The Village Cup

The National Village Cup

Since 1972, The Cricketer administered the Village Cup has been inextricably linked with the English summer. Each year around 300 clubs from villages across the British Isles battle for the chance to play in the final at Lord’s, the home of cricket.

No other sport offers this opportunity to the grassroots level of their game where even the smallest village team can ‘live the dream’ and tread the same hallowed turf as England skipper Joe Root and co.

A village shall be deemed to be a rural community consisting of not more than 10,000 inhabitants. Exceptions can be made. Please contact The Cricketer for clarification. Note: county council figures cannot in all cases be said to represent the population, since often other villages and hamlets are put together for council purposes. When in doubt, the organisers should be consulted, including decisions about mergers. Market towns are not eligible, regardless of the population figure.

History
At a meeting in the committee room at Lord’s, chairman of the National Cricket Association Aidan Crawley looked out of the window and remarked that he had always wanted to see village cricketers play on the hallowed turf.

Ben and Belinda Brocklehurst formed a plan of campaign with The Cricketer. They agreed what constituted a village, adding that it should be a ‘rural community surrounded on all sides by open countryside.’ The competition was launched via magazine promotion and more than two thousand village clubs were also written to. By the end of the 1971 cricket season, 785 clubs had been divided into 32 regional groups, whose local knock-out competitions would provide the starting point of the inter-group stages and thereafter the national rounds.

Commitment to the grassroots
The Cricketer recognises the importance of grassroots cricket and showcases those communities involved in getting village teams onto the park each week. Through the Village Cup we aim to raise awareness of the rural game and to provide the opportunity for clubs to compete against new teams and make new friends.

Woodhouse Cricket Club and The National Village Cup Competition 1973-2011

The club first entered this famous competition in 1973 when it was sponsored by John Haig the whisky distillers (remember those famous dimple bottles of whisky!). There were over 900 village club entrants back in those early days.

The club has had many great games in the competition and what follows is a small recollection of some of the most memorable matches, in particular the first few years.

The Club progressed to the Group Semi-Finals in the first year against local rivals Delph from the Saddleworth League.

In the second round the game against Newburgh will be a match Steve Dewhurst will never forget. Woodhouses batted first and found runs difficult to score and at a premium. With half of the prescribed 40 overs gone only 40 runs were on the board for the loss of 2 wickets. Woodhouses closed on 148-9 thanks mainly to Steve Dewhurst who crashed the ball all around the ground in the final overs for an excellent 33. He then immediately ripped through the early order Newburgh batsmen taking a wicket in the first over and two in his third. A brilliant pick-up and direct hit on the wicket by Dewhurst sealed the fate of the only Newburgh batsman to offer any resistance and he finished off the a magnificent personal performance by claiming two excellent caught and bowled to finish with figures of 6.4 overs 1 maiden 10 runs for 5 wickets. Newburgh bowled out for just 37.

The next round the club played Wrea Green near Kirkham. This was to be the first of many encounters with this club over the years. The ground was in the middle of the village green which also had a duck pond immediately alongside one part of the boundary edge. The green was encircled by many picturesque cottages and in one corner was a typical charming old world country pub with stables at the rear in which the players changed. When the match started, customers emptied the pub with their drinks to watch the game and all the villagers from the cottages got out their easy chairs to spectate from their front gardens. Woodhouses put in a very professional performance winning easily by 7 wickets. Only 2 balls were lost in the duck pond! The setting and atmosphere had been a memorable experience and typified what the Village Competition was all about. It was visits to grounds like this really made it for the club and its spectators a must to enter the competition. Sunday lunches for the spectators in nearby pubs also played a large part in making the days out so enjoyable!

The club failed in the Group Semi-Final against Delph when they were narrowly defeated by Delph by 12 runs. It could have been a different story but for the contribution of their Umpire. Woodhouses started very well and replied with a brisk opening stand of 45 before Hardman, who was 26 at the time and looking in good form, was somehow adjudged lbw to Bacon. The Umpire just happened to be the bowler’s brother and Chairman of the Saddleworth League! He went on to give some more contentious decisions.

