Walsden C & B C First Team - Lancashire League
Winners 2018.
Season 2018 was
eagerly anticipated being Walsden’s first in the
expanded Lancashire League with 24 teams playing one another once with the top
12 forming the top division and the other 12 the bottom division in 2019.
The first
game of the season at Nelson was rained off as was the entire league program with
the games being replayed in mid August.
Walsdens
first game was a home encounter against Rishton which
was won comfortably with Rishton being dismissed for
only 78, Jamie Shackleton taking an amazing 6 for 9. The second game was
expected to be an extremely tough encounter at Lowerhouse
who were eventual runners up to Walsden. Umesh with 88 not out and Josh Gale 56 lead the way for Walsden setting a challenging total of 230. Three wickets
apiece for Umesh, Joe Gale and Shack lead to Lowerhouse being dismissed for 127. A
very good start.
Haslingden
visited Scott St in early May and managed a reasonable total of 201, however 70 n.o. from Jake
Hooson, 42 from Nick Barker and 56 n.o. from Umesh saw Walsden home in 42
overs. Next were Milnrow at home who were dismissed
for only 35 with Shack and Stevie Barker taking 5 wickets apiece.
Mid May saw Walsden have 3 games in a weekend which
could is now termed the “Joe Gale Weekend”. Joe hit 102 n.o.
off 45 balls in the T20 game at Milnrow which Walsden won on Friday evening, he then scored 62 not out in
another tough game versus Rochdale on the Saturday
before demolishing Formby in the Lancashire Cup on the Sunday with a superb 148
not out off just 92 balls. Rochdale
set a challenging 229 in the Saturday game but 43 from Hooson, 59 from Matt
Dawson and Joe's match wining knock saw Walsden home
off 47 overs.
Sunday’s
game against Formby was all but over at tea time after Joe had dispatched the
ball all over the park to help Walsden set Formby 298
off 45 overs. They were dismissed for only 112 with Shack 4 wickets and Umesh 5 making short work of the opposition.
Late May
saw Walsden visit the impressive Darwen
team in the Worsley Cup. Darwen
amassed an excellent 290.
Walsden managed 262 in reply with Josh Gale
contributing an excellent 98. This was the first of Walsdens
3 defeats in all games (excluding T20) during the entire season. Walsden had a comfortable league win at Enfield the day
after, where Enfield scored 184-8. Excellent knocks from Hooson 67n.o., Nick Barker 47 and Umesh
39 n.o. saw Walsden home
off 42 overs.
In early
June Ramsbotton visited Scott St in another top of
the table clash. Walsden were superb in the field and
restricted Ramsbotton to 189. Josh
Gale and Umesh taking 4 wickets apiece. A superb 106 n.o.
from Josh Gale off 122 balls and 45 from Rawlinson saw Walsden
home off 44 overs. This win meant that Walsden went
to the top of the table where they remained for the rest of the season.
Saturday 9
June was a memorable day at Bacup when Josh Gale
scored a punishing 160 off 151 balls which was the highest score by any Walsden amateur in limited overs (passing his brothers
record of 148 achieved a few weeks earlier against Formby) and the highest ever
score on Bacup’s Lanehead
ground. A fantastic achievement by a very good cricketer.
Walsden amassed 306 with Nick Barker also
contributing 79. Umesh and Shack blew Bacup away for 143 with 5 wickets apiece.
An easy win
in the Lancashire Cup at home v Greenfield followed before Norden
visited Scott St for what traditionally has been a very difficult game. However not this time with Shack taking 5 for 38 in Nordens total of 75. Hooson 29 and Rawlinson 29 n.o. made short work of Norden’s
total.
22 June 18
was Walsdens first competitive visit to Todmorden in the T20 competition. A large crowd saw Todmorden score 162 with Ben Pearson scoring a very good
85. In a nail biting finish Walsden scored the
winning runs off the last ball of the game having lost 8 wickets.
Another
large crowd watched Walsden’s first visit to
Clitheroe on a glorious June day. 64 from Josh Gale and 51 from brother Joe were the main contributors in Walsdens 244-8. Walsden bowled
very well to dismiss Clitheroe for 176 with Umesh
taking 4 wickets including the key wicket of Pakistan international Fawad Alam.
Next
visitors to Scott Street were East Lancs who were
dismissed for only 76 with Shackleton bowling superbly to take 6-34. Walsden knocked off the runs for the loss of 3 wickets with
Rawlinson top scoring with 38 n.o.
