Visitors to cricket grounds who are wont to stay behind for drinks or a chat after games observed an almost ancient forgotten ritual at weekend - young men in the cultish battle uniform of protective anoraks and white flannels pushing huge domed many-tentacled wheeled beasts across swards of green like a modern version of the Greeks approaching Troy.
For the first time in the 2025 season, the covers have been on.
While gardeners and people you meet at bus stops (at least you do if you've got your OAP pass like me) have been telling us we needed a bit of rain for weeks, us devotees of the greatest game have sneered and whispered "bolleaux" to that. Long may the uninterrupted, sun-kissed Duckworth-Lewis free run fests continue with the outfields like glass and bowlers cursing the lack of any help from cloud cover. Stuff your bedding plants and herbaceous borders.
But nothing lasts for ever and while Friday and Sunday - and certainly Bank Holiday Monday - were rain-affected here and there, my games all concluded without stoppages.
A bit of cloud cover might even give the seamers some welcome respite. I remember former Accrington wicket-keeper Paul Graham, in his later Church spell, would encourage the bowlers who wobbled it around a bit with the puzzling phrase;
"It's coming down like snakes."
Nobody really understood what he was on about it but it sounded good and became the go-to phrase if any movement was abound.
Accrington's weekend saw an exit from the Worsley Cup at the hands of Greenmount, and a league defeat at home to Rishton, a side we'd usually regard as at a similar level but who have started the campaign exceptionally well.
That the rains came about ten minutes after the finish spared us any calculations, not that it dissuaded the Rishton lads from rather curiously telephoning their scorer to update them on likely DL run-rates and targets before there'd actually been any delays. As if we scorers don't have enough to do!
Positives from the weekend included a superb unbeaten 80 from Emile Haratbar in the Cup, making it four amateurs with a 50 (Ali Hasham has a 46) in long-form senior games thus far. The lion's share of the wicket-keeoer's runs came in an unbroken partnership of 110 with Mohammed Tayyib who contributed an unbeaten 39 in occupying the crease for practically the whole of the last half of the innings.
But Greenmount made rather short work of a sub-200 target as might be expected from a side who chased 220 here with overs to spare a fortnight ago.
At least on the first occasion they were given moments of discomfort before winning with three wickets to spare.
Less than a week after cleaning up East Lancs by taking seven wickets in the last six overs our attack found Greenmount a more formidable opponent despite Mo Ali coming on and snapping up the prize scalp of Jacques Snyman almost immediately - his sixth wicket in less than three overs commencing with his Meadows spell.
That was as good as it got however.
Sunday was perhaps a bigger disappointment as I really think we're a good match for Rishton. From 83 for two the innings rather fell away. Twice really. Emile and Mo brought it round again from 112 for seven but 156 never really looked enough and so it proved. We'll need to take more than four wickets in a weekend to win many.
My old captain Eric Barnes (uncle of Neil), a man of many theories some more gnomic than others, used to say you don't often win if nobody gets 50 and it was certainly applicable on Sunday even if the more pedantic lads in the old Church Twos dressing room would argue if everybody got 35 you wouldn't often lose.
On a day when our amateurs largely miss out it seemed we need a Jurie ton to post a competitive target and his dismissal was the pivotal moment.
When wickets are falling I, with my cataracts and general short-sightedness often have to rush out into the corridor and see who the incoming bat is or shout for a clue (not without perils - I put 'Mo" down as "Lowe" one week so i probably end my ears checking too).
This can often lead to an encounter with a highly-vexed lad who's just got out as was the case with our skipper on Saturday who cursed something about being dismissed by a no-ball.
I hadn't a clue what he was on about until i noted the bowler going very wide on the return crease next delivery.
I felt a bit like I used to feel at the foot of the pavilion steps at The Meadows as a pesky small boy asking batsmen returning to the dressing room for autographs, sometimes ignored but often obliged after a smattering of oaths.
I'll get Sneds' some other time.