Whilst the competition had ended on a disappointing note the Club had thoroughly enjoyed the experience. The club had also developed quite a large band of loyal and dedicated ‘Haig’ followers who were to remain constant in future years, enjoying many more Sundays out in the future, in particular Sunday lunches at local pubs!

In 1975 the first round saw the Club win a cliff hanger at Walshaw. Walshaw were bowled out for 138 off the last ball chasing a total 139. This was to become the first of the start of a number of nail-biting finishes in the competition that year.

Comfortable victories in the next 2 rounds against Caton and Houghton led to a Group Semi-Final match against Withnell Fold. This was a memorable battle with the result once again hinging on the last ball. After four and a half hours of superb cricket Withnell Fold skipper Smith needed to score 12 off the last two deliveries. Young Woodhouses bowler Alan Starmer saw the first ball disappear over the trees and out of the ground for a huge six leaving Smith poised to repeat the act for victory. When Smith failed to connect the Woodhouses supporters were cheering but this joy was short-lived as the Umpire had signalled a wide. Starmer had the unenviable task of bowling the ball again but fortunately Smith missed the ball and Woodhouses were through to the Lancashire Area Final.

Woodhouses had seemed to have things sewn up when they cracked 208-9 from the 40 overs. Peter Rushworth was the hero with an action packed innings of 82 and he was well supported by Alan Starmer (34 not out), Alan Atherton (24) and Norman Clee (20). Rushworth had slammed three sixes and eight fours.

In reply Withnell were struggling against Dewhurst (3-28) and Clee (2-26) until Sharples, helped by some dropped catches and a missed run-out, started to flay the Woodhouses attack. Sharples cracked a magnificent 98 before being caught out on the boundary edge trying to slam a six for his century.

With three overs left Withnell needed 21 to win but the in-form Kenyon (43) was out to a hotly disputed catch on the boundary edge. Starmer was once again involved. Some of the home crowd claimed he had taken the catch over the boundary edge but after 3 agonising minutes of discussion on the field, Kenyon was finally given out.

The match continued on a knife edge, every delivery and run greeted by cheers until the last ball drama.

Lancashire Area Final

The Group Final would be played at Woodhouses on the 29^th June 1975 against northern Haig Giants Read, the Ribblesdale League Champions no less! They had an excellent record in the Village Championship and the bookmakers made them clear favourites to go through. Read telephoned the club to tell them they would be bringing 500 spectators. Cup fever gripped the village of Woodhouses and the club had to make detailed preparations for its biggest day since it was formed in 1908. Fortunately the long hot summer of 1975 continued and this made preparations for the wicket for the big day a lot easier.

It was clear from the outset from the feedback Woodhouses had on Read they would certainly have their work cut out in the Final. Their cause was not helped by the absence of one of their front line bowlers, Richard Belfield. Richard could always be relied upon to bowl his Haig allocation of 9 overs economically with normally a couple of wickets. The Club would also be without their professional, Brian Priestley. The bowling would be severely tested particularly as the rules laid down that a minimum of 5 bowlers were needed for the 40 over match. This certainly proved to be the case on the day.

A portable stand to seat 150-200 spectators was built by members using scaffolding materials supplied by Alan Starmer’s father. 20 extra barrels of beer were ordered for the day and a local farmer loamed two fields as temporary car parks for a game that was expected to draw the biggest crowd in the history of the club. The local newspaper in the week leading up to the game reported “ The village near Failsworth, which boasts one main street, is ready to turn out in force against the 500 followers which Read will be bringing for the Lancashire zone final at Woodhouses”.

The image below shows the squad used in the Woodhouses Team for the Village Cup that year. To the left of the players can be seen the end of the temporary stand erected for the Read match.

Back Row (L-R) Barrow Gaskarth, Alan Jackson, Norman Clee, Richard Belfield, Steve Dewhurst, David Tuson

Front Row - Stephen Jackson, Alan Atherton, Peter Rushworth, David Hardman and Alan Starmer

The tie certainly set the village alight and they turned out in force on the day to support their village team and swell the number of spectators to 1500.

