Lancashire League: Bent double, but it's been hard work! (8 Sep 1997)

8 September 1997

Bent double, but it's been hard work!

Lancashire Evening Telegraph

Enfield 195-8, Haslingden 133 THE cricketers of Haslingden regard success almost as a birthright.

Eight championships in the last 15 years offer indisputable proof of their supremacy in the Lancashire League in that time.

It is ironic then that on the day the club secured its first League and Cup double in a distinguished history, Bentgate captain Mark Griffin spoke about the "hard work" it had been.

Destiny may have played a part but rolled-up sleeves made sure it was delivered.

"Every single player has contributed - it has been a monumental effort by the amateurs of this club," he said before paying tribute to Bob Grimshaw, who was the catalyst for Haslingden's recent ascendancy and remains on the verge of a first team place.

"I have nothing but praise for all of them."

The achievement is made more incredible when the absence of a regular professional is taken into account.

Brad McNamara's injury could have crushed their season. But outstanding individual and team performances made this setback irrelevant.

Self-inflicted gunshot wounds to other contenders' feet eased the ride for Haslingden too. Just when they would leave the door ajar, others could be relied upon to let it slam into their own face.

The style of men like Jack Simpson and Steve Dearden is to kick such obstacles into the middle of next week which is exactly what they did do to most of the cricket balls hurled at them this summer.

Their centuries in the Worsley Cup final proved decisive and Simpson was surely the outstanding man of this year's whole league.

Little wonder he smiled last night after describing the phone call made by the Haslingden chairman to invite him to Bentgate as "the best 10p the chairman's probably spent!"

"For me, it's unbelievable," he added in a more reflective tone.

"If someone had said mid-February that I'd have League and Cup successes to celebrate in September I would have slapped them round the head. "At that stage I didn't even have a club."

Ramsbottom's loss was Haslingden's gain but their's was not a one or even two-man show.

"There was Barry Knowles getting vital wickets at Rawtenstall, Paul Blackledge with 60-odd at Lowerhouse. It was a team effort," added an ecstatic Griffin, whose leadership qualities in only his second season in charge - without the assistance of a pro or even, for the most part, a vice-captain - must also be added to the equation.

If there was a sour point, it was that they didn't beat Enfield yesterday to put the icing on the cake. East Lancs' destruction of Lowerhouse made the game at Dill Hall Lane academic. But as Griffin pointed out, "Tonight we have more points than anybody and that's what it's all about."

If Enfield had displayed the kind of form a little earlier that has taken them to 11 victories on the bounce, they might have finished head of the queue instead of third.

"Could have, should have, might have - that's what all defeated teams talk about at the end of the season," said Enfield professional Shane Lee, whose prospects of a breakthrough into the Australian side soon seem considerable.

"Haslingden won the competition but we totally outplayed them today.

"I guess though, after the start we made, to finish third was an achievement."

The 6-41 by 16-year-old Liam Jackson, as well as other outstanding displays by Enfield's youngsters through the season, make captain Andy Barker - in the runs yesterday, but out of the reckoning because of a "Deli-belly" - optimistic about next season.

But Barry Knowles, at 17 the youngest member of the Haslingden team, sounded out an ominous warning to Barker and everybody else.

"We missed out on winning the Inter-League Cup this year," he said. "Next year we want all three."

Source :: Lancashire Evening Telegraph (https://www.reednews.co.uk/let/)