3rdXI Review Of The Season

Reviewing the 3rdXI is never the easiest thing to do. After all, the idea of the 3rds is to be a development side that bridges the gap between junior and senior cricket. A side that gives an early taste of senior cricket for juniors and offers the opportunity of a game to some senior players who might otherwise not get a game. Any kind of success in terms of trophies is viewed as a bonus and the real measure of success is seeing the youngsters develop and progress on to the main two senior sides. So how do we view the 2024 season? Well, in every sense of the word it was a success with the icing on the top of the cake being a first 3rd XI trophy since 2006.

Inevitably the 3rdXI season often feels bitty as games are shuffled around to accommodate 1st or 2nd XI games and as such there can be big gaps between fixtures, so, as we will see the fixtures were somewhat sporadic over the season and frustratingly badly affected by the weather.

As with the other senior sides it didn't get going until May. Just two fixtures were to be played and the second of those v Little Lever was cancelled due to the rain! The only match played in the month was actually a quarter final tie in the Beardsley Cup in which we defeated Bradshaw by 31 runs at Chew Moor. Jameel's 57 and 44* from Harry helped us post 179 and then Kish took 4/17 to bowl them out for 148 in reply in an innings that saw only Holt (71*) make double figures!

June started with a disappointing defeat at Tonge where, having bowled them out for just 71 we collapsed to 51 all out in reply. Star of the show with the ball was young Daniel Croston who took 5/12 and then just his dad Stephen with 20* made any sort of progress with the bat. Next up was a league game v Bradshaw that was abandoned with our score on 26-0. The final game of the month was to be the cup semi final where we gained a hard fought 4 wicket win over Little Lever. The home side made a handy total of 150 with Tom Mills taking 4/30 before we collapsed to 14-5 & then 43-6. A win looked a long way off but an unbroken stand of 110 between Reece (57*) and George J (58*) saw us through to the final. 

July proved to be our busiest month with 5 ganes pencilled in, and started with a heavy loss at Atherton who beat us by 57 runs after posting a total of 193-2. In reply only Arron P (29*) and Stephen (23) showed up with the bat. Next up were Horwich RMI and in a game reduced to 20 overs we again lost heavily - this time by 9 wickets. George H's 30 helped us post 100-7 but RMI had few problems knocking that off. Highfield were next up and this game saw a welcome return to winning ways with a 40 run success. Aaron B (60) and Reece (38) helped us reach 153-6, and then Kai Manchester with 4/2 including a hat trick and Daniel (3/13) bowled Highfield out for 113 to give us a welcome boost before the cup final. 

RMI were firm favourites to come out on top in the final and batted first at Chew Moor and with Murray making a 2nd successive 50 against us they reached 154-8 despite Harry taking 3/25. In reply Ajay anchored the innings as he carried his bat for an invaluable 38* and good knocks from George H (33) and Jameel (34) took us to a deserved first 3rd XI trophy for 18 years. A fitting reward for Harry and his young team for all their enthusiasm and efforts over the season. Ironically we had also been due to play RMI in the league and, unlike in previous years where one game has counted in both competitions, this year it was decided that the game be cancelled as a draw.

The rest of the season became badly disrupted by the weather and August saw the return game v Bradshaw again cancelled and the other two games resulting in one win and one loss. A strong Little Lever side gained revenge for the cup defeat with a 69 run win after posting 234-9 with Kai chipping in with 3/48. Aaron P's unbeaten 47 was the only real highlight of our 165 in reply. The only other game in August saw us take revenge on Tonge with a 45 run success at Chew Moor. George J with 64* and Kish with 49 were the main contributors to a total of 181-8, and then an unlikely bowling duo of Sam Barlow (4/23) and George J (3/9) bowled Tonge out for 136.

September turned out to be something of a washout with the only completed game being a 20 over match v Sutton where the win secured our top division status for next season. The initial game v Sutton was washed out and then in a 20 over game Harry (64), Ajay (21) and Reece (21*) helped us to make 119-2, and 2/9 from Finley helped restrict Sutton to 90-7 in reply. Another cancelled game v Atherton and then an abandoned match v Highfield where they had reached 81-2 made for a disappointing end to a reasonably successful season. 

As I said right at the start of the review 2024 was a season that ticked all the boxes that we wanted to tick and more! Skipper Harry deserves a lot of credit for the way he's organised and run the side and the time and work he's put in at the nets with the youngsters, and it wss good to see that rewarded with the bonus of a trophy. Many of the youngsters have made their mark on the team and indeed quite a few have also made an impact on 2ndXI games too. A season spoiled only by the weather in truth.    

2ndXI Review of the Season

 As the 2nd XI started the season the main aim was to ensure that we finished high enough in the league to ensure that we would start 2025 in the middle one of the proposed three 2nd XI divisions for next season and maybe if luck was with us go one better than our defeat in the 2023 cup final.

As with the 1stXI the start of the season was delayed by two weeks and so it was to be the first week in May before we finally took to the field but, unlike the 1stXI they got off to an absolute flier with 4 wins out of five during the month. The opening game against Barrowford was a tense affair that saw us set a revised target of 101 in 33 overs and squeeze home with 2 balls and 2 wickets to spare thanks to a 9th wicket stand of 20 between Jake and Daz. Earlier Harry had taken 4/16 to restrict them to 114. Next day we entertained Chatburn in the 1st round of the cup and progressed by a very comforatble 143 runs. Amit (66) & Nikhil (59) set up a total of 197-6 then OBJ took 4/17 in a reply of just 54. The following week saw the only defeat of the month as we went down by a mere 2 runs in the final over v Burnley Belvedere. With 2 overs to go we had two wickets in hand and 3 runs to get but unfortunatley Kish was out for 25 off the first ball of the 44th, and after OBJ had played out the rest of the over Daz was unfortunately caught off the first ball of the last. After a week off, the month ended with a league & cup double header against Eagley. Saturday's league game saw an emphatic 10 wicket as Ste (50*) & Jimmy (35*) knocked off the target with ease. Earlier Harry had taken 5/39 including a hat trick to bowl them out for just 98. Sunday's cup tie followed a similar pattern as Eagley were bowled out for just 88 this time with Harry adding another 4 wickets and then Jake's rapid 29 seeing us to the win. 

