Woodhouses aim to keep their Lord’s dream alive

ALAN STARMER . . . staying focused.

IT has been a bumpy road at times but Woodhouses are within touching distance of a dream appearance at Lord’s.

They play host to Shipley Hall, from the Derbyshire County League, on Sunday (2pm) in the last-eight of the National Village Cup.

The final takes place at the home of cricket in September, but Woodhouses are not looking that far ahead.

“If we start to think about Lord’s, then we all know what will happen,” said player Alan Starmer. “We’ll end up getting hammered out of sight.

“We’ve got to keep our heads and concentrate on Sunday. We are expecting a large crowd and we want to put on a decent show.

“From a while ago, we realised that we were too far adrift to win the league, so we decided to focus all our efforts on this competition.

“We believe, with the players we’ve got at our disposal, we have a good balance in the side to do well.”

Woodhouses, who play in the Lancashire County League, defeated Great Ecclestone in the area final, before Starmer played a starring role in a thrilling win over Compstall in the first national round.

They required three runs off the last ball to tie the game. But, with all the fielders stationed on the boundary edge, the former first-team captain hit a six to ignite triumphant scenes among players and supporters alike.

Woodhouses experienced no such drama in the last 16 as they cruised to a victory over Fillongley, from Warwickshire.

Starmer went on: “It’s been exciting to play in, although I must admit we have given our supporters a few nervous moments along the way.

“We’ve been second favourites on more than one occasion, but we have managed to pull through.

“We were comfortable winners against Fillongley. In fact, we never looked like losing from ball one, and hopefully we can put in a similar display on Sunday.”

Overseas players are ineligible for the competition, so Australian Luke Swards has to sit it out, while Chris Atherton, Joe Wolfenden and Ian McQueen are unavailable.