Lancashire League Handbook 2020

21 In the final Ramsbottom batted first and despite not being quite as explosive Zaidi again top scored with 37 as they posted a total of 159/6. Bacup were going well at 98/2 but Serasinghe fell for 56 and they eventually lost by 46 runs which meant that Ramsbottom became T20 Champions for the third time. In the Junior Cup Ramsbottom earned a home draw in the final thanks to a 4 wicket victory in their semi final at Lowerhouse with skipper Dale Gabriel top scoring with 52 not out. In the other semi final Crompton made 227 for thanks to 57 from Glenn Rigby before they bowled Rishton out for 68 with Richard Pertoldi taking 5 of the wickets. The final at Acre Bottom saw Ramsbottom win the toss and decide to bat and post a decent total of 248 for 8 from their 50 overs with skipper Dale Gabriel again top scoring with 45. In reply Crompton fell to 12 for 4 and never really recovered as they were bowled out for 52 with Chris Round taking 4 of the wickets to fall and Matt Burdaky and Owen Collinge 3 each. This is Ramsbottom’s 10th Junior Cup success since the competition was introduced, The 3rd eleven league this year was again based upon 3 divisions in phase one before moving into phase 2 in which the teams in each division played play offs against the teams who finished in the same position in the other Leagues. In 2020 we will have 3 Leagues with promotion and relegation introduced. Walsden, Ramsbottom and Todmorden won their groups and went into the three way play off to decide who would be champions. Runners up were Walsden with Chris Lord scoring 374 runs and Andrew Butcher 289. With the ball Sam Crabtree took most wickets with 26 and Chris Lord added to his runs with 16 wickets. Ramsbottom won both of their play off matches and so clinched the Third Eleven championship for 2019 Top run scorer was Ben Parkinson with 237 supported by Owen Collinge with 189. Ryan Storey took 19 wickets and Chris Round 14. In July Middleton Cricket Club again hosted the annual Under 21 vs MCC match and we thank them for their excellent hospitality once again. This year Bob Dearden offered to manage the side and as ever did a great job. MCC batted first and made 215 for 7 declared in 50 overs. The League XI then raced to victory in just over 27 overs with a century from Matthew Hernon and fifties from Brad Boddie and skipper Kieran Grimshaw in an eight wicket win. My final mention on Team achievements is regarding a cup we have now been able to embrace fully and consequently have started had some success in, particularly in the last 3 years, and in fact this year we were so successful we were represented by two of our sides in the final at Heywood, Darwen, the holders and Norden. Darwen won the toss and invited Norden to bat and they made 146/7 with Joe Humphreys top scoring on 42. Jake Sandham then took 3/9 and Hashum