Whatever happened to the Bolton Cricket League?

By Mike Latham

‘Whatever happened to the Bolton Cricket League?’ someone asked on a popular cricket grounds Facebook site the other day.

‘Alive and kicking,’ replied one of the forum members, who is allied to Horwich RMI.

It was a very good answer, but one that masks a certain amount of concern within the Bolton area for those, especially in a pandemic, who value local cricket and its traditions and do not wish to travel far for their Saturday afternoon game.

As with many cricket leagues, cricket in the Bolton area has undergone vast changes in recent years.

For a long, long time the composition of the Bolton Cricket League was unaltered. The League was born out of a breakaway with the long-established Bolton & District Association, founded in 1888 and one of the country’s longest established leagues.

Kearsley CC

During 1929 talks took place among several clubs, with the result that the Bolton League was formed in 1930. Astley Bridge, Bradshaw, Eagley, Egerton, Farnworth, Heaton, Kearsley, Little Lever, Radcliffe, Tonge, Walkden and Westhoughton the dozen founders.

Horwich RMI CC

Just before the war Horwich RMI replaced Radcliffe, who joined the Central Lancashire League- and there it stayed until 1984 when Farnworth Social Circle joined from the Association, Greenmount from the Lancashire & Cheshire League.

For many years the bitterness between the Association and League persisted, but by the time I started watching league cricket locally in the 1970s many of the old rifts were healing. There was an annual clash between the two organisations for the Trinity Cup- sponsored by a local paper mill. Both representative sides comprised eight of the best amateurs and three professionals.

The Association, to their great delight, often won this annual clash, the games attracting big crowds on a Sunday afternoon in July, showcasing many of the region’s best amateur and paid players.

Little Lever CC

The list of famous players from around the world who have played as professionals in the Bolton area reads like a Who’s Who of cricket. Many were at the start of their careers, often playing in England for the first time. Often, when they later wrote their autobiography these players would pay tribute to the grounding that they received playing in Bolton.

Just off the top of my head players I saw in the 1970s and 1980s in league cricket in the Bolton area included Mark Waugh, Dilip Vengsarkar, Mudassar Nazar, Matthew Hayden, Mark Taylor, Javed Miandad, Mohsin Khan, Phil Simmons, Collis King, Chetan Sharma, Sonny Ramadhin, Steve Dublin and Franklyn Stephenson.

We watched with pride as local cricketers like Mike Watkinson, Steve O’Shaughnessy and Warren Hegg graduated from the Bolton leagues into first-class cricket. Many superb local players like Mike Bennison, David White, Dave Smith, Simon Anderton, Dave Smith, Mark Stewart, Ian Taylor and Keith Eccleshare, to name just a few, were content to play cricket locally and set high standards of performance.

Geoff Ogden recently wrote a fascinating book, Born in Bolton, with detailed biographies of the 38 Bolton born cricketers who went on to play first-class cricket. I intend to review the book in a later blog. It is published by Max Books and is highly recommended.

Cricket in the leagues has always been competitive, local rivalries fierce, the crowds, though not as big as in yesteryear still passionate and knowledgeable.

Blackrod CC

Then along came the big change to cricket locally- the formation of the Greater Manchester Cricket League (GMCL).  Egerton and Greenmount left to join the GMCL for 2016. But the Bolton Association joined up with the Bolton League at the same time, nine clubs entering what became a 21-club competition in 2016: Adlington, Atherton, Blackrod, Daisy Hill, Darcy Lever, Golborne, Little Hulton, Lostock and Standish.

Five years later and the Bolton League is down to 15 clubs as Adlington, Bradshaw, Daisy Hill, Golborne, Heaton and Standish have all left, the latter to the Palace Shield, the other five to the GMCL.

Westhoughton CC

The Bolton League still offers great cricket at some fascinating grounds, some relatively new like Westhoughton and Lostock, others like Eagley (founded 1837) historic.

Eagley CC

Updated scores are recorded on match day on the league’s Playcricket site and whichever ground you visit you’re guaranteed a warm welcome and a great cricketing experience.

I just hope the Bolton League survives and prospers as it can ill-afford to lose any more clubs and hopefully some of the ones which have recently left may be tempted to return.