Lancashire League Handbook 2014

15 took 69 wickets during the season. Jonny Whitehead continued to go from strength to strength and made 761 runs which helped him earn a debut with Lancashire seconds. Last year I made comment that Chris Bleazard was well on his way to joining the 15000 run club and someone said that he was retiring.Well thankfully that was not quite true and Chris dulymade 648 runs. With the ball, Paddy Martin had his best season with 47 wickets and Fergus Bailey struck 31 times and Joe Hawke and Matt Walker took 26 and 23 in support. Joe Martin provided the safe hands behind the stumps and held on to 42 victims. The Second Eleven championship was a run away triumph. Captained by the returning Mark Gowers they won the championship by 49 points and were defeated only once by 3rd placed Lowerhouse. Top contributor with the bat was Ashley Parkinson with 689 runs backed up by Jackson Garner with 374 and Jamie Pilling's 323. With the ball, Jonny Lees took 38 wickets and Dale Gabriel, 32 Matt Sutton 31 and Rob Fernley also with 31 all made good contributions. This was Ramsbottoms's 11th 2nd eleven championship, their first since their back to backwins in 06/07 . Nelsonwere runners upwith a credible 207 points, 15wins and 6 defeats. Chris Heap was leading run scorer with 457 followed by Syed Shah on 393, ToxyHussainwith 327 and Colin Pembertonmade 300. Simon Doane was top wicket taker with 27 and Toxy Hussain weighed in with 26. Lewis Hillman with 24, Colin Pemberton 23 and Elliot Bradley with 22 also gave good support. The 3rd eleven league was far less decimated by the weather than in 2012 as only 6 matches were abandoned. It was a close call but eventually Nelson took the Championship for the fourth time. In the Worsley Cup, their were first round wins for Burnley, Colne, Lowerhouse, Ramsbottom, Rishton and Haslingden and they were joined in the second round byNelson and Rawtenstall. Victories for Burnley, Haslingden, Lowerhouse, and Nelson produced semi finals at Burnley against Lowerhouse andHaslingdenwho hostedNelson. The first semi final was Haslingden v Nelson where the home side won the toss and batted, amassing 254 for 8 from their 50 overs, Professional Brenton Parchment top scored with 70 and was ably supported by skipper Graham Knowles with 51 and Phil Heyes with 66. Nelson's reply was based around a century from Professional Ryan Canning