Hero Carl on a sticky wicket

CARL TAYLOR: sweet and sour in final match.

CROMPTON skipper Carl Taylor has endured a frustrating season, but even he must have been bewildered by the events of Sunday afternoon.

On the final day of the Lake Garage CLL season, second-from-bottom Crompton entertained Radcliffe.

Things looked bleak for the hosts when they were bowled out for 108, but Taylor took the game by the scruff of the neck with a superb display.

Bowling unchanged from the start, the skipper took wickets with regularity and, with Radcliffe still needing five runs for victory, had claimed all nine victims.

Standing on the brink of an amazing 10-wicket haul, he delivered the last ball of his 19th over only to see tail-end batsman Mark Robinson top edge it for six to give Radcliffe victory.

So, having taken nine for 57, Taylor conceded the winning runs and finished on the losing side.

He said: “It was the last ball of my over and the guy at the other end did not look like a batsman. We would have had a full over at him.

“It was the first bad ball I had bowled all day and he hit it off the top of his bat.

“It went up in the air and landed about a foot over the boundary edge.”

Perhaps that just about summed up Taylor and the team’s season.


ROYTON cricket secretary Bernard Wade faces a huge mobile telephone bill after a summer of calls to stand-in professionals.
Contracted pro Luke Procter was on duty for Lancashire on many occasions, so a series of stand-in paid men were needed. Including Procter, no less than 17 represented the Paddock club.

The others were A Wethansinghe, Humayun Farhat, Gaurav Dhar, Michael Swart, Cameron Delport, Pieter Malan, Roelof Hugo, Chesney Hughes, Con De Lange, Jamie How, Khurram Shehzad, Glen Addicot, Mohammed Zaman Khan, Mel Whittle and A Naseer.

With Zaman Khan already secured for next season, Mr Wade should be able to sit back and enjoy his cricket without the worry of finding replacement professionals.

Procter and his Lancashire team-mate Saj Mahmood will attend the club’s family fun day and cricket tournament in aid of the Link4pink Appeal at the Paddock on Saturday (from 11am).

Six-a-side teams (fancy dress optional) are invited at a cost of £30 and further details can be obtained by ringing Therese Hurst on (0161) 626 2527 or Darren Wrigley on 0780 2557020.