Jake's form continued in June as his unbeaten 50 steered us to a six wicket win over Blackrod after Nick's 3/2 had helped bowl them out for 101. The winning run came to a halt though in the next game as we failed to chase down Brinscall's total of 134 finishing some 25 runs short despite Aaron B making a fine 42 after Junaid had taken 5/36 in the Brinscall innings. A rained off game against Kearsley was followed by defeat in the Ramsbottom Cup Quarter Final as high flying Premier League side Read edged home by 2 wickets in an exciting finish in the last over. Nikhil helped us reach 164 with a patient knock of 47 before an unbeaten 51 from the experienced Rushton saw Read to the win despite OBJ taking 3/29. Next up were Tonge and thanks to a fine all round performance from Kish (27 & 5/23) we got back to winning ways with a 3 wicket win. June's final game saw a bit of a drubbing as Baxenden comfortably chased down a DLS target with 9 wickets in hand.

July was to be a good month which saw us win 3 games out of 4 with our only defeat coming at the hands of eventual champions Padiham in a thrilling game by just 2 runs. First up we entertained Whalley and after OBJ had taken 3/27 in a total of 142, Jimmy led his side home with a fine 51. Next up were Padiham who made a useful 169-6 in their allotted overs (Nikhil 3/49) but despite 35 from Jimmy and a valiant last wicket stand Darren was run out going for the run which would have tied the scores. Feniscowles were then comfortably beaten when with us 103-1 chasing 120 we were way ahead on DLS when the rain came. Aaron B was leading the chase on 42 when the game ended. The last game of the month saw a good win at Atherton where Jimmy once again led from the front with his unbeaten 71 ensuring a six wicket win after the home side were restricted to 136-9 by Arron P's 4/45.

August started well as Oswaldtwistle Immanuel were swept away by 105 runs. Jake top scored with 33 as we were all out for 153 before Arron P (4/6) and Daz (4/22) bowled them out for 48 in reply. A week later Earby visited Chew Moor and after another 4 wickets for Daz had helped restrict them to 148, an unbeaten 53 from Ste took us to a 7 wicket win. The following week was a bittersweet one for Daz whose career best 7/23 helped bowl Chatburn out for just 74, only for our batting to disintegrate in reply with a miserable 34 all out. The final game of the month saw another heartbreakingly close defeat as Barnoldswick edged us out by 8 runs. Despite Arron P taking 3/27 Barlick managed to make 173 which proved just enough for the win. In reply Ste made 44 and Aaron B 33 but it wasn't quite enough.

Just the two games were left in September and the first of those saw a comprehensive nine wicket win over Foulridge. Daz continued his fine finish to the season taking 6/12 as our visitors managed a mere 44. Aaron B then added a quickfire unbeaten 30 to finish off the win. The season finale against Walkden ended in defeat as the vistors picked up a 46 run win despite Kish taking 4/24 and Tommy G an unbeaten 30.

In the end then it was mission accomplished as the 2nd team finished in 4th place in the league and had a decent cup run too. So their report card probably merits a B+ overall. Despite the ever changing face of the side through 1st XI calls and other reasons many of the juniors continued to make really good progress.

Individually, Ste and Lucky continue to defy the sands of time and set records galore both in the 2ndXI and the club as a whole. Jimmy despite missing a few games led from the front with 359 runs (plus 8 wickets & 15 catches!), Aaron B underlined his growing promise with 272 runs whilst Ste & Jake also passed 200 runs. With the ball Daz continues to lead the line with aplomb with his 51 wickets the highest for the 2nds since 2009. Arron P underlined his promise with 25 wickets whilst Kish picked up 24 despite an injury hit season. Mention too for Oliver B-J who picked up 14 wickets in another season of progress for him.   

1stXI Review Of The Season

 After the thrilling run at the end of the 2023 season which saw us finish in 2nd place, hopes were high for the 1stXI despite the fact that unfortunately we were unable to retain the services of our pro for the last couple of seasons Akbar Ur Rehman. Akbar's shoes were big ones to fill and that onerous task fell onto the shoulders of his young fellow countryman Muhammed Suleman. 

The season started (eventually after a two week delay due to the weather) without Sully however who was to eventually arrive in mid May and we were forced down the route of sub pro's for the first few games. And it was a chastening start as the champions Little Lever bowled us out for just 34 (acquired at a leisurely 1.13 per over) and picked up a 10 wicket win. To their credit they parked that result and bounced back the following week with a superb 7 wicket win at Farnworth chasing down 194 thanks to sub pro Ankit Sharma and Matt Lamb who made 54 & 53 after skipper James had taken 4 wickets. The following weekend a defeat at Salesbury was followed by a loss in the Lancs KO to Thornton Cleveleys in a game that we played without a pro. A rained off T20 against Astley Bridge was followed by losses to Eagley in the league and then Brinscall in the T20 to round off a thoroughly miserable month of May.

June didn't start any better as eventual champions Blackrod beat us by 10 runs in a low scoring game on a dreadful pitch at Vicarage Road, and then the following day despite 66 from George, a rapid 56* from Jack Richards who was to prove a thorn in our side all summer saw Eagley chase down 174 to knock us out of the Hamer Cup. The run of 7 games without a win was finally broken as we beat Blackrod on DLS in the T20 after posting 141-5 in our innings, and then just like London buses, 2 then 3 came together. The following day Sully's first major contribution of the season (94) saw us post 209-7 v Farnworth SC and then Dave's 4 wickets ensured a 64 run win. Back to T20 the following Friday and despite Richards making his 3rd successive half century we held on for a 12 run win. The mini revival faltered a day later as a brilliant ton by Kearsley's overseas amateur Giroudeaux left us well beaten. The final T20 group game the following Friday at Tonge was a thriller and saw us win on least wickets lost. After Sully's 66 had taken us to 132-4 the Tonge pro Dumindu must have thought he had steered his side home as the final over started with him on 55* and Tonge needing 6 to win. Young Reece had the task of bowling it and the first ball was smashed for 4 by Dumindu. A dot followed and then Reece had him caught behind off the 3rd. Ball 4 saw Thomson cleaned up 1st ball and then ball 5 saw Patel run out. Last ball, 2 to win and Reece held his nerve as they could only scramble one. Ironically we met again the following afternoon and Dumindu extracted a measure of revenge making 101* out of 199-5 and despite 44 from Sam we finished 22 short. Next up was a T20 quarter final v Kearsley that, thanks to a brilliant unbeaten 76 from Sully we managed to win by 3 wickets and secure a place on finals day. The final games in June saw a disappointing 27 run defeat against fellow strugglers Ribblesdale Wanderers  and then, completing a triple header weekend a battering from Padiham to keep us in trouble on the fringe of the relegation zone after Ackerman's 106 had helped them make 275-4.