The day dawned and it was a beautiful hot summer’s day with the temperature exceeding 80 degrees. Admission was by programme which cost 10p (had the Club printed enough!). On the morning of the game the Club feverishly carried out the last minute wicket preparations in readiness for the game. The wicket was marked and given its last rolling and manicure. It looked a magnificent track with that wonderful white bleached appearance from many days of hot sunshine beating down on it. It was reminiscent of a shirt front laundered with loving care by a Chinese refugee. The stage was set and the players were at the ground early to have a net and prepare mentally for the game.

Read arrived with their coaches full of spectators and they had not overestimated the strength of their likely following. They quickly decided where they were going to camp out territorially for the game and took their seats. Many of the villagers had arrived earlier to stake out their places and a friendly banter started between the two sets of supporters. The beer started to flow, the spectators became even more chatty and vociferous and the scene was set for a truly remarkable game of cricket. There was already a charged and expectant atmosphere when the two Captains walked out to the wicket to toss the coin.

The Woodhouses skipper, Ken Mawman, made what was to be his only mistake of the afternoon by losing the toss and without hesitation his opposite number Waddington elected to bat. The Read openers set about the Woodhouses main attack as though runs were going out of fashion and with three of the first five batsman getting fifty the target was beginning to look unattainable. Neither Read nor the home side reckoned on the master stroke that skipper Mawman then pulled bringing on Dave Tuson, a very occasional left arm spinner. So occasional he had not even bowled a single over that season! His first over brought him a wicket, his second a harvest of runs, 23 to be exact, his third another wicket and his fourth another dozen runs. With Read sitting comfortably placed at 260-6 with three overs to go and the 300 looking definitely on, Dave came on to bowl his fifth over. Read attempted to make hay and smash boundaries but an unbelievable 4 wickets in 4 balls with no runs scored followed and Tuson finished with figures of 6 for 44.

Woodhouses, desperately needing a good start, got just that from Dave Hardman and Norman Clee. Hardman making 61 out of a first wicket stand of 96. Clee went on to make a hard earned 80 while Alan Atherton clobbered 88 invaluable runs, a very fine innings and arguably his best ever for the club in the circumstances. With tension mounting in this pulsating match Peter Rushworth went and Alan Starmer was run out leaving Tuson and Steve Dewhurst to get 7 runs off the final six balls. The pair nudged some singles and aided by an overthrow got to within 1 run of Read’s total. Dewhurst gloved away the last ball of the match to scamper a single and give Woodhouses victory despite a tie on 260 having lost fewer wickets. This put the Club through to the last 32 in the competition.

Steve Dewhurst

Norman Clee

Alan Atherton

Top Row – B. Gaskarth, D. Hardman, A. Jackson, A. Starmer

Middle Row – S. Jackson (Scorer), D. Tuson, D. Robinson, N. Clee, R. Belfield, A. Robinson (Umpire)

Bottom Row – A. Atherton, P. Rushworth, K. Mawman, B. Priestley, S. Dewhurst

The 1500 or so spectators went home having been entertained to a thrilling match which was fought in a magnificent spirit all the way through the game. Amongst the spectators was Jess Davies a former player pre and post the war. Jess was Richard Belfield’s father in law and he was a nephew of the founder of the club Jesse Clare.

The next round saw the club drawn at home against Etherley from near Bishop Auckland who played in the Durham League. With expectations high the villagers turned out in force again to support their team. On an overcast day with the ground bulging again at the seams Woodhouses won the toss and decided to field.

Etherley looked nothing more than workmanlike in gathering 155. The Woodhouses bowling was tight with Norman Clee taking 3 for 39, Steve Dewhurst 2-30, Alan Jackson 2-31, Richard Belfield 1-23 and David Tuson 1-14.

Openers Hardman and Clee started excellently putting on 70 for the first wicket off only 15 overs. Both looked untroubled and made the Etherley attack look ordinary. Hardman then went for 46. Norman Clee ushered the score along to 90 without much trouble but then a series of wickets fell and from 91-1 it was suddenly 91-4 and Etherley were back in the game with their tails up. Wickets continued to fall at regular intervals but Rushworth steadied the ship before eventually going for 34. Eventually at 9 down, just 4 runs were needed off 4 deliveries but Richard Belfield, trying to thump the winning boundary, was bowled sending Etherley through to the next round.

