Historic Merger Way Forward in Lancashire (24 February 1999)

24 February 1999

Historic Merger Way Forward in Lancashire

by Andy Searle

Despite the impression given by the cricketing authorities at Lord's and Old Trafford, the leagues and clubs of Lancashire have not been standing still in their pursuit of improving standards: the Northern League and Liverpool Competition have already begun formal exploratory talks on co-operation and possible Premier League accreditation. But potentially the most historic process of co-operation and merger is about to take place in the East of the county, the area of Lancashire which has provided the bitterest opponents to E.C.B and L.C.B. plans.

The Lancashire League and Central Lancashire League are, without doubt, the two best known club cricket leagues in the World. The evidence for this comes in Wisden, whose meagre coverage of league cricket includes reports from these two leagues amounting to about the same as the rest of league cricket in this country put together. Having spent over a century providing employment to some of the world's greatest cricketing talent - and entertainment for some of cricket's most discerning supporters - they have given themselves a profile in the world game the envy of many a county club. That is why, with English cricket at a low ebb and with the call for change at all levels more voluble than ever, that these two organisations can give a lead to cricket nationally by showing their willingness to cast aside over 100 years of tradition and create a competition of great significance to the future of cricket. Both leagues have been accused of intransigence and portrayed as dyed-in-the-wool organisations intent on crippling the game's growth and the supply of young players into the first class game. Nothing could be further from the truth. Talented youngsters have always been identified by the coaches in these two organisations and fast-tracked to Old Trafford. One need only look at the current Lancashire squad to realise the validity of this fact. Ian Austin and Graham Lloyd from the Lancashire League, and Chris Schofield from the Central Lancashire League, are just three of many in the Lancashire squad who have been identified early by their clubs and leagues and sent immediately to the Old Trafford finishing school. Significantly, this trio have gained international recognition in the last two years. Let us not forget that last season Lancashire, with a significant proportion of their players from the east of the county, almost pulled off a treble of Sunday League, Nat West Trophy and County Championship - and look well equipped to continue that domination into the millennium. This is as good a recommendation for their grounding as all-round cricketers as any convoluted E.C.B. proposals. Yet some commentators still insist that the success of Lancashire is in spite of the leagues, not because of. This is a view that is at best mistaken, and at worse an undermining of the hard work and dedication of the group of individuals who have produced - and will continue to produce - young cricketers for the county game. Long before the MacLaurin Report and the Premier League fiasco the Lancashire and Central Lancashire leagues had begun a dialogue to see what forms of co-operation they could introduce without radically altering the structure of competitions which had survived for more than a century, but at the same time would attract more spectators and players and improve the quality of the cricket. In truth, the two leagues have always had friendly relations, but it was the perceived decline in standards and popularity which made them see change as a necessity. The result was the Lees Brewery Lancashire Trophy, a knockout cup competition including all the clubs from the two leagues, which has over two seasons gripped the imagination of players and spectators alike. I myself attended the Haslingden v. Rochdale semi-final last year, a game whose fortunes fluctuated from one side to the other over by over, produced cricket of skill and intensity, and ended in a nerve-tingling finale watched by a large crowd of partisans and neutrals, not one of whom left the ground until the final ball was bowled. This was league cricket at its best. The success of the competition has converted many previously sceptical individuals to the idea that a merger of these two great leagues is both desirable and inevitable. One such individual is the Todmorden captain Brian Heywood, who, writing in the League Cricket Review of September 1998, gave this analysis of the benefits of a new two-division competition: "Travelling would be manageable, a number of local derbies retained and in some cases new ones introduced, and the clubs' status would reflect where they deserve to be from performance on the field. Much of the cricket in the second half of the season would be more meaningful and competitive."

What Heywood explains here, as have many - players, officials and spectators alike - who I have spoken to over the last year, is the desire to move forward and create a new structure for a new century, embracing the old and the new. All the arguments against such change - travelling, the loss of money-spinning local derbies, the consignment of struggling clubs to a second-class status - are answered by reasoned logic: distances between clubs in the new league will be negligible, new derby games created and struggling clubs would have a target to aim at.

In the current structure of the two leagues many games are meaningless as they are played out by poor teams with no fear of relegation in front of pitiful crowds. The evidence of the Lancashire Trophy suggests good crowds, meaningful matches and clubs with incentives for self-improvement. Based on last year's league tables first division games between Nelson and Littleborough, Rochdale and East Lancashire and Haslingden and Oldham would be played in front of huge crowds, but so too would be promotion battles between Milnrow and Todmorden and Colne and Middleton. Such clashes on a regular basis would certainly fuel spectator and player interest, giving cricket in the region a much needed boost.

There will, of course, always be those who oppose change. One such figure is Jack Houldsworth, the leading amateur bowler of the Lancashire League in the 1960's, now a popular administrator with his club Church. In answer to Brian Heywood's promotion of the idea of amalgamation he stated: "I don't see much wrong with the Lancashire League as it stands." This may or may not be true. But what I would say to those in fear of change is that what this area of the cricket world does today, the rest will follow tomorrow.

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