Alphabetically speaking, that was quite a season...

ECSTASY . . . Stuart Moore (right) and James Cummins celebrate after steering Heyside to Tanner Cup final glory off the last ball against Glodwick.

KEVIN RICHARDSON reflects on a weather-interrupted 2012 Versasteel Saddleworth and District Cricket League Division One season.

AT LAST — After three failed attempts because of the weather, the season finally got under way on May 5.

BOWL-OUT — Cricket’s equivalent of football’s penalty shoot-out saw Hollinwood overcome Moorside in the semi-finals of the Twenty20 Cup.

CHAMPIONS — Bamford Fieldhouse clinched their fifth title in six years. Only a fool would bet against the Hollin Lane gang making it six in seven in 2013.

DENTON West CC — This was the scene of a lame effort from the Saddleworth and District Cricket League representative side in the Readers Inter-League Trophy. Dismissed for 107, they lost by five wickets to the Lancashire County League.

EDGE OF THE SEAT — An exciting Tanner Cup final went to the last ball, with Heyside’s Stuart Moore hitting the winning run to deny Glodwick.

FIELDING — Bamford Fieldhouse were closing in on victory against Uppermill last weekend when Darren Shadford didn’t get his fingers behind the ball and it trickled over the boundary for four. The very next delivery, he parried it over the rope for six. Shadford, with his team-mates chortling in the background, headed straight into the pavilion.

GRASS — Not only does John Morris look after the ground at Friarmere and is often seen at Delph, he was spotted cutting the bowls green at Uppermill last Sunday. The man never stops.

HIGHEST score — Bamford Fieldhouse put 363 runs on the board at Micklehurst. Great effort, that, but they still only picked up five batting points.

INTERNATIONAL — Gerrie Snyman, who plays for Namibia, was a big hit at Heyside. Replacing popular South African Roelof Hugo, he was the first man to reach 1,000 runs and also chipped in with 65 wickets.

JOG — a form of exercise which a lean-looking Shaw captain Andy Young must have done plenty of in the close season.

KILLING TIME — Players and umpires spent much of 2012 sheltering from the elements. Rain had the last say in 52 out of 182 Division One matches. Surprisingly until the final, which finished on a Monday, Tanner Cup ties managed to avoid the wet weather.

LOWEST score — Set by Shaw, they managed just 38 at Bamford Fieldhouse on May 12.

MICKLEHURST — back in the league after a seven-year absence, the lads from Castle Lane struggled to make an impact. However, they kept going to the end and in Danny Clayton possess a fine young talent.

NEW boy — South African Francois Mostert, in his first season in the league, played his part (400 runs and 63 wickets) as Moorside claimed third place.

OLD Trafford — The famous ground was the scene of Bamford Fieldhouse’s victory over Northern in the LCB Cup final.

PROFESSIONAL — Something that Glodwick’s Rehan Rafiq definitely is. Another consistent season with bat and ball, the Pakistani paid man helped Glodwick reach their first Tanner Cup final.

QUALIFIED — Uppermill, Moorside, Heyside and Hollinwood will join Bamford Fieldhouse, the holders, in next season’s LCB Cup competition.

RECORD — Chris Gill set a new best score for the Greenfield club by smashing 182 against Hollinwood on May 12. He went to finish seven runs short of 1,000 for the season.

SIXES — Pro Grant Hodnett smashed 104 not out from just 61 balls as Bamford Fieldhouse beat Heyside in the semi-finals of the LCB Cup. The last of Hodnett’s nines sixes clinched victory.

TWENTY20 CUP — Rain washed out the remaining Twenty20 Cup semi-final. Heyside and Friarmere will now have to wait until next spring to play the game, with Hollinwood awaiting the winners.

UMPIRES — The men in white coats get plenty of stick, but without them there would be no cricket.

VENUE — Glodwick used Moorside’s Turf Pit Lane ground for their Tanner Cup semi-final win over Friarmere and also for the final against Heyside. Rain had put Glodwick’s home out of action.

WEATHER Time — The league’s Weather Time system was used on 19 occasions

X-RATED — the Austerlands bowling figures after Heyside plundered 291 for two in a Twenty20 Cup tie.

YEAR — Apart from winter, the 2012 league campaign encompassed the other seasons which make up a year — spring, summer and autumn.

Zzzzz — I must admit, while waiting in my car for play to start at Saddleworth, I did drop off for a few minutes. Here’s hoping for blue skies in 2013.



EVEN though their hopes of retaining the Saddleworth and District Cricket League title were dashed on the last day, the Uppermill club were still among the silverware.

The Leefields outfit captured the second XI championship, as well as the Brennand and John Bacon trophies.

Uppermill’s first-team captain Alex Griffiths so nearly made it a four-timer for the club, just missing out on the Neil Parish Trophy for the most dismissals by a wicketkeeper.

James Cummins, for so long in the shadows of professional Roelof Hugo at Heyside, edged it. Last season’s winner Adam Brown (Glodwick) and Griffiths were in a tie for second place.

The very capable Cummins was handed the gloves after Hugo returned to South Africa.





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