So another close encounter but unfortunately it was not to be Woodhouses’ day. It was a game that was there for the taking so the disappointment was huge and very much an anti-climax after the last round. Not even this though could take away the memories of a wonderful run of thrilling close run games in the competition. If anything, it only firmed up the resolve of the club to get to a Final at Lord’s at some stage in the future.

In 1976 Woodhouses reached the Area Final again with victories along the way over Delph and Dobcross (sweet revenge for two year’s earlier!), Greenmount, Withnell Fold and Mawdsley. Woodhouses travelled to Lindal Moor in the Lake District. Lindal Moor won deservedly even though they had to rely largely on Bill Knight an all rounder who had a great day with both bat and ball. He hit an immaculate 74, took two catches and finished off the Woodhouses tail with 5-17.

1977 saw an exit from the competition in the first round with a surprise loss to Uppermill and did not enter the competition in 1978 due to commitments in the LCA competition. In 1979 Woodhouses progressed to the Lancashire Area Final again with wins over Brooksbottom. Greenmount and Lindal Moor only to have their hopes dashed by Read who were the much better team on the day.

In the 1980s there was little success until 1986 when the club progressed to and won the Area Final. The 6^th Round saw the club travel to Warkworth in the North East. The ground was in the shadows of the beautiful Warkworth Castle so it was rather eerie fielding in the semi darkness with the clanging of broadswords emanating from a mock battle in the castle.

In the end the club won the game reasonably comfortably. Woodhouses scored 181-5 with Mike Atherton scoring 71 and Warkworth totalled 146. There was a point in time however when it was touch and go when one of their batsman took a particular liking to Dave ‘Dibble’ Kingham. He hit him for four consecutive boundaries including two rather large sixes. In Dibble’s next over, to try and make life more difficult for this hard hitting batsman, he decided to bowl round the wicket to try and cramp his style. His first ball was hit harder and longer than any previous ones and towered over the houses situated well back beyond long on. It was as big a six as most of our players could ever remember seeing and they were quick to point this out to Dibble! Fortunately ‘the old dog’ (as he had become affectionately known in his later playing years) Richard Belfield bowled him in the next over to save Dibble’s blushes and the side were on their way to Forge Valley in the quarter finals. With Mike in the team the club was able to field a very strong X1 so Lord’s seemed a distinct possibility.

The match against will be remembered for 2 main reasons. Woodhouses batted first and scored 187 but before the innings started the regular scorer from Forge Valley had to ask their captain for the names of 4 of their players as he did not recognise them. It transpired that they had brought in 4 ringers from Scarborough to strengthen their team! The Woodhouses opening pair of Hardman and Leighton had put together a decent start before Hardman departed and Mike Atherton got to the wicket and took guard. The wicket had played well but Mike’s first ball reared up and wrapped him on his gloves. It broke a finger and Mike was not able to take any further part in the game which was a huge loss to the side. Not only for the runs he would have undoubtedly scored but also because he was earmarked as a front line bowler on the day with 9 overs of leg spin to bowl. Forge Valley scored the required runs in the penultimate over but even the neutral observer felt they would have been second favourites had Mike been able to take a full part in the game. In all the years he played first class and Test match cricket against the best and quickest fast bowlers in the world he never once sustained a similar injury. Forge Valley went on to win the Final at Lord’s that year and Woodhouses were left dreaming about what might have been and whether they were ever destined to get to Lord’s.

In 1992 The Club reached the National Quarter Finals of the Rothmans Village Knockout Competition.