In early
July Crompton visited Scott St in the last 16 of the LCF Cup. Walsden scored a useful 238 with
Hooson, Nick Barker and Rawlinson all contributing 40 odd. Walsden
dismissed Crompton for 127 with the Umesh/Shackleton
double act taking the wickets.
Walsden’s
involvement in the T20 competition ended in the last 8 in early July when a
superb 256 by Clitheroe off their 20 overs at Scott St was too much for Walsden to chase down despite 60s from Umesh
and Joe Gale, who were eventually dismissed for 190.
Another
blistering performance the day after at Colne from
Joe Gale with 119 n.o. off only 49
balls and 86 n.o. by Umesh
saw Walsden amass 330-4. Colne
were dismissed for 162 with Stevie Barker taking 4-28 and Martin Harlow 3-37.
Next on the
receiving end were Great Harwood at Scott St when Walsden
scored a L L season high of 355-8 (the fourth highest
score in LL history) with 102 from Umesh, 76 from
Josh Gale and 58 by Matt Dawson. Umesh then took 7-39
(the best professional bowling performance of the season) to dismiss Great
Harwood for 182.
Another
tricky encounter in late July was at Turf Moor, Burnley
where the home team scored a challenging 189 after Shackleton and Harlow had
taken 3 wickets apiece. However an excellent 103 no off 111 balls by Nick
Barker and 55 from Hooson saw the visitors to their target off 41 overs.
Another very
challenging game was Walsdens visit to eventual
Liverpool Competition winners Northern CC in the last 8 of the Lancashire
Trophy. Another great game ensued which Walsden narrowly lost in the penultimate over. Walsden scored a reasonable 193 off their 45 overs with Umesh scoring an excellent 76 and Josh Gale 43 against a
very good Northern attack. At 48-3 Walsden were very
much in the game but an excellent 67 no from Northern captain Cole saw Northern
home.
Walsden
were denied another victory against Littleborough at
Scott St by, unusually in 2018, the rain. Walsden
scored an excellent 281-6 with Jake Hooson hitting a classy 98 accompanied by
Dawson 51 n.o. and Rawlinson 45. Littleborough
were 51-1 off 13 overs when the rains intervened to result in a draw.
Another
tricky encounter was the visit to Crompton's Glebe Street ground. Walsden were surprisingly invited to bat and another superb
93 from Hooson helped Walsden to 277-7. Crompton were dismissed for 154 with Umesh
taking 4 wickets and Hooson 3 capping a fine day for the talented young all rounder.
Perhaps the
best game of the season was Todmorden’s first league
visit to Walsden. Todmorden
batted first and scored 176 on a difficult wicket with Umesh
taking 5-41. At 20 -4 Walsden were looking like their
first league defeat may be on the cards,
but 38 from Umesh, 62 from Joe Gale (to win him the
man of the match) and a superb late order rear guard just saw them home with
Cameron Hanson 14 n.o. and Martin Harlow 16 n.o. scoring the winning runs for the loss of 8 wickets, allowing
Walsden to win their first silverware of the season, the
Donald Rigg Challenge Trophy presented annually to
the winners of this game in loving memory of Donald, Miriam Claxton and David
Blake.
Another
potential stumbling block was the game at Accrington,
where the home side were dismissed for only 108 on a
difficult wicket with Shack taking 4-40. However a steady tumble of Walsden wickets meant another nervy finish before Stevie
Barker 12 n.o. and a brilliant 57 n.o.
from opener Josh Gale guided Walsden home.
The rain
affected rearranged first game v Nelson away was the next game in mid August and was again rain affected. Nelson managed 94 -7
off their 23 overs. The runs were chased down quickly with an impressive 42 n.o. from skipper Nick Barker.
In late
August 2018 Middleton visited Scott St. A magnificent 132 n.o. off 161 balls from Jake Hooson well supported by Josh
Gale 66 and Umesh 41 saw Walsden
amass 314-5. Middleton were never in the game with
Hooson taking 5-19 in a brilliant all round performance by him to dismiss the
opponents for 169.
Going into
the last 2 games on the season Walsden needed one win
from the last 2 games. Unfortunately the penultimate game was at home against the very good Darwen outfit. Sub pro Lancs
skipper Dane Villas top scored with 48 in the visitors 256 with good
contributions all round from the rest of the team. At 20-3 Walsden
were rocking and despite a battling 59 from Rawlinson and 22 from Hanson, Walsden were never in the hunt and were dismissed for 193
which was their first defeat in the league all season.