July also started poorly as defeats by Padiham in a much lower scoring return game (James 4/21) and Little Lever where we at least managed 97 this time sandwiched a vital win over bottom club Astley Bridge to keep our heads above water. A difficult wicket at Chew Moor saw us battle to 115-8 before a superb 6/21 from Robbie bowled the visitors out for 97 in reply. And so to T20 Finals Day and we had been fortunate to have been drawn at home where an absolutely packed Chew Moor saw Blackrod beat Whalley comfortably in the 1st semi final and then we met Ribb Wanderers in the 2nd. Ribb looked like setting a big target but fell away somewhat as Dave picked up 3/15 & Sheeny 2/19 to finish on 116. In reply Dave (50) and Sully (36) raced to 81 before a mini collapse saw 5 quick wickets but Dan stayed calm to secure the win with 16*. In the final Blackrod asked us to bat first but again we got off to a great start adding 61 for the 1st wicket before Dave went for a rapid 43. Sully anchored the rest of the innings superbly with 73* and we posted 151-6. A brief flurry from their overseas Greenidge threatened to turn the game Blackrod's way but once he was out at 95-2 the rest of the innings collapsed to 112 all out with Rob taking 4/14 and Sully 3/8. Finally in our 4th final we could lift the trophy! The month ended with an exciting but disappointing defeat at the hands of Farnworth when in almost a mirror image of the away game despite Sully making a fine 88, an unbeaten 97 from Rodzoch secured a 3 wicket win. 

August started with a cracking game against Salesbury where we fell just 9 runs short of chasing down a target of 203 despite Adam taking 6/43 and both Matt and Sam passing 65. An agonising defeat but in a way it set us up nicely for the following day's ECB Regional Final where we would entertain Carnforth at Chew Moor. Carnforth batted first and with Nelson flying at the top of the order looked like posting a massive total. Once he was run out by some smart fielding from Reece we managed to get a grip and restrict the total to 150-7 as Nikhil grabbed 3 wickets. Nobody was prepared for the fireworks that followed as Sully (99*) and Sam (50*) shared an unbroken stand of 155 to see us home with 3 overs to spare and take us to the Northern Regional Finals Day. Back in the league we suffered back to back defeats against Eagley & Blackrod to leave us deep in trouble particularly as Sully was now returning home early. Farnworth SC were next up and despite having no pro the lads produced one of their best performances of the season to win by 79 runs. Rob was the mainstay of our 170-9 and then Sheeny picked up 5/27 to seal the vital win. The following day a coachload of players & supporters set off to Elsecar in South Yorkshire for the Northern T20 finals. Despite being unable to use a sub pro we put up a good fight in both games where 2 scores over 150 sadly weren't quite enough. George with 66 and Reece 33 were the batting stand outs while Junaid took 4/26 v Ackworth. August's final game saw another disppointing display as Kearsley comfortably beat us by 7 wickets.

So to September and with 3 games left we knew we probably needed at least 2 wins to secure our Premiership place for next season and it started brilliantly as Tonge were swept aside by 7 wickets after James took 6/11 to bowl them out for just 76. Sub pro Tom Scriven then eased us home with 27*. The next game effectively would probably decide whether we or Ribblesdale Wanderers would stay up and having been rolled over for just 80 our prospects looked grim. However a brilliant spell of 6/14 by Sheeny shot them out for just 37 in reply and safety was secured. The final game at Astley Bridge ended in defeat but with a weakened side and a less than serious approach to the game that was no surprise.

How does one assess the season then? Obviously from a league point of view it was a disappointing tail off from the previous one but there were mitigating circumstances. Our pro arriving late and going early didn't help and the various subs that we employed met with mixed success. The weather didn't help, nor did a disappointing number of regular changes to the team through injury or unavailability. Successful sides tend to have a relatively high number of hard core regular players not chop and change every week. On the other hand our T20 success, whilst perhaps a distraction to our league form was well deserved and a fantastic experience for all concerned.

Individually there were still a few highlights. Sully despite his shortened stay managed 941 runs in all games but was slightly disappointing with the ball although his electric fielding was a joy to watch at times. The return of Sam Barlow saw him make over 500 runs and take 31 victims behind the stumps. George started the season strongly but tailed off a little towards the end to finish on 497 runs. Matt had an improved season making almost 300 runs whilst Reece and James also passed 250 with the bat. If he was disappointed with his run return, James made up for it with the ball as picked up 35 wickets, a total bettered only by Rob's 37. Sheeny also chipped in with 30 wickets but injuries restricted both Adam and Reece to 15 and 20 wickets respectively.

If this was a school report I'd probably score the season as a B-. Undoubtedly some incredible highs but also some pretty dire lows. Here's to an improved league showing next season! 
 

   

Variety Is The Spice of Life

 

Whilst I am not claiming a world record or anything, it struck me when I was updating our records at the end of last season just how many different teams we have played competitive games against since our formation in 1938. Whilst we still have a few gaps to fill in in terms of results, we do have a pretty much complete record of all our fixtures from the very first one v Farnworth St Johns at Moss Road Kearsley (not too far from where Kearsley now play) on May 21st 1938 right through to the end of the 2024. 

During the course of last season we encountered four clubs competitively for the first time ever at 1stXI level which takes the 1st team total up to a whopping 123 teams over the years. There can't be that many clubs - especially around this area where cricket has been traditionally parochial - who can say that they have met over a hundred others clubs in competitive cricket. Wandering clubs such as the MCC, I Zingari & the XL club will undoubtedly have many many more but not in competitive games. If I was guessing, Bolton CC might approach that sort of number having played in several leagues, but it's hard to think of many more who might get close. And, if you add in 9 teams that we have played at 2ndXI but not 1st, plus 10 at 3rdXI and, perhaps even more surprisingly 4 that we have only ever faced competitively at junior level our total stands at an eye watering 146 clubs!!

