Tim Rees
William Halton (Astley Bridge)
Adam Lawson (Little Lever)

Under 15s 

Mark Atherton (Westhoughton)
Karl Bates (Walkden)

Under 16s 

Chris Barrow (Farnworth Social Circle)
Daniel Rees (Astley Bridge)
Chris Evans (Bradshaw)
Under 19s 

Richard Sellars (Westhoughton)
Philip McDermott (Eagley)
Paul Atherton (Westhoughton)
Chris Barrow (Farnworth Social Circle)

In addition, Tim Rees represented the North of England at Under 13s level. Congratulations also to Egerton's Jonathan Mills who represented Lancashire Under 19s in 1997, but whose name was inadvertently left out of my report in last year's handbook. Sorry Jonathan!

I am sure we are all looking forward to an equally successful season in 1999. Most of all though, in the words of Jim Kenyon - enjoy your cricket!