Lancashire League: Ramsbottom Cup final preview (25 Jul 1998)

25 July 1998

Ramsbottom Cup final preview

The Lancashire Evening Telegraph

JONATHAN Harvey is hoping to celebrate a new two-year deal with Earby by lifting the Vaux Ramsbottom Cup tomorrow.

But the Applegarth professional's side will have to overcome cup holders and Ribblesdale League champions Cherry Tree to achieve that goal.

Intriguingly, the two sides go into tomorrow's final at Read (start 1.30pm) sharing third place in the league.

And Harvey would upset his mum if he were to succeed in his of a dream league and cup double.

He said: "My mum said it would be ideal if my brother Mark won the league with Padiham and we won the cup.

"But we still have ambitions in the league.

"Some people might see us as underdogs for the cup final.

"But I don't think we have ever gone into a game thinking we are underdogs.

"They have a good amateur side but the cup final is a different day and we are confident - we have not had a bad season this year.

"I could have done with a few more runs but we play as a team and it does not matter who scores the runs as long as we play as a team."

Harvey, who lifted the league title in his first season at Earby in 1996, agreed a new two-year contract last weekend.

Opponents Cherry Tree have still to make a decision about the future of their professional Naeem Ashraf. This season he is the third-leading wicket taker with 44 and has scored 402 runs at an average of 36.55.

Skipper David Hayes said: "Perhaps by his high standards he hasn't performed quite as well as he did last year.

"But he won the semi-final with an excellent performance and we are still in with a chance of the double."

Cherry Tree have suffered a hiccup in league form with two consecutive defeats.

But Hayes believes that was just a temporary hitch.

He said: "We are all bubbling and excited about tomorrow and go into the game as favourites after what has happened in the last year or so.

"And it is a tag we are comfortable with. "We were beaten by a good team performance by a good side in Great Harwood and against Ribblesdale Wanderers we under-performed, although we were without a couple of key players.

"The weather has also not been too kind to us.

"I think there is always enough edge when we play Earby.

"But it did seem strange that they were very keen to play last Sunday at the beginning but their captain did not seem as keen when we had a good start."

Both sides are at full strength.

Earby: S Rushton, S Hipgrave, S Pickles, A Rushton, A Jaggers, M Plant, D Proud, P Bairstow, N Hodge, C Walton, Harvey.

Cherry Tree: D Hayes, G Bolton, N Bramwell, M Butler, J Hughes, A Holroyd, L Kennedy, P Reed, I Simpson, M Veevers, Ashraf.

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