It helps that we have been somewhat nomadic over the years and having started in the lower leagues of the Bolton Association, we moved on to be founding members of the South West Lancashire Cricket League in 1963 before rejoining the Bolton Association (this time in the senior division) in 1975. There we stayed until the infamous decision of the exec to suspend the senior sides in 2006 in a row over the location of our new ground. The Manchester Association stepped in to give us a home for the next eight years before the BDCA exec came back cap in hand to ask us to rejoin the league. The demise of the league couldn't be stopped though and the league (or what was left of it) merged into the Bolton League in 2016 which was to be our home for 7 seasons before they in turn merged with the Ribblesdale League to create the North West Cricket League where we currently play our cricket. That makes 7 leagues over the years and if you add into that forays into the Lancs KO, National KO and Regional Finals in the T20 and it's easy to see where all the games mount up.

Inevitably across all those moves and competitions there is a good proportion of teams that we have met on just the one occasion and last season's four - Thornton Cleveleys, Carnforth, Ackworth and Morpeth - have taken the number of one off opponents up to 27. These "one off" encounters have seen us come out on top in 14 of the games and beaten in the other 13. 

Thirteen clubs have been met only in cup games and never in any other format (three of those on 2 occasions - Leyland, St Marys Old Boys and Stretford), and similarly there are seven other clubs that we have played only in T20 competitions over the years with Ormskirk the only one that we have met twice. 

At the other end of the scale our most frequent opponents have seen us play 11 clubs on over 50 occasions in various competitions - varying from 69 to 87 times. Next season will see us locking horns again with Atherton who have, over the years, been our most frequent opponents with us having had no fewer than 87 fixtures against each other since we first crossed paths in 1975 (a low scoring draw incidentally). The only other members of the "50+" club that we will be meeting next summer will be Blackrod who by the end of last season we had met 70 times in all competitions with our first meeting like that v Atherton ending in draw. The remaining members of the 50+ club comprise Daisy Hill (81), Little Hulton (79), Adlington (76), Standish (75), Clifton (71), Edgworth (70), Walshaw (70), Astley & Tyldesley (69) and Golborne (69).

So, who have we been the most successful against over the years? Taking 20 matches as a reasonable number of meetings over the years, our best win percentages have come against Barton Hall (60%) and Bickershaw also with 60% from 30 and 25 games respectively. Next comes Southport Trinity with 56% in 25 games, then Winstanley Park 52% (31 games) and making up the top 5 Winstanley Park on 52% from 31 games. Interesting that 4 of the 5 come from our South West Lancs days when arguably we had our most successful spell at 1stXI level. 

As for our least favourite opponents then Horwich RMI lead the way having won no fewer than 75% of our 24 matches since we first met in 2016. A good job we won four of the first five then! Next up come Astley Bridge Methodists 62% in 23 games, Spring View 52% in 31 games, Kearsley 50% (20 games) and Brooksbottom also 50% in 24 games

So finally what of our opponents next season in the Premiership, what is our record like against each of them? Well, in ALL competitions it looks like this :-

Club	Pld	Won	Lost	Tied	Draw etc		Win %	Lose %
Atherton	87	23	29	0	35		26.44%	33.33%
Blackrod	70	30	27	0	13		42.86%	38.57%
Eagley	19	11	6	0	2		57.89%	31.58%
Farnworth	16	5	6	0	5		31.25%	37.50%
Farnworth SC	39	15	17	1	6		38.46%	43.59%
Kearsley	20	6	10	0	4		30.00%	50.00%
Little Lever	14	5	7	0	2		35.71%	50.00%
Padiham	3	0	3	0	0		0.00%	100.00%
Read	1	1	0	0	0		100.00%	0.00%
Salesbury	3	1	2	0	0		33.33%	66.67%
Tonge	11	9	2	0	0		81.82%	18.18%

  

A Silver Lining

 

A milestone that slipped under the radar last season was that the 2024 marked the 25th anniversary of our under 11s team. Above is a picture taken from the Bolton News in that initial 2000 season which was taken at Little Hulton. Amongst those pictured are James and Anthony Cregan, Nick Sanders, Nathan & Matthew Moore (went on to play at A&T), Peter Ellis, Simon Rashleigh, Chris Whitehead and Matthew Ault. 

Junior cricket at Lostock was something of a difficult mix in the days when the club was predominently the factory based British Aerospace and it was to be 1968 before we had our first junior side as the under 18s took to the field for the first time. The experiment lasted for 3 full seasons but lack of numbers saw it fold one game into the 1971 season, and it was to be another 5 years before it was revived thanks mainly to the efforts of Bob Leeming in 1976. We ran just the one junior side until Dave Fairbrother offered to set up an under 13 side in 1985 which was soon rewarded with the under 13 league title two years later. The following year, 1986, saw Dave Fox offer to run an under 15 side and so it remained until the turn of the century when Pete Rutherford offered to start up an under 11 team. 

2000 was therefore the start of the under 11 side, and also the catalyst for my involvement with Lostock Cricket Club. Two of my boys were eligible to play under 11 cricket and Pete asked me along to bring down the boys and help out with running the team. Inevitably the first season was a difficult one as most of the other clubs had been involved for a few years and were a lot more streetwise than we were. Add in the fact that many of our squad were under 9s rather than under 11s, and inevitably we had a difficult season. Just the one win came all season and that was in a cup game that Blackrod conceded!

The second season saw a gradual improvement and a still very young squad gradually started to improve and gain in confidence and ability. Then in 2002 what was still pretty much the hard core of the original squad finished 3rd in the league feeling a little cheated by some bad luck with the weather and runners up in the cup. 2002 also saw a remarkable sequence of matches where first Anthony Cregan took 4 wickets in 5 balls v Blackrod (denied 5 in 5 by a still contentious piece of umpiring), then the following week saw a hat trick for Simon Rashleigh v Darcy Lever and, the week after that Ant finally got his hat trick in a game v Clifton where he picked up 4 wickets to complete a 3 game spree of 11 wkts for 14 runs!

