Lancashire League Handbook 2017

16 to the weather and as a League 50 games were recorded as no results. This must also be a record. Burnley took the Holland Cup for the first time since 1975, the 5th time they have been runners up outright. Chris Holt made 781 runs with a top score of 116 against Todmorden and he also took 74 wickets with six 5 wicket hauls and a best of 7 for 25. Top amateur batsman was Vishal Tripathi with 959 runs with one century 140 not out at home to Church and eight half centuries. David Brown made 758 runs with three centuries 127 not out at Church, 101 against Rawtenstall and a massive 162 not out against Nelson at Turf Moor on 5th June, and three half centuries. Skipper Bharat Tripathi topped the amateur bowling contribution with 51 wickets, a best of 6 for 15 and Jehangir Liaqat was next with 36 wickets and a best of 7 for 32. The Second Eleven championship was again taken down to the last match and by fate the two main contenders met to decide the fate of the title and unbelievably it was the same fixture as in 2015 with Todmorden playing Burnley. By the end of May Haslingden led the table by 7 points from Todmorden with Ramsbottom in third and Burnley 4th. The table at the end of June gave an indication that it was likely to be a tight league with Burnley leading Todmorden by 3 points and Haslingden 3 behind them and Ramsbottom a further 2 behind. Todmorden topped the table at the end of July by just 2 points from Burnley and Ramsbottom were now third but the gap was 15 points. August’s table saw Todmorden end the month with a 10-point lead from Burnley and Ramsbottom who were level. All three took maximum points in their penultimate games and so this meant that there could be a three-way tie if the results panned out in a certain way. Ibrar Ali put his mark on the decider though with 7 for 19 as they bowled the reigning champions out for 119 after Todmorden had made 165 all out. In the other match Ramsbottom swept Nelson aside scoring 243 for 9 and then bowled the visitors out for 33 and therefore secure the runners up slot. Main contributors for Todmorden with the bat were Scott Henderson with 413 runs, Kristian Garland with 273 and Munawar Zaman with 259. Ibrar Ali took 65 wickets and Nigel Doyle with 42 and Ilyas Hussain with 35 were his main support.