Lancashire League Handbook 2019

17 and 5 fifties. Add to this 664 runs from professional Umesh Karunaratne and 519 from skipper Nick Barker you start to understand why they were successful. With the ball 71 wickets from the professional,48 from Jamie Shackleton and 22 from Stevie Barker helped them to bowl sides out in 17 of their 21 completed games. Lowerhouse took the runners up Trophy, the third time they have been winners of the Holland Cup outright. In the final League positions there was a gap of 12 points between 1st and 3rd and for a long time we seemed to have runaway winners but a wet Bank Holiday Sunday and a first defeat of the season meant that the title couldn’t be decided until the last day of the season. Going into the last matches any of the top 3 had a mathematical chance of clinching the title. As it was, all three won their games and this left Ramsbottom in third and Lowerhouse as runners up. For Lowerhouse, skipper Ben Heap led the way with 730 runs and he was aided by Francois Haaesbroek with 636 and we must mention professional Ockert Erasmus who made 515 from 10 innings before being struck down by injury. Francois Haaesbroek was top wicket taker with 42, Paddy Martin took 38 and Joe Hawke 27. And as mentioned earlier Joe Martin had 37 victims behind the stumps. The JW Lees Worsley Cup preliminary round saw wins for Burnley, Ramsbottom, Darwen, Middleton, Colne, Crompton, Lowerhouse and Norden. The next round saw Burnley, Lowerhouse, Norden, Crompton, Darwen, Ramsbottom, Rishton and Rochdale progress to the quarter finals. In the Quarter finals there were wins for Crompton, Lowerhouse, Burnley & Todmorden which produced semi finals at Lowerhouse and Todmorden Lowerhouse hosted Crompton and posted a total of 184, mainly thanks to 66 from skipper Ben Heap and steady 27 not out from Chris Bleazard. In return Crompton made 92 to leave Lowerhouse with a 92 run win and a home draw in the final. At Centre Vale, Todmorden posted a useful total of 237 for 9 with Kai Abbas top scoring with 51 and Ben Pearson contributing 42 at the top of the order. Burnley replied with a 138 run partnership between Chris Holt who made 75 and professional Asif Zakir (86) laying the foundation for a 5 wicket win. The final at the Brooks Foundation Ground saw a record gate of nearly £6500. Burnley won the toss and decided to bat first but wickets fell on a regular basis. ProfessionalAsif Zakir top scored with 42 before falling to an outstanding catch on the boundary by Jonathan Finch leaving Burnley on 105 for 7. Useful knocks from skipper Dan Pickup and Tom Lawson helped the final total to 169 for 9 at the end of the 50 overs.