Lancashire League Handbook 2024

LCL Handbook 2024 21 Crompton batted first and made 219 all out which meant Church knew they were promoted. The weather then meant Church had to chase a Duckworth Lewis revised target of 85 in 21 overs and ended at 75 for 2 with 5 bonus points to secure the title. During the season Church were well served by Sam Holt with 788 runs, professional Asad Shafiq had just 11 innings but amassed 621 runs with 2 centuries and skipper Josh Scully made 487. Mo Bhada took 56 wickets, Assad Shafiq 24 and Andy Bentley 23. Church were so close in 2022 but made it this year. In Second eleven cricket we of course have Two divisions, in Division two there was a battle between Great Harwood and Todmorden for the title but in the end 15 wins and just two defeats with their captain Miles Corish leading the way with 574 runs supported by Russ Whalley with 409 and Christian Oddie with 376. With the ball Mark Hamer took 34 wickets and Nazakat Hussain took 29 andWilliam Armer chipped in with 24. In the Division One, we went into the last game of the season with two teams in contention, Darwen and Burnley, the Champions from 2022, but Darwen had the advantage of knowing that a win from the last game would be enough secure the title and they did this with a home win against Norden. The champions won 14 of their 22 games and had 6 washouts. Scott Jackson was leading run scorer with 260 runs, backed up by Zac Whalley with 247 and Chris Lowe with 226. Andrew Cook took 34 wickets and John Cordingley 23. In Third Eleven cricket we again had 3 divisions with promotion and relegation with 28 teams competing. Division 3 had nine teams and Rawtenstall were runners up with 10 wins and 4 defeats. The winners, Greenmount, won just one more game but had a 24 point advantage by the end of the season. Division 2 had ten teams and the runners up with 13 wins and just 3 defeats were Enfield.The title was taken by Ramsbottomwho were belatedly promoted during the close season to allowWalsden 4th to join the League, Ramsbottom won 14 and lost 4. The overall winners of Third eleven cricket are of course the Division One winners and the margin between the winners and the runners up was 25 points with the champions from the previous two seasons, Gt Harwood 4th XI not quite managing to make it three in a row, Great Harwood 4th XL won 8 and lost 7 compared to the Championship winners Haslingden who had 12 wins and 3 losses which secured their 6th title.