I almost feel a fraud today writing up a cricketing weekend.
A rare June Friday night spent somewhere other than at T20 and a Sunday clash which meant I had to let one of my teams down gave me slight withdrawal murmurings and guilt over split loyalties.
Both of Friday’sT20s actually look to have been well worth missing.
Mrs Wilkinson and I were at a small gig at a plush recording studios in Liverpool. Jools Holland and his band were playing literally yards away at a packed Phil across the road but ours was a very Modestly-attended low-key affair as both Accrington and Cherry Tree’s T20s seem to have been.
Accrington lost to Great Harwood to make it three defeats out of three rendering this Friday’s game away at Colne and even next week’s derby with Church - like Accrington now eliminated after triple defeat - largely meaningless.
Not that a Church v Accrington game would ever be completely without edge.
Sub pro and Church legend Levi Wolfenden standing in for Jurie who’s back home for a short visit, was unable to reproduce his Whalley form on his second guest appearance for the club (last one in 2023) and a final-over defeat after posting a moribund 115 for seven possibly sounds closer than it was.
Cherry Tree’s campaign concluded with a home defeat to third-tier Barrowford who play all their games away but are allowed to engage a pro for these games. They chose well in Pakistan Test batsman Muhammad Huraira who has helped them to three wins.
Cherry Tree were at Earby on Saturday, a ground I always enjoy visiting. The people there are so friendly and hospitable
I arrived early having negotiated Colne’s answer to Spaghetti Junction with ease, Nobody else was at the ground so needing the toilets desperately I toddled off avec chien and managed to find the local library open.
I walked Rollo around the village and bought a couple of charity shop books and was stunned to find well hidden from the main drag an estate of new-build houses in a place that is largely so traditionally Lancashire stone-built you could still recreate 1950s kitchen sink movies there.
Sadly nearby Kelbrook Fisheries is no longer open for a teatime dash or post-match plate.
The Cherry lads arrived a little bruised by Friday’s ‘giant-killing” and their mood wasn’t improved by losing out by two runs in a low-scoring thriller where runs were at a premium not least due to the extremely wet outfield.
Applegarth ground is picturesque, but with velodromic undulations at one end, drainage is idiosyncratic with other sloping pockets here and there and often fours became twos, twos became ones and sometimes dots became ones as balls hit in the air plugged en route to fielders.
When Earby’s Robinson struck a four along the floor to a shortish square leg boundary late in the first innings it was as if a portal to a parallel universe had suddenly opened
Both pros batted superbly. Cherry Tree’s Min Bhada was desperately unlucky to be bowled for 66 with three required and the last pair at the crease. After taking five for 29 he deserved more than just statistical MOTM accolades.
Earby’s paid man is a fascinating character and I’ll attempt to write a special piece on him later this week.
Indian-born USA-based 19-year-old Utkarsh Srivastava (he skippers the Under-19 national team) was a bold choice for the border club but he made 65 and took four wickets with his parents over from America to watch They would have enjoyed Sunday even more as he smote 152 (out of 217 all out) against Brinscall (12 fours, nine sixes) helping his team to a cup win before they travelled home early in the week.
The win on Saturday was helped by his four wickets too but the absolute “champagne moment” was a scarcely credible one-handed grab by Utkarsh’s team-mate Nathan Hodge off a full blooded Dan Logan drive to leave Cherry Tree nine down.
The Cherry lads were understandably despondent as the home side celebrated loudly and I feared for them facing NWCL big boys Farnworth Social Circle in the Hamer Cup a day later too.
I feared even more when I saw they were 122 all out (Seven LBW decisions!) only Min with 51 really holding up the Boltonians then on my next check FSC were 101 for five needing just 23 more.
But remarkable fighting spirit saw Aussie overseas Hudson Walshaw and Min Bhada claim the last five wickets between them for the addition of just two runs. Just the four leg before in the second innings, 11 in all.
Cricket, flippin’ ‘eck, you might say.
I’m sorry I missed that but Accrington have my availability on Sundays for most of the rest of the season and Sunday was a particularly poignant assignment for me.
I grew up an East Lancs fan, started scoring for the twos there aged 14, as you know and before any cricket this weekend, spent Saturday morning with my dad, newly resident in a respite care home not far from where I live, visiting him in what we hope will be his temporary lodgings for the first time.
Dad and his passion for East Lancs provided my cricketing DNA so i was able to tell him through the fog his stroke has left him in that I would watch Accy play his boyhood team on Sunday.
I’d always hoped as a boy to do the First scoring job at The Meadows and while I never did, scoring games against them is very special to me even at my age. A
Visiting scorer Haris asked me what I thought would be a par score when Jacob Clarke chose to field and seeing how flat and dry Thorneyholme Road, which drains ever so well these days, looked I replied 200 without hesitation. I’m getting good at this.