Dave Fox took over the reins in 2003 and immediately reaped the rewards of Pete's hard work as they stormed through an unbeaten season to take the league title for the first and so far only time. Quite  remarkably four of that title winning team had played in the initial season 4 years earlier - Andy Cafferky, Anthony Cregan, Simon Rashleigh and Tom Sheen were all by now veterans and Simon was to be still eligible the following year. Ant led the way with 120 runs and 14 wickets but it was very much a team effort to claim the trophy. A happy team are seen here at Adlington having just collected the John Rossall Shield from BDCA Secretary John Charlson.

Inevitably with age group cricket the fortunes of a side ebb and flow as juniors transition from one group to another and so some seasons end up seeing stronger squads than others and results follow that trend. I always enjoyed my years with this age group as they take their first steps on the hard ball cricket journey, and indeed it is often the seasons with a so called weaker group that end up giving you the most pleasure as a coach/manager. I well remember one season where we battled away without success until pretty much the end of the season and then, when we finally got that first the unconfined joy on their faces was to me more rewarding than a title win. 

Returning to our story as I mentioned above our fortunes at under 11 fluctuated from season to season and the years in limbo with the ground probably didn't help as some of our stronger players were enticed away to other clubs. The facilities at Bolton School were excellent but its just not the same as having your own home ground. Still we battled on and throughout our nomadic years a determined group of us kept four junior sides going against all the odds - indeed several so called better clubs were unable to match that and looked on our junior section with envy. 

 The title defence in 2004 saw a creditable 3rd place behind runaway winners Clifton but it was not until 2009 that we once again threatened to win silverware as we finished runners up to an unbeaten Atherton side. After falling away a little in the league in 2010 but reaching the semi final of the cup we then bounced back in 2011 with Dave Fox once again at the helm to finish runners up to Atherton (again) in the league, but also reach the final of the Standish Trophy where we would meet our nemesis Atherton on their home ground. A pulsating game went right down to the final over which was brilliantly bowled by Ben Sykes and secured a very narrow win with our nett score of 245 proving to be 8 too many for our rivals. The successful team is pictured to the left and comprised George Morgan, Henry Gore-Ward, Andrew Mattison, David Threadgold, Dan Southworth, Tom Ferrier, Jacob Hunter, Nat Price Ben Sykes and Ben Lyons with a pleased as punch Foxy proudly guarding his fledglings.

Since then we have seen several different formats in the under 11 competition and have tended to finish around mid table with just a semi final appearance in the 2018 cup threatening to bring home some silverware. But, and I have always maintained this, it's all about getting youngsters to fall in love with the game and want to progress through the age groups and into senior cricket. And in my opinion we have been pretty successful in that respect. No scorecards are available for the first couple of seasons unfortunately but by my reckoning roughly 175 juniors have played under 11 cricket for us since 2000 and of those 26 have progressed as far as playing for the 1stXI, and probably around a couple of dozen more have played 2ndXI cricket, so a strike rate of 1 in 3 reaching senior cricket is a pretty good effort for little old Lostock, and the hours put in by so many coaches over the years.

For the record at the end of last season the under 11s had played 380 matches winning 142 and losing 155 with 83 no results. 

The addition of an under 9 team in 2016 means that we have now fielded teams in all 5 age groups, although these days we use the 3rdXI as a development side for juniors over the age of 15 rather than the under 18s which can be a little hit or miss. In total, our junior sides had played the grand total of 2254 games to the end of last season winning 751 of them and losing 1083. 

Let's Hear It For The Girls!

 Hands up if you knew that for a short while we ran a Women’s team? I doubt that there will be  too many still around who can remember it, but yes we briefly ran a Women’s XI.

It’s probably true to say that girls had been few and far between prior to the turn of the century with Hilary Murphy in the late 1980’s a rare exception. But, with the advent of an under 11 side in 2000 that slowly began to change and we have seen more and more girls appearing in Lostock colours. The growth in the women’s game has obviously helped too as more barriers to girls playing have been removed.

As with the under 11’s in 2000 the driving force behind the formation of a Women’s team was Peter Rutherford who by 2005 had progressed to being heavily involved in coaching at Lancashire Women. Despite the fact that we were having major issues with our ground and the BDCA executive (or maybe because of) interest at the club seemed to be reaching an all time high. So much so that over the winter of 2005/6 we found that we had enough interest to form not only a 3rdXI but also a Womens XI.

Some taster training sessions were held over the winter months which saw a mixture of young girls from the club, parents who’d got the bug and girls from other clubs who wanted to try women’s cricket as well as mixed junior cricket. Back then there were relatively few options for an all female team—apart from a fledgling Lancashire Women’s Cricket League, with the strongest sides travelling to play against teams from Yorkshire or Cheshire instead. We were too late to enter a team for the 2006 season so instead had a programme of friendly games mapped out to get us under way. However the weather that summer played havoc with our plans and it wasn’t until the middle of the season that we actually got to play a game when we met an equally inexperienced Golborne team in a 20 over game. Whether through curiosity or not there was a decent crowd at Simpsons Field to witness a little piece of history.

What seemed like a very promising start to our story must be tempered by saying that Golborne had a much younger side than us, but you can only play what’s in front of you and we crushed them by 110 runs as Golborne were bowled out for 22 in reply to our 132-2. The historic first Women’s XI to take the field consisted of Caroline Blundell*, Chloe Wallwork *(Walshaw), Elissa Murphy*, Emily Giles, Julie Burrell, Rachael Stott (Spring View), Louise Lonanhan*, Jess Mills, Lucy O’Dwyer, and Emma Stott (Spring View). (Those marked * were Lancashire juniors)

Sadly, that was to be our only game of the season as the weather caused all the remaining games to be called off apart from a return game with Golborne which unfortunately they conceded. However it had whetted the appetite and several of the girls made up for it by playing in the 3rdXI so it wasn’t altogether a waste.

With interest still high we entered the LWCL for 2007 and hopes were high for an exciting season. The first ever competitive match took place on 3rd June 2007 when we travelled to play a very strong Southport & Birkdale and pushed them all the way before eventually going down by 3 wickets. The 11 ladies who made history that day were :- Helen Smith ©, Kate Olivier*, Jess Mills, Megan Fairclough*(Egerton), Emily Giles, Elissa Murphy*, Ronnie Mills, Emma Stott (Spring View), Lyndsey Harris, Julie Burrell and Emily Calvert. Batting first we made 109 with Jess hitting 30* and Southport replied with 111-7 with Emma taking a remarkable 5/12.

