Destiny day defeat but promotion all the same for ecstatic Accy
It isn`t often playing or following sport as a fan, player or official when it all comes right and your team wins something.
For every day or night of joy there has to be hundreds of what my old mate Eddie used to describe as `Here we go, then, another afternoon in the dentist`s chair.`
I often joke with old mates like Ian Haworth, with whom I played a few second team games for Church, and another stalwart Billy Tomlinson that we are cursed by our attachment not only to the `lowly Westenders` (as the waspish but much younger Damian Joyce once named them in his early years as a watcher after an Observer description) but also Blackburn Rovers and Lancashire CCC.
Occasional shafts of light penetrate the usual pervading gloom.
I can count the honours I have enjoyed down decades on my fingers without needing to take my socks off.
Mostly they’ve been relished vicariously as a fan like the 1994-95 Premier League title and 2002 Worthington Cup as well as a few promotions.
As a player, a Hyndburn & District League Consolation Cup winner was my footballing apex at 15 followed not that long after by a plastic memento for the Championship of the Second Division of whatever the long-defunct cricket league Haslingden Youth Club Old Boys played in alongside Taverners B, Accrington IV and Rishton Free Gardeners was called. North East Lancs League or something?
I think I also won `Most Improved 2nd XI Player` twice in four years at Church which perhaps says more about my mundane performances during the seasons in the middle.
If you want regular gratification it’s easy to latch yourself onto Man City/ United or Liverpool at a young age to chase glory but mostly you are born into following your teams and cautioned early on as I was by my dad and grandad that it is not always champagne and trophies.
Happily my formative years as a Red Rose cricket follower came as they took to the new 40 and 60-over formats to hit their first of several imperial phases as limited-overs kings and over the decades Sunday League titles and trips to one-day finals at Lords seemed more of an entitlement than an annual event although I did have to wait until past my 52nd birthday for a County Championship. And eventually the ‘one-day kings` tag faded too.
I was blessed, too, to spend my school years watching a trophy-winning East Lancs side. Even the Second XI which I took my first paid job for in 1973 and the following year did a cup and league double under chain smoking left-arm mystery spinner J D Isherwood.
I was so consumed by being part of it all that I missed watching the 74 Football World Cup final to do a twos semi at Bent Gate. I can still reel every name off 52 years later.
Even my final year (1980) as a dedicated East Lancs fan at 21 saw them do the double with ex-Accrington favourite Peter Swart. Late that summer I bumped into a bunch of Church lads in the Skyrack pub in Headingley on an otherwise godforsaken soggy Monday afternoon when a Roses match was rained off and my life changed forever – I went to winter nets invited by Nick Westwell, who I stood with at dearly-loved Steve Metcalf`s funeral last week, pensioners both of us now 46 years on, and from then on was a Church man.
And though I`m Accrington scorer, still am. But it was wonderful to be part of Accrington’s promotion celebrations on Sunday.
From the day they invited me to score a few second XI games post-Covid when everyone was struggling a bit the Thorneyholme Road club have been good to me and made me feel valued and welcome despite my own initial reservations over being so long associated with a rival club.
I`ve never had much joy since 1974 with the teams I`ve scored for though – Church made a couple of Worsley Cup finals , both of which I missed through holidays (the late Lionel Cooke stood in for one of those so I`m not the first to cross the great white wall) and Oswy Immanuel`s league and cup triumphs came well after my lengthy tenure doing the book.
But that all changed on a Sunday at Rochdale on an afternoon which provided little echoes of that 1995 day of torment and triumph at Anfield when my team lost the game but took the real prize (largely thanks to Ludek Miklosko who sadly passed away this week).
It was an afternoon of ebbs and flows in our game whilst checking developments elsewhere.
At 74 for one with 33 overs remaining the visitors looked if not in total control, at least well capable of going beyond the 140-150 I reckoned might be a winning score.
Not that I`m a sage on pitches but batting had begun to look a reasonably comfortable business for Sneds and Sam Molloy after the third-ball loss of Johnny Dack, despite the wet outfield and frequent calls for sawdust for bowlers.
It looked as if Accrington would need to win too as leaders Nelson slipped to 24 for for at Seedhill against the third-placed side breathing down our necks in the title/promotion triangle, Crompton..
We all knew that if Nelson won we were practically guaranteed to go up but during the week secretary Mark Taylor and captain Jacob Clarke had copied me in to a series of emails explaining the various permutations and upshots of all or any two sides finishing on equal points with of course particular focus on the rulings if second and third ending on the same tally.
I read and absorbed it all thoroughly but of course had completely forgotten what the ruling was by the time the matches were underway.
It was at that very point though that our boys chose to relapse into one of the season`s bad habits – losing wickets one after another. And another. And another.
In fact all of them. From 74 for one we tumbled to 122 all out.
There was a smidgen of hope when Jacob, at six, hung around for a while. But not long enough.
The whole thing ended with one of those run-outs which appears on a `That`s So Village` video tweet Most of what had preceded though after Graeme Sneddon (30) and Sam Malloy (43) fell aerially was pure paralysis.
