Chairman's Report - 2001

John Hutchinson (March 2002)

Firstly, I must apologise for the brevity of this report. Unfortunately, since I took up my second career as a racecourse bookmaker 1 seem to be working the proverbial 25 hours a day, and there is little time left for writing reports and the like. At least it will mean that Horwich C.C. lst X1 do nol get me as umpire every match this coming season ~ I will only be able to do them every other week instead!

The 2001 season proved to be a mixed one for our inter-league teams at junior level. The Under-18 XI performed well, thanks largely to the batting of Mark Atherton and Gareth Carson, reaching the Final of the M.E.N. Competition. In a tense and remarkably close finish at Astley Bridge, the team lost out by one run to the Central Lancashire League. Nonetheless, it was a notable performance and there is no doubt that players such as Atherton, Carson, Halton, Dickinson and Booth will become key assets at their respective clubs in the years to come.

The Under-15 Xl, on the other hand, had a disappointing season, losing in the first round of the Michael Roche Competition and going out at the group stage of the North West Under-15's tournament. Although it was difficult to field a settled side during the season, there is no doubt that the team under-performed despite the excellent leadership provided by Horwich's Martin Ainscough.

The Under-13 representative side had a mixed season, winning the Gerrard Trophy series against the Bolton Association, but being unexpectedly defeated by the South Moorlands League in the semi-final of the Peak Sports Competition. There was a fine range of talent at Under-13's level in 2001, encouraged and fine-tuned by Messrs Dearden and Fairbrother, and this can only be good for the future of Bolton League cricket.

At this juncture, may I pay tribute to the hard work of our inter-league managers John Roberts, Jack Ashton, Mike Buckley, Richard Dearden, David Fairbrother and Peter Smith during what was a particularly trying season in terms of weather and clashes of fixtures. They all worked hard to ensure that matches were played and that everything went smoothly on match days. Theirs is a thankless task, and we should all be grateful that we are able to rely on dedicated volunteers such as these in the development of young cricketers in the Bolton League.

As always, many thanks to the various League umpires who officiated in junior matches in the 2001 season. Their commitment is much appreciated.

On the domestic league front, 2001 proved to be quite a season for Bradshaw Cricket Club, who became the first club ever to win League Championships at Under-18, Under-15 and Under-13 levels in the same season. This is an outstanding achievement for any club and, in this case, due reward for the hard work of the junior coaches at Bradshaw led by Mike Buckley. Many congratulations to all concerned.

Having a reduced spread of trophy-winning clubs this year compared to last, meant that Breightmet Labour Club wasn't quite so packed for the Annual Presentation Evening (but not far off!) although a thoroughly enjoyable evening was had by all. Congratulations to all those players talented enough to win individual performance awards during the season. Well done also to all those players who were selected to represent the Lancashire Cricket Board at various age-levels during the season, and to Tim Rees and Nick Woods who continued to progress through the full England set-up. Nick deservedly was voted our Young Player-of-the-Year for 2001, Tim having won the trophy in 2000. This was unfortunate for Astley Bridge's Danny Guest, who would have been Player-of-the-Year in any 'normal' season, having become one of the very few junior players in the Bolton League's history to be selected to represent the full senior Inter-League team.

Although this caused quite some controversy at the time in view of clashing fixtures with the Under-18 inter-league team, it was undoubtedly a richly-deserved honour both for Danny and for the Astley Bridge club.

Unfortunately, the withdrawal of Georgia-Pacific as the sponsor of the Bolton Cricket League has meant the cancellation of the School of Excellence for 2002. We are, however, very hopeful that our friends from Warburtons will be able to provide funding to reintroduce the School in 2003.

In the meantime, a group of junior league officials, including Mike Buckley and Richard Dearden, has been working hard with Jim Kenyon of the L.C.B. and officials of the E.C.B. to produce a strategy document called 'Vision', which sets out a potential way forward for the future development of junior cricket in Bolton.

'Vision' incorporates many good ideas, one of which, the organisation of a formal course for junior team-managers, will take place as early as April of this year. An initiative such as this can only be successful if is supported by all of us within the League. I hope that it will be.

Finally, may 1 make an appeal to any players within the League who are interested in taking up coaching to attend an E.C.B. Level 1 Course as soon as possible. We desperately need more qualified cricket coaches in Bolton active ones, that is, not those who get the qualification just to improve their C.V.

We need more people like Michael Fletcher, Jon Partington, Paul Tebay, Nigel Partington, Alex Newby and Jonathan Mills - young coaches with fresh ideas and real commitment. Please help us out if you possibly can.