Next up were the eventual champions Chorley who beat us by just 19 runs after a battling effort against an experienced side. Rachel Dakin another Lancs junior made 42* in our total of 113-7 after Emma had again shone with the ball taking 3/21 in Chorley’s 132-9.

A tie followed against Trafford which meant after 3 games we had held our own against what we were eventually to be the top 3 in the table but then once again the weather reared its ugly head and we never got the chance to play the bottom two. Still it had been encouraging enough of a start to want to carry on.

All that was to change though as we got the news that we had been dreading when we were told that we would have to vacate the ground at the end of the 2007 season. Although we were able to secure somewhere for the senior men to play (ground sharing at Haydock), and the juniors (Bolton School), the cost and logistics of finding somewhere for the 3rdXI and Women’s XI to play as well proved too much of an obstacle and reluctantly we had to withdraw both teams for the foreseeable future until we once more had a ground of our own. The 3rd XI of course is back up and running and maybe, one day, if there is enough interest we can revive the Women’s XI too. 

Was it a success? In terms of results maybe not but terms of generating interest it certainly succeeded. Several of the Lancashire girls who appeared for us went on to reach senior level at Lancashire and their clubs and indeed Megan Fairclough has the honour of being the only Lancashire captain to lift the Women’s County Championship trophy (winning the T20 trophy as well for good measure) around 10 years later. As for own home grown players several of them went on to represent Lancashire at various levels and indeed continued to do so in later years.

Emily Giles played at under 13, 15 and 17 levels. Lyndsey Harris played under 13 and under 15 levels. Lucy O’Dwyer played under 13’s. In later years Alice Martindale represented the under 11s.

But, by far the biggest success story has been Jess Mills. Jess played for the club from 2002-2013 representing us at all levels from under 13 up to the 2ndXI. A Medium paced swing bowler her best figures were 5/10 v Golborne for the U17s in 2006 whilst her best senior figures were 4/29 v Newton Heath 2nds in 2010.

Jess represented Lancashire at under 15 and under 17 levels without getting the chance to play in the 1st team but it was to be a move to Scotland that proved to be a game changer for her. In 2016, she was chosen to play for the Rest of Scotland in some inter regional games and then, on the back of that, in 2017 & 2018 went on to represent Scotland A in the County Championship playing 10 games in all which brought 15 wickets with a best of 4/10 against Northumberland and 4/12 v Cumbria. She had a remarkable economy rate of 2.68 over those 10 games too. She also represented Scotland A in 10 T20 games in the Women’s T20 County Championship with slightly less success. The icing on the cake though perhaps was a place in the Scotland squad for the World Cup qualifiers in 2018 but unfortunately she was confined to just an appearance in a warm up game v Bangladesh in Rotterdam where unfortunately she didn’t get chance to bat or bowl.

So that’s it—a brief history of our Women’s XI and hopefully an inspiration to our current crop of young girls.

Twenty Twenty Vision

 

2024 saw the 1stxi pick up their first trophy for some 40 years when they lifted the NWCL Birtwistle T20 Cup with a stunning victory over league champions Blackrod at a packed Chew Moor ground. 

The road to T20 glory had been a long one with quite a few heartbreaking moments along the way. and started in the early days of our years in the Manchester Association in 2007. They had come up with the quite innovative idea for it's time of having a T20 competition and trying to help clubs cash in on the massive interest in what was still a relatively new format at that time at senior level. Unfortunately in a sign of the indecision that often marred the later years of the league they couldn't settle on what was the best format to use with clubs often left to arrange their own dates for matches etc.

Our first ever game saw us beaten by Euxton in a group match where we fell 13 short of a target of 130 despite a perhaps unlikely Mark Cregan top scoring on 28. The other two group games ended in defeats to Deane & Derby and Hindley St Peters so not the most auspicious start to T20 life. In 2008 they decided on a straight knockout and we were well beaten at Westleigh despite Danny Cockton making our first ever half century in T20's. 2009 saw the clubs divided into groups of 3 playing each other on one day at one venue with the best at each venue progressing, and we were drawn at Swinton Moorside alongside Whalley Range, and, finally at the 5th time of asking we gained our first win as we defeated the latter by a nail biting 3 runs after Dave Flanagan had made an explosive 78. Sadly Swinton proved too strong and that was another campaign over.

The next 2 seasons reverted to a straight knockout format and saw us beaten in the 1st round of both despite Dave claiming our first ever 4 wicket haul in a T20, taking 4/20 v Bolton in 2011. Yet another change of format in 2012 saw the return of the 2009 system and we were drawn against Premier Division high flyers Bury and Wythenshawe at the ground of the latter. A very wet day day saw us pitted against unbeaten Bury in the first game who, rather than take a point from an abandoned game insisted on playing a reduced over game as a warm up for their next game v Wythenshawe. That cockiness was soon dispelled as a rapid 36 from Rizwan Hussain propelled us to 94-3 in our 9 overs and then Adeel Baig's 4/19 restricted them to 65-8 in reply. A similarly dominant display v the home side with Dave hitting 44 & Tom Mills taking 5/16 saw us through to our first ever semi final. There we met Brooksbottom who so often proved to be a thorn in our side in the MDCA and sure enough we were well beaten by a margin of 41 runs. Our final MDCA campaign turned quite farcical as the remaining clubs were split into groups and asked to arrange their own fixtures and despite winning 4 games we could only finish 3rd in the group and so ended our last season in the MDCA.

By 2016 we had returned to (and left) the Bolton Association and found ourselves in the Bolton League and back into T20 competition. The campaign started poorly with a defeat and an abandoned game but wins in the last 2 games saw us recover to top the group and pitted against Horwich RMI in the quarter final who were beaten by 26 runs with Jaydyn Simmons making 41 and Conner Hicklin taking 3/13. For a 2nd time in 5 years though we were to lose at this stage as Kearsley proved too strong on a horrible track at their ground. 2017 again saw us qualify from our group only to again fall short on another difficult track at Kearsley.     