I made a bit of an effort to get outside at teatime as a couple of old pals from Rishton, Andy Hickey's dad Dave and Graham Lightbown, had come over. Dave is an old travelling Roverite friend of both myself and my wife Lesley from the days when we used to get the coaches with the 'Accy Branch' based at the Black Bull with longtime Accrington cricket fans Ronnie Jarrett and Colin Wolstenholme among the regulars. Lesley once presented former Huddersfield midfielder Martin Fowler with the Branch Player of the Year Award at about ten o'clock one Sunday night in the Bull - less woke times. She was 14!
Graham starred for Great Harwood Town when I used to work as Sports Editor at the Accrington Observer, succeeding Chris Lloyd. Graham was nicknamed "Mavis" by Peter White and the Mionday night Harwood faithful. No., I never asked even tough I'm still fascinated. Graham still turns out for the thirds and made n 80-odd the other week.
Having twenty minutes down in front of the pavilion now and then, it's nice to see a few familiar faces (You literally have no idea who's on in the top office apart from voice recognition) from days when I came to the iMEP (or Thorneyholme Road for decades) with Church and before that East Lancs and even from my Observer news days
The likes of Bernard Dawson and Ian Ormerod were well-known for their council work. They probably don't remember me as an intrepid hound of political news. I didn't really know or care that much what was going on a council meetings I attended although Peter Britcliffe would often collar me and ask: "Jim, did you understand about the precept and ring-fencing of the housing budget?" I'd say no, he'd explain it all to me and I'd walk away none the wiser praying for the day that all I had to worry about was how Stanley were preparing for a trip to Gainsborough Trinity.
In those days characters like Johnny Walker and Roy Evans would be at Accy games. Those two practically financed Colwyn Bay CC for a decade when Lancs played Glamorgan there a few times. After their first couple of visits the Welsh club were sending a sedan chair to pick them up at Llandudno Junction station.
So it's been good over the season to see faces like Phil Hodson and Ted Feathers still around and hopefully I'll see old friends such as Brian Pickett and Brian Rutter by September.
On Sunday my fellow scorer Mark Taylor and treasurer Steve were at Leicester watching Lancs, a pretty harrowing undertaking these days. With Accrington's close ties to the County through the Lloyds, Ratcliffe , Fowler et al it saddens me to see so many players doing well for rival counties who have connections to our local leagues.
I'm sure the current side wouldn't be in any way weakened by the likes of John Simpson, Jordan Clark, Luis Reece and Haseeb Hameed but of course we're talking about a set-up which managed to miss out on Keith Barker Jnr when his football career fizzled out.
My weekend began with a Third XI T20 Friday night game at Cherry Tree which ironically lasted longer (the full 40 overs) than the full-length NWCL game between Cherry Tree and Ossy Immanuel the following day which occupied just 30.
It was a chance, albeit a brief one, to see a few old friends but my favourite moment came talking to stalwart Cherry Tree man Paul Doherty who said he'd captained a development side at Darwen the previous week with him and Mark Hadfield in charge of nine players under the age of 15.
They had taken a bit of a hammering to the tune of 300 plus in 40 overs but "Dots" said they had kept going so enthusiastically and determinedly he had never come off a cricket field feeling prouder.
"I got well looked after as a young cricketer so I'm happy to do the same back," he said.
I know we live in uncertain times with myriad counter attractions for kids and the future of league cricket is in flux, but I have to say, despite hearing a couple of times this week from people more cynical that locally the game is greatly diminished, with guys like that bringing the next generation on, I'm happy that club cricket will be enjoyed in some form long after I'm gone.
Friday night T20 at the iMEP then two Cherry Tree games for me this weekend (cup on Sunday) so rather annoyingly I miss the Church game on Sunday but I'm sure Mark will be able to recognise everyone without having to ask and keep the board in order!
Enjoy your weekend, remember everyone does their best on the field and keep supporting the boys and girls.