This meant
that Walsden had to win at Rawtenstall
to claim the title and deny Lowerhouse who were only
6 points adrift of Walsden. A superb 106 by Rawtenstall sub pro Powar meant
that Walsden needed 184 to clinch the title for Walsden after Umesh had again
bowled well to take 6-60. After a nervy start Jake Hooson and Nick Barker
steadied the ship. A belligerent 39 off only 22 balls by Joe Gale in fading
light with time running out gave Walsden the impetus
they needed to gain victory with skipper Nick Barker carrying his bat for a
match winning 59 n.o. A very nervy affair for players and spectators alike.
With Walsdens second team also wining the league on the same day
a great night of celebration ensued (the seconds also won the Telegraph Trophy). A week later Walsden,s
third team also won their league meaning that Walsden
were the only club in Lancashire League history to win all three divisions in
the same season.
Walsden
firsts lost only 1 game all season but were only 6 points clear of the
excellent Lowerhouse who were runners up, with Ramsbotton coming third and Lancashire Trophy winners Darwen who were 4th. All four were very good teams.
The first
team league win was their 5th league title in the last 7 years and their third
on the trot with two Pennine League Premier League
Championships now followed by the Lancashire League.
As in
previous years the strength in depth of both the batting (with 5 batsmen
scoring hundreds) and bowling units, along with the commitment week in week out
of this brilliant group of local cricketers was the main reason for this
success, as the excellent averages/statistics below illustrate. The fielding
and catching was excellent with Cameron Hanson leading the fielding unit by
example, whilst Matt Dawson behind the stumps remains the best around.
Remarkably
Josh Gale with 817 league runs was the highest run scorer in the entire league (including
professionals) whilst Jake Hooson was 4th with 770 runs.
Umesh was
the L L leading wicket taker in League games with 71
wickets and Jamie Shackleton 5th on the list with 48 league wickets.
Walsdens
first season in the Lancashire League was very enjoyable and everyone is
already looking forward to playing in the top division of what should be a very
competitive league in 2019.
Chris Barker October 2018.
STATISTICS
RELATING TO THIS GREAT SEASON ARE SHOWN BELOW –
WALSDEN CC FIRST X1 BATTING (includes Worsley
Cup & LCB trophy – excl T20)
|
NAME |
INS |
NO |
H/S |
RUNS |
AVE |
|
Umesh Karunaratne |
24 |
10 |
102 |
824 |
58.86 |
|
Joe Gale |
17 |
4 |
148 no |
602 |
46.31 |
|
Josh Gale |
27 |
2 |
160 |
1042 |
41.68 |
|
Stevie Barker |
12 |
8 |
37 |
155 |
38.75 |
|
Jake Hooson |
27 |
5 |
132 no |
835 |
37.96 |
|
Matt Dawson |
12 |
4 |
59 |
256 |
32.00 |
|
Nick Barker |
25 |
4 |
103 no |
636 |
30.28 |
|
James Rawlinson |
24 |
5 |
59 |
496 |
26.11 |
|
Jamie Shackleton |
4 |
3 |
11 no |
21 |
21.00 |
|
Cameron Hanson |
7 |
2 |
22 |
91 |
18.20 |
|
Martin Harlow |
7 |
4 |
19 |
42 |
14.00 |
|
Gareth Branwood |
2 |
1 |
13 no |
13 |
13.00 |
|
Junaid Khan |
1 |
0 |
12 |
12 |
12.00 |
WALSDEN CC FIRST X1 BOWLING
|
NAME |
OVERS |
MAIDENS |
RUNS |
WKTS |
AVE |
|
Umesh Karunaratne |
252.5 |
23 |
975 |
83 |
11.75 |
|
Jamie Shackleton |
245.1 |
51 |
872 |
61 |
14.3 |
|
Jake Hooson |
75.2 |
33 |
299 |
20 |
14.95 |
|
Joe Gale |
102.4 |
17 |
414 |
18 |
23.00 |
|
Stevie Barker |
193 |
33 |
702 |
28 |
25.07 |
|
Martin Harlow |
50.3 |
2 |
269 |
10 |
26.90 |
|
Josh Gale |
80 |
4 |
329 |
12 |
27.42 |
|
Nick Barker |
9.4 |
2 |
57 |
5 |
11.40 |
|
Shakir Hussain |
3 |
0 |
19 |
0 |
- |