Rochdale had come into the game with Lowerhouse`s Tom Walker replacing intended sub pro Jameel Stuart who had pulled out overnight and it proved an inspired choice. He helped wrap up the tail with wickets in three consecutive overs.
It was painful to see us shot out with almost 14 overs unused.
The better news from Nelson was that the home side were on their way to at least a competitive total in a late-starting 47 over game. Ghulam Sabir had taken them to 153 for six. But Crompton bat deep, we all ruminated doomily.
But with Rochdale suddenly seven for two Accrington had the bit between the teeth again.
Tilaksha Malshan had failed with the bat but captured both those early wickets. He captured the first six in fact but had to be patient and wait to come back for his second spell – last throw of the dice stuff – as Muzaffar and Walker added 71 for the third.
Now it was Rochdale`s turn for the yips. 78 for two became 91 for seven. Sneds took a pair of remarkable reflex catches, one at slip, one at short leg. Emile Haratbar took four catches.
At least we were now into bonus bowling points territory and though Walker`s half-century helped Rochdale pass the 100 mark, the win was back on.
Malshan and Clarke were bowled out but Kian Farnworth and Olly Lowe partly made up for their yes-no-wait-go-on-then-sorry farrago by taking a late wicket apiece to leave Walker with last man Oddy with three still needed.
Incredibly however, news was filtering through that Crompton were 99 for nine, surely an irrecoverable plight, with even bonus points plural looking unlikely. For so long that game had seemed an hour or so behind ours and difficult to draw conclusions about but things had advanced speedily and in our favour.
When Walker hit the winning four for Rochdale – at three minutes to seven, goodness knows what light we`d have had had 100 rather than 80 overs been bowled in this game – Accrington`s players left the field to the news that Nelson had already won by 44 runs.
Nelson were champions by ten points but crucially there were also ten points between Accrington and Crompton so Accy will play Lancashire League Division One cricket in 2027.
There were the expected loud and joyous celebrations and I was invited to join the ecstatic boys in the dressing room – face-timing Jurie Snyman who had made 86 for Eastern Storm the previous day was a nice touch – but left them to their doubtless beery evening (and the attendant hung-over Monday) after taking a photo or two on the pitch.
I`ve come to love every one of them. When you score for a team you enjoy their individual successes but also feel deeply their bad days and dismissals and shellackings and dropped catches.
Not only because it reminds you of your own worst days on a cricket field but because you have taken to them and the collective cause so committedly that you don`t want to see anyone feel like they`ve let the side down.
Which everybody does of course from time to time but the very essence of being a team is you don`t focus in on that day`s weak link. You remake the chain and go again.
It was a day of mixed feelings for me. I`ll forever have those `and surely Andy Cole must score` feelings about coming close to blowing it on the day.
Perfectionist that I am it still really irks me to this day that we actually lost that bloody game at Anfield in 95.
But I couldn`t be more delighted for everyone at Accrington Cricket Club.
As Jacob told me on Monday: `It’s really important when everything is wrapped up and done for another year that we thank all the volunteers and supporters at the club because without them us players don’t have the privilege of being part of a day like yesterday.
`It isn’t always easy and sometimes you feel like you’ve had enough but it’s those around you that keep you going. We are one big family and we all want the same thing which is Accrington Cricket Club to be the best it can possibly be.
`Gaining promotion yesterday is proof that everybody’s hard work is paying off. I’m incredibly proud of our club. We’ll enjoy this but we want more. I hope everyone winters well, April is just around the corner.`
I’ll have to see what happens between now and next season. I can`t just dump my commitments to Cherry Tree, whose final game was rained off at weekend, but there will be more Saturday fixture clashes. Maybe Mark & I can sort something out.
I’ll miss having games against Church, Rishton, East Lancs, Great Harwood, Bacup and Rawtenstall where I see lots of good friends whenever I visit.
The First Division currently contains a couple of my least-favourite grounds to visit for various reasons. I have to say I’m delighted Enfield stayed up though with Joe Littler playing a starring role. I`m frustrated Haslingden will be off our grid through what I consider a ludicrous points deduction.
But I`m desperate to see how Jurie does in the top flight. And the rest of the lads I`ve grown so attached to.
There might even be a few opportunities to watch Church on my days off. Hopefully they will have a better season. Certain events this summer already mean that it can never be the same as it has been for 45 years going there and we all have a tough winter to get through before then.
See you on the other side! Winter well.
Last weeks answers- Raheem Kasser, Jamie Bohannon, Tom Pettini and Meeran Zia.
Many thanks to Richard at the Observer for publishing the column, all readers who have said nice things and those who have shared and RT`d my ramblings. It means a great deal. To have people like Bumble, David Griffin, Annie Chave, Jon Hotten, Scott Oliver and other cricket insiders do so is exciting but local people and friends like Ian Duckworth, Chris Egan,Bernie Horne and many others sharing my articles means the world to me.