2018 marked a change in our fortunes as we finally managed to get through to the final, and indeed arguably should have won it. Having finished 2nd in our group (on the back of a game lost on the toss of a coin to Horwich), we made the short trip to Westhoughton for our quarter final and came away with a very satisfying 34 run win. Finals day at Farnworth saw us pitted against a Bradshaw side in the semi final who had paid a fortune for a sub pro for the day but an unbeaten 57 from Conner saw us through to a final v Horwich. RMI batted first and after being dropped off an absolute "dolly" in the 1st over Brett Pelser made a brilliant 112 to set a target of 217 which proved 48 too many for us. RMI's commitments in the National KO though meant our season waan't over as we replaced them in the regional finals of the national T20. The semi final went superbly as, with Dave hitting our first ever T20 ton (136*), we made 233-2 v GMCL side Moorside and eased to a 65 run win. Ormskirk in the final proved too strong with (then) future Lancashire players Tom Hartley & George Lavelle in their ranks coasting to a 7 wicket win.

The following year followed a similar pattern as we comfortably topped our group to clinch a home quarter final v Tonge who were beaten in a low scoring game by 28 runs. Our reward was an away semi final at Farnworth Social Circle and again we came through in a low scoring game - this time by 6 wickets. The final was a repeat of 2018 as we travelled to Horwich to take on RMI again. This time we batted first and despite making a handy 141-4 (Brad Williams 55, Matt Leach 64) it proved to be 15 or 20 short as RMI cantered home by 8 wickets. Again they were unable to play in the next stage so we took their place but in a 3 way round robin with Ormskirk (again!) and Garstang a below strength side lost both games.

After a disappointing campaign in the covid hit 2020 season when we failed to qualify from our group, 2021 saw a return to normality as once again we reached the final and once again we met RMI! Finishing runners up in our group we played Kearsley in the quarter final and finally extracted a measure of revenge for their previous domination of us with an emphatic 10 wicket win to set up a semi final v Westhoughton at Chew Moor. The weather proved to be horrendous and so the game was decided by a bowl out which we won 2-1 and everyone decamped to Horwich for the final. Again the weather intervened and yet again Brett Pelser had the final word as Horwich came out on top yet again.

The next two seasons disappointingly saw us fail to qualify from our groups but there were a couple of highlights. In 2022 Eagley set us a target of 144 which was knocked off in style by openers Akbar Ur Rehman (97*) and Connor 35*. Then in 2023 Akbar set a new record individual score as he smashed Blackrod for a remarkable 152 in a score of 223-2 on the way to record 148 run win.

And so to 2024 and success at long last! After a defeat and a rained off game in the first 2 matches it didn't look promising but 3 wins on the bounce saw us recover to top our group and earn a quarter final tie v Kearsley. A brilliant effort from pro Muhammed Suleman (76*) and 4/22 from Reece Gray saw us get home by 3 wickets. Finals day was on home soil and in front of a packed Chew Moor the lads pulled out all the stops to see off Ribblesdale Wanderers by 5 wickets in the semi final and then soon to be league champions Blackrod by 39 runs in the final to finally clinch a first T20 title. Through to the regional final on merit for the first time we came up against Northern League bound Carnforth who batted first & made a handy 150-7, or, so it seemed until Sully (99*) and Sam Barlow (50*) knocked them off without loss. The northern final saw us up against Ackworth and Morpeth in a round robin format. Below strength and without a pro as Sully had returned to Pakistan we put up 2 creditable performances making over 150 in each game but ultimately it was a step too far but a fantastic effort nonetheless.

1st Class Delivery

Those of you who were present at the Senior Presentation Night the other week may well have been surprised to hear our President David Kaye allude to the fact that as a club we have managed to provide no fewer than 4 first class cricketers. But yes, litlle old Lostock CC has indeed managed to provide 4 players to the English first class game.

Karl Krikken was something of a child prodigy as a wicketkeeper and played as a 15 year old in our 1stXI in 1984 when he become just the 3rd keeper (at that time) to take over 30 victims in a season. His father Brian was always a very highly rated wicketkeeper who made 3 appearnaces for Lancashire and Worcestershire in the late 1960's without too much success. He too played several seasons for Lostock during the 80's and was often cited as one of the best ever in local cricket. Karl made his List A debut for Derbyshire in 1987 with his 1st Class debut following in 1989, and he was to be a permanent fixture in their side until 2003 when he retired having played 214 1st class matches and 203 in List A Cricket. He scored 5725 1st class runs with his only century (104) coming against his home county Lancashire adding a further 1671 in List A cricket. An undoubted highlight of his career would be an unbroken stand of 77 with Dominic Cork v Lancashire to steer Derbyshire to a 3 wicket win in the Benson & Hedges Cup Final. As  a wicketkeeper he amassed 557 victims in the 1st class game and a further 240 in List A cricket. He went on to become Academy Coach at Derbyshire then later 1stXI coach and is currently 2ndXI coach at Lancashire.

Our 2nd professional cricketer was to be Michael Powell who moved on from being a successful junior captain with Lostock to play for and captain Warwickshire. Having moved out of the area & on to Lawrence Sheriff School in Rugby he was soon attracting the eye of the England schoolboy selectors. A right handed batter, Michael made his 1st class debut in 1996 having previously captained England Under 18s and played for the Under 19s. He went on to make 149 1st class appearances for the county, captaining them from 2001-2003 in a career that saw him make 7395 runs including 12 centuries with his highest score of 236 coming v Oxford University in in 2001. In addition to that he played a further 142 List A and T20 matches which saw him garner another 2382 runs including one further century. Whilst not renowned for his bowling he did manage one 5 wicket haul in his career when taking 5/40 v Kent in a list A game in 2002. After his retirement from county cricket he became cricket master at Loretto school in Scotland and then later at Rugby School.