Back Row: I.Steele M.D.W. Heppell, D.A. Robinson, S.R. Thompson, M. Wakefield,

Front Row: C. Whitehead, C. Atherton, D. Kingham, M. Newey (Capt), M. Akin, P. Shaw

In 1994 The Club had progressed beyond the Group to the last 16 with a match against Bardon Hill. Bardon Hill had racked up 233-1 but the team felt confident of knocking them off on what was a beautiful batting wicket with an extremely quick outfield. Bad weather prevented Woodhouses batting and normal conclusion of the tie so it had to be decided on a bowl out which was unfortunately lost. Doug Sloan will be remembered in this for deciding, for whatever reason, to take his normal long run out only to deliver a bouncer!

In a match (in the previous round to the Bardon Hill game) in Leicestershire the game will be remembered in particular for a quick fire stand of 100 in only 8 overs by Dave Kingham and Martin Newey where the spectators witnessed some of the cleanest hitting they had ever seen!

A number of years passed without any significant progress in the competition but in one year in one of the later rounds, there was another memorable match against Plumtree at Medlock Road. The visitors had posted a score of well over 200 and The Woodhouses Innings got off to a poor start with the loss of a wicket in the first over. What followed was a remarkable partnership between Alan Starmer and Dan Britten who knocked off the remaining runs in a record 2^nd wicket partnership for the club. Both Dan and Alan scored flawless unbeaten centuries.

In 2008, the Club’s Centenary Year, the club had another great run in the Village Cup but it was heart breaking to lose against Woodhouse Grange in the semi-final of the competition. They were the stronger team on the day and they went on to win the competition as they had done on previous occasions.

2011 – The Road to Lord’s Persimmon National Village Cup

This was the year that the Club’s long time quest and coveted ambition to play on the hallowed turf at Lord’s came to fruition. Below is a summary of the journey it took to get there.

Rufford (Away) – 15 May

This game was reduced to 20 overs due to heavy rain.

Woodhouses 131 for 7 (Josh Tolley 82 not out 50 off 39 balls with 10 x 4s and 3 x 6s)

Rufford 124 for 8 (Sam Sweeney 4 for 21 and Bradley Wolstenholme 2 for 21)

Ironically this first match in the competition that year proved to be the hardest won victory in all the rounds. It was a game that could easily have been lost had it not been for the major contributions of Tolley and Sweeney.

Great Ecclestone (Away) – 19 June

Woodhouses 285 for 4 (Josh Tolley 150 not out, 50 0ff 44 balls, 100 off 101 balls and 150 off 128 balls with 16 x 4s and 5 x 6s, Luke Swards 34, Nick Hardman 32)

Great Eccleston 118 all out (Ashley Prescott 4 for 31, Nick Hardman 2 for 18)

Tattenhall - Away 26 June

Woodhouses 241 for 5 (Mike Cassidy 44, Nick Doyle 45, Josh Tolley 36, Luke Swards 26, Jimmy Clarke 27 and Nick Hardman 26*)

Tattenhall 162 all out (Nick Hardman 4 for 48, Ashley Prescott 3 for 21)

Shipston-On-Stour – Away 10 July

Woodhouses 267 for 4 (Mike Cassidy 98 Nick Doyle 51 Josh Tolley 42 and Luke Swards 29*)

Shipston-On-Stour 119 all out (Luke Swards 2 for 28, Sam Sweeney 3 for 6, Nick Hardman 2 for 13 and Ryan Sloan 2 for 36)

Stainsby Hall Away 24^th June Quarter Final

Woodhouses 228 for 8 (Josh Tolley 77, Luke Swards 49 Jimmy Clarke 27)

Stainsby Hall 106 all out (Luke Swards 2 for 11, Ashley Prescott 3 for 22, Callum Megram 3 for 0)

Woodhouses won the toss and decided to bat on a pitch that looked really good but lacked a little in pace. After a couple of early setbacks Luke Swards joined Josh Tolley at the crease and the two enjoyed an excellent partnership of 105 before Luke Swards fell for an aggressive 49. Josh Tolley continued his magnificent form for Woodhouses that season and held the innings together for a very fine knock of 77. Late contributions of 27 from James Clarke and 18 not out from Gareth Tuson took Woodhouses to a challenging total of 228-8 from their 40 overs.

