Lancashire League Handbook 2013

14 the month was generally undisturbed, apart from theWorsley Cup and by the end of the month Lowerhouse remained on top with 9 wins from 10 games and a lead of 20 points on 2nd placed Churchwhowere on 87.Accrington trailed Church by 5 points and Enfield by 7. There was further disruption to the weather in July with only a handful of fixtures being played over the weekend of 7th and 8th July which meant that all 5 fixed dates were now used up. On the subject of fixed dates, next season Clubs have decided to reduce them from 5 to 3 which will avoid double headers at the end of the season when Clubs have recently had problems arranging sub professionals due to training camps etc. By the end of July there had been a turnaround at the top of the table with Enfield who had been 4th at the start of the month now leading Lowerhouse by 2 points. Lowerhouse had however played one game less. Two wins by Enfield over Lowerhouse and the form of ProfessionalWerner Cotsee with 26 wickets in themonth had contributed to the turnaround. A run of 20 straight league home wins by Lowerhouse was finally ended by Accrington on 14th July, a remarkable feat and their first since 21stAugust 2010 when Church had beaten them. It was also their first defeat in 15 League matches sinceAugust 2011whenAccrington had beaten them. August brought further disruption and with all 5 fixed dates used up, many no results were encountered with only 2 games completed over the whole of the last weekend of the month. This meant that by the end of the month Enfield and Lowerhouse were joint top on 183 points each, Todmorden 10 behind and Church 13.Accringtonwere 20 points behind the joint leaders. There were now 2 weekends left for the title to be decided with Lowerhouse having a game in hand over Enfield. By the final weekend Lowerhouse led the table on 197 points,10 points in front ofAccrington on 187. On the final day their lead was now 8 and Accrington went top of the table by virtue of an early win over Burnley. Lowerhouse were chasing 164 to win after restricting Ramsbottom to 163 for 8 but 153 would give them 5 batting points which would be enough to retain the title. Jonny Whitehead ended the season as he had begun it, with a half century but wickets fell gradually and at 138 for 6, the Martin brothers formed the partnershipwhichwould retain the Championship and secure the double. Professional Francois Haasbroek scored 530 runs (5 - 50's) and took 53 wickets and 15 catches. Lowerhouse's top performer with the bat was JonnyWhitehead with 624 runs, a top score of 80 and 7 half centuries in total and he didn't turn 18 until the season ended! Ben Heap carried on from 2011 and made 562 runs with 3 half centuries. Chris Bleazard made 384 runs and is now well on the way to joining the 15000