By Mike Latham
The Southport and District Amateur Cricket League is one of
the lesser-known leagues but provides an excellent standard of competition for
recreational cricketers in West Lancashire.
The league was formed in 1898 and currently operates three
divisions, its member clubs spread over a wide area from Southport down the
coast past Liverpool to Birkenhead on the Wirral and inland to Wigan.
The Premier Division in theory feeds into the Liverpool and
District Competition but recently the champions have not taken up the
promotion, and so the Liverpool Comp currently operates with 35 member clubs,
and its third tier is one club short.
I took in part of the Premier Division game between Goose
Green and Birkenhead St Mary’s and was rewarded with a run-soaked game of high
drama.
Goose Green CC
Goose Green CC are a relatively new club, formed in 1984 and
have developed a beautiful compact ground on the site of the old Pony Dick Colliery
in the Winstanley area of Wigan.
The colliery was so named after the favourite white pony of Squire
Bankes of Winstanley Hall, who owned all the land in the area including the
colliery.
Approached through a modern housing estate, the ground opens
below and is a small but beautifully maintained cricketing arena surrounded by
woodland.
Goodness knows how many cricket balls are lost during a
season, as on the evidence of this game the toll must be considerable.
Big hitting in the Birkenhead St Mary’s innings
Usually 45 over contests, this league game was shortened to
40 overs per side by rain, and the visitors set about the home bowling. Their
innings closed on 257 for 6 with Mike Bowe undefeated on 143.
Goose Green lost five early wickets in reply, but the middle
order pair of Adam and Josh Ward set about fashioning an astonishing revival.
The former, who doubles up as captain and wicketkeeper, hit an undefeated 111,
the latter 62 and Goose Green earned a famous victory by two wickets with nine
balls to spare.
There are some beautiful grounds to explore in this league,
which has 22 member clubs.
Winstanley Park CC
Winstanley Park, for instance play in the grounds of
Winstanley Hall, Whitefield (Roby) in a woodland flower park.
There are some modern grounds with impressive pavilions and facilities
such as Skelmersdale, Haydock, and Burscough while Birkenhead St Mary’s ground
is located within the beautiful Birkenhead Park.
Mossley Hill CC
Village grounds such as Halsall, Hesketh Bank and Dalton compared
to inner city locations such as Aigburth and Mossley Hill in Liverpool.
One of the biggest grounds is as Prescot & Odyssey where
Merseyside Commonwealth Conference CC groundshare using the second pitch.
The league has an informative Play Cricket website and many
of the day’s matches are covered by live scoring, so if you are in the area, I’d
recommend calling in to watch a game or two.
Cheshire Lines CC
Cheshire Lines CC, who play in the Allerton area of
Liverpool currently top the Premier Division with Earlestown leading the Second
Division, with the season reaching its halfway point next weekend.
Like many leagues the Southport League has faced challenges
in recent years losing some member clubs to the Liverpool Comp or Palace Shield
and seeing Newburgh and Moorfield (Widnes) sadly fold.
Looking back at the Lancashire Cricket Annual of 1970, from
52 years ago, the Southport League had 22 member clubs and of these five remain
members- Burscough, Halsall, Hesketh Bank, New Victoria, and Skelmersdale.
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