Next on the list comes Matthew "Taff" Taylor who is probably best known locally as a very successful long serving professional and later amateur cricketer at Adlington CC. Taff came through our junior ranks and, in all, he is recorded to have played 132 times for Lostock scoring 987 runs including 4 50's and taking 151 wickets with a best of 5/7. Matthew made his debut for Derbyshire 2nds in 1993 and some good performances saw him make his 1st class debut in 1994. In all he played 4 1st class matches for the county scoring 25 runs and taking 7 wickets at a miserly 2.5 runs an over. His best bowling figures were his 3/45 v New Zealand in a game Derbyshire won by an innings & 18 runs, and his highest score of 14* came in another innings victory - this time v Lancashire at Stanley Park Blackpool. His brief career does include one quirky fact as he was the 10th batter dismissed by Richard Johnson in his figures of 10/45 for Middlesex in a County Championship game at Derby.

Our final (for now) 1st class cricketer is Charles Dagnall. "Daggers" as he is colloquially known these days as he pursues a successful media career, started his cricketing journey at Lostock as junior and in all played nearly 200 games for the club scoring 2924 runs and taking 199 wickets before moving on to play for Horwich RMI, Astley & Tyldesley and Walshaw amongst others locally. His initial break came playing for Cumberland in 1998 before joining Warwickshire in 1999. He stayed there for 3 seasons before moving on to Leicestershire from 2002-2006 before a long term injury finally curtailed his playing career and set him on his tv and radio career. In all he played 31 1st class matches making 223 runs and taking 87 wickets plus 63 List A/T20 games which saw 199 runs and 77 wickets added to his career total.

  If we were being cheeky we could also claim a 5th member of the club, and one who would have been first on our conveyor belt and certainly the most successful in Michael "Mike" Watkinson. Mike was already on the Lancashire radar when he signed for the club as our then youngest professional at the age of 19 in 1981. His performances for the club led to him making his County debut during his second season with us and so began an 18 year playing association with Lancashire which included being county captain in from 1992-97. In addition to this Mike also went on to make 4 test appearances and 1 One Day International game. His first class career spanned 308 matches which saw him notch up 10939 runs including 11 centuries (the highest being 161 v Essex in 1995 at Old Trafford). Add to that 376 List A games which brought a further 5398 runs including another 2 centuries and a total of over 15000 runs in itself would prove to be a good career for anyone. But, not content with that he made his claim to being one of the county's best ever all rounders by adding 739 1st class wickets and 381 List A wickets to his runs. Throw in 156 catches and you have a truly great all rounder. Despite his absences on county duty Mike managed to secure 1390 runs and 190 wickets during his 2 seasons as Lostock pro. After playing Mike moved to be Lancashire Coach, then Director of Cricket and later the Cricket Master at Manchester Grammar. 

The 10K Club

You may well have read in recent weeks that we now have 3 members of the Lostock 10K club with Stephen Kaye and Lucky Issa joining club chairman Phil Knowles in passing the landmark of 10000 runs for the club.

Phil had long been the only member of this exclusive club having finally hung up his batting gloves in 2016 having amassed the remarkable total of 10966 runs over his Lostock career. This eclipsed the long standing record of former pro & amateur Les Barlow who had scored just under 8000 runs for the club in his long tenure as pro initially and then as skipper and amateur in our early Bolton Association days. Although Phil managed no fewer than 32 innings of 50 or more I would imagine his one regret might well be the fact that he never quite made it to the magical ton. His career best for Lostock was 87 in a 2ndXI game v Westleigh at Haydock in 2010, whilst his highest score in a 1stXI game dates back to 1992 when he made 75 v St Marys Old Boys in the Lancs Knock Out Cup. This score incidentally still remains a record for the club in Lancs KO matches over the years. He passed the landmark of 500 runs in a season on 4 seperate occasions with his best coming in 1995 when his aggregate of 606 placed him 9th in the list of highest aggregates in a season.  

Stephen and Lucky both joined Phil in the 10k club this summer (2024), and whilst Phil can point to the fact that all his runs were scored in senior cricket, it's still a remarkable effort from the pair of them to reach the landmark in all games for the club. (For the record at the end of the 2024 season Lucky was sat on 9126 senior runs and Stephen on 8998). Both have reached the magic ton in senior cricket with Stephen's highest score being 105* v Elton for the 2ndXI in 1999 and Lucky making 102 in the 1stXI against Bolton in 2010. For good measure Stephen also now holds the record for the most half centuries for the club with no fewer than 54 recorded at the end of the 2024 season. Both men have reached the 500 run mark in a season twice, Stephen holding the 2ndXI record for most runs in a season with 882 in 2001 as well as making 508 in 2022, whilst Lucky made 538 1stXI runs in 2010 and 530 in the 2ndXI in 2022.

To put into perspective the milestone these three have achieved it is worth noting that is going to be a very tired batter who next reaches the mark - if anybody does. The current player with the highest aggregate is David Flanagan who sits 8th in the all time lists with 5995 runs but he is no longer a full time player so not playing a full season, and even if he did, it would take another 8 years at 500 runs a season to get to 10000. Only 3 other current players have got over 3000 runs for the club (our current 1st & 2nd XI captains plus Nick Jeffs), so again using the benchmark of 500 runs a season every season they would need at least another 14 seasons to get anywhere near 10000 runs. 

A lot of work still goes on behind the scenes to unearth more scorecards and averages and as such there is potential for runs to be added to existing known aggregates but even so it's doubtful they'd get too close to the 10k mark, so raise a glass to these 3 fantastic stalwarts as we leave the final word to Phil.  

"It’s most laudable that Steve and Lucky have been such loyal servants to the club, and while they are to be congratulated on their marvellous achievements of 10,000 runs, I should point out that all their runs have been scored for Lostock, while I didn’t join the club until the age of 27, having played 13 seasons of competitive cricket with Farnworth in the Bolton League.So, if I combine my Farnworth and Lostock tallies, my career aggregate leaves these two ‘youngsters’ trailing well in my wake!”

Welcome to Lostock Stats

 Hello and thank you for taking the time to have a browse through this little Lostock Blogspot.

The idea of this blog is to put some meat on the bones of some of the tweets that appear on our "X" account @lostockstats. So for example when we announce that someone has reached a particular milestone on X this blog will flesh out some of the more interesting of those milestones.

Blogs will appear when time permits and we will publish a reminder whenever we have a new article for you to read via both the lostockstats and lostockcc X handles.

Hopefully I'm not the only Nerd in the universe and people find the blog interesting. So browse at your leisure and please let me if you can think of a topic that might be worth including on future blogs.