Lancashire League Handbook 2019

19 Clitheroe 2nds were in with a chance going into their game and made a useful 245 for 5 only to leave the field only to find that Walsden had already won by dismissing Rawtenstall for 76 and then knocked the runs off in just over 7 overs. Josh McDowell, Frankie Jackson and Danny Turner were the main run scorers with 353, 317 and 279 respectively. Danny Turner was top wicket taker with 33 supported by Saud Ahmed with 31 and Assed Mahmood with 29. Will John Green please come forward to collect the JW Lees 2nd Eleven runners up trophy for 2018. Walsden 2nds led the table for a good amount of the season and lost only once and in the end won the league by 8 points. Jonathan Lord was top run scorer with 856 and Gareth Brandwood gave support with 731 runs. Junaid Khan made 570 runs. Brandwood also took most wickets with 54, Shakir Hussain 45 Mubasher Khan 35 and Fiaz Khan 28. In the Junior Cup Burnley earned a home draw in the final thanks to a 14 run victory in their semi final against Ramsbottom with skipper Aiden Tate top scoring with 54. In the 2nd semi final Walsden chased down Nordens 183 in 34 overs with Stuart Hanson undefeated on 75. The final at Turf Moor saw Burnley win the toss and decide to bat and post a decent total of 221 from their 50 overs with Michael Kelly top scoring with 44. In reply Walsden lost early wickets but half centuries from skipper Stuart Hanson with 62 and Jonathan Lord with 53 helped guide them towards a 3 wicket win with a couple of overs left which means that Walsden 2nds completed a League and Cup double in their first season in the League. The 3rd eleven league this year was based upon 3 divisions in phase one before moving into phase two in which the teams in each division played play offs against the teams who finished in the same position in the other Leagues. Walsden, Ramsbottom and Rochdale won their groups and Walsden then won both of their play off matches to clinch the championship. Top run scorer was Fiaz Khan with 411 supported by Jonathan Lord with 372 and Junaid Khan with 242. Chris Lord took 18 wickets and Mark Halstead 17. This completed a clean sweep of all three Leagues by Walsden, quite a start to life in the Lancashire League. Seven amateurs scored 700 or more runs with 9 centuries between them and Josh Gale of Walsden was top amateur run scorer with 817 runs closely followed by team-mate Jake Hooson with 770 and Jack Dewhurst of Clitheroe with 801 in second place. Josh also made the highest amateur score with 160 at Bacup and this earned him the Lancashire Telegraph Tankard award.