Despite a decent opening stand of 36 and a lengthy show of resistance from former Cherry Tree and Oswy Immanuel man Haris Saleemi who made 37 not out, East Lancs fell more than 50 short of that mark.
Sri Lankan Sub pro Tilaksha Malshan got to work and lured both openers to their doom, stumped by Emile Haratbar who took another stumping and two catches for a five-victim haul, the first since Matt Wilson took an identical haul in 2010 against Rishton.
Noah Cronshaw, at 14, snapped up East Lancs pro Amar Ullah, smartly pouched by Malshan at mid-wicket. There is speculation that Noah becomes Accy’s youngest senior league wicket-taker although Eddie Robinson whose birthdate we haven't confirmed, also played at 14,
Kian Farnworth, Jacob and Malshan shared the other nine wickets between them as East Lancs’ innings crumbled, tamely surrendering two vital bonus points. Two of the East Lancs lads needed runners for injuries as the innings began to wear a beleaguered look and Kian might have needed one had he batted.
It looked for a time like my fellow scorer Haris might have to sub field! Thankfully everyone could limp on. I’d have done a couple of overs myself just to say I’d been on the field in a senior fixture but Haris has played Worsley Cup matches.
Another lad who took a league wicket at 14 but is now rather more senior in the tooth, Graeme Sneddon, set about knocking a hole in the target at some lick in tandem with Johnny Dack and the pair briskly made their second 50 opening partnership, their first since opening day at Rawtenstall.
When Johnny went for an impressive 31 at 72 the run rate slowed a little as the skipper played himself in and Sneds sniffed his first 50 since the Covid days of 2021. Neither I nor Mark Taylor can really remember what the rules on attending were back then in the days of vacant Test Match venues and empty football stadia.
I recall Church fans discussing going to Greenmount to watch as you could stand on the main road and see over the wall! How quickly we’ve forgotten that strange tie.
Graeme wasn’t missing out this time though even if crowds and collections aren't what they were in his younger days and when he departed for 53, it was the cue for Malshan and Clarke to unravel some shots and end proceedings at a gallop with more than 20 overs to spare.
I wished I’d bought Sneds the “Clarets Colouring Book” I’d spotted in the Earby Hospice shop at a bargain £1.50 a day before and chipped it into the collection box. Like my other cricketing pals Roger Watson, Ian Osborne, Gerard Metcalf and big Chorley supporter and fellow writer Tony Dawber he’s one of the Clarets-It’s-OK-To-Like for a Rovers fan like me.
The eight-wicket twelve-point victory puts Accrington back clear on top by three points.
This Sunday it’s Middleton away, a ground I’ve only visited once, in 2000 when Mike Watkinson was Church pro. Church lost that Inter-League Cup Quarter Final but spotted a future recruit in Middleton pro tht day, Ruwin Peiris, West End pro from 2004 to 2006.
I’ll enjoy going back particularly as my old school pal Mark Fraser who lives nearby will pop in.Mark played a couple of first XI games for East Lancs in the mid-1970s including an ignominious 26 all out collapse to Church! I often sit by him and his kids/grandchildren at Ewood. You don’t mention Jack Houldsworth or Shafiq to him.
Colne and Middleton - its a good job I don't claim mileage. Cherry Tree have a free date on Saturday, I fancy I'll be at Brinscall v Immanuel whether scoring or just as a speccie.
Anyone wanting to extend the weekend into Monday was disappointed by Lancashire’s meek defeat at Blackpool.
I was back at the care home telling my dear disorientated dad East Lancs got beat, explaining that nobody he remembers plays and none of hs old mates were on. He’s almost 90, bless him.
Last Thursday (we were at two gigs in two nights) I saw a talented husband and wife duo called My Darling Clementine perform. They’ve been on the folk/country circuit for years but now their music-as-therapy helps them deal with the agony of losing their granddaughter Bebe in the 2024 Southport dance class slaying. Puts my family woes into perspective.
We should all remember that however we feel despondency in sporting defeat and elation in victory, it’s all a game, a release, a bit of fun to be enjoyed by those for whom it’s recreation.
Life will eventually find you enough pain and suffering.
Enjoy the wonderful game on your days off.
Quiz - last week’s answer: All the named players scored exactly 1,000 runs in a Lancs Lge season.
This week: Three-parter. Who was the only Accrington wicket-keeper to take 6 stumpings in a game? Which two bowlers did he take 3 each off?. Which legend of the league made his Lancs League debut for the opposition and became one of the victims?