Woodhouses struck a telling blow early in the second over to dismiss Tom Woods, both the National Village and Stainsby Hall’s leading run scorer that season. Wickets continued to fall at regular intervals thanks in the main to a very fine spell of bowling from Ashley Prescott with figures of 3 for 22 off 9 overs. At 106 for 7 Callum Megram was given the opportunity to bowl and he took the last 3 wickets in 1.1 overs without conceding a single run! Luke Swards also made a notable contribution with the ball taking 2-11 off 6 overs.

Sessay Home 7 August Semi Final

Woodhouses 214 for 7 (Mike Cassidy 28, Nick Doyle 37, Josh Tolley 79 and Doug Sloan 21

Sessay 163 all out (Luke Swards 2 for 19, Callum Megram 2 for 19 and Doug Sloan 3 for 21)

The dream became a reality in the classic and spicy Roses encounter against Sessay, the defending champions from North Yorkshire.

Woodhouses booked a dream date at Lord’s following a superb Persimmon Village Cup semi-final victory over holders Sessay at Medlock Road.

The Village Roses match started in much the same way as the County ones start – with rain. The travelling Sessay supporters stayed put to ensure their seats would remain dry. A couple of false starts saw some glum expressions on the hundreds of fans who flocked to the eagerly anticipated clash but a few hours later those frowns were turned to smiles.

Nick Doyle joined Cassidy at the top of the order and mustered an assured 37 before he departed lbw. Cassidy looked destined for an extended stay at the crease until he was bowled out of the blue for 28.

Enter Tolley and the key knock for Woodhouses. His powerful drives belied his small frame, with the player demonstrating wonderful technique and footwork. No such joy for Luke Swards who departed for a duck and jimmy Clarke followed him with nine runs to his name.

But Tolley continued to fight the good fight, with Woodhouses moving on to 152 for five. Nick Hardman was caught and bowled and Tolley eventually fell lbw.

Popular Doug Sloan – known for his big hitting – entered the fray and did not disappoint his followers starting an exciting innings with two successive fours before bowing out on 21. Gareth Tuson (nine) and Callum Megram saw out the remaining overs for Woodhouses.

The home support were concerned the total of 214-7 might not be enough against a Sessay side who chased 227 in the Lord’s final the year before – the highest successful run chase in a Village Cup Final

Openers Mark Wilkie and Matthew Till looked to have runs in them and Sessay went about their business comfortably enough. But Tolley collected Megram’s teaser and sent Wilkie on his way for 30 and Swards clean bowled Till on 19.

The next two wickets proved critical to Woodhouses’ chances as Nick Thorne was brilliantly caught by Clarke off Swards for a duck and Nick Harrison managed just one before Tolley gathered his tame effort from Megram.

The sense of relief around the ground was palpable as the ailing visitors found themselves on 56 for four. Chris Till steadied the ship but Cassidy got in on the act, dismissing Joe Spencer to make it 81 for five.

Sessay limped to three figures but the writing was on the wall. Sloan claimed Chris Till for 23 and Chris Cowton for 17 (caught Tolley) taking the score to 116 for seven.

Richard Till resisted with a decent knock of 21, but Swards produced one of the highlights of the game when he acrobatically gathered his attempted slog off Hardman.

Jake Watson’s drive was caught by Tolley off Sloan for five and Ashley Prescott clinched victory in fine style comprehensively bowling Stuart Peirse for six.

This brought to an end the Yorkshire side’s 15 game running win in the competition. Sky Sports covered the game and featured the highlights of the match in the lunch break of the 4^th Test against India.

Premex sponsored the club kit for the final at Lord’s and later went on to become the Club’s main sponsor over the next 2 years.

When the club made it to the final, Mike Atherton as Chief Correspondent for the Times wrote a piece about his reminiscences of the Village Cup and this is reproduced below by their kind permission

“My earliest memory of competitive cricket: it was the searing summer of 1975 and I was sitting, if the pavilion was at twelve o’clock, at quarter to the hour, surrounded by what felt like many thousands to a seven-year-old boy but was probably only a thousand or two. The match was Woodhouses Cricket Club against Read Cricket Club in the Lancashire area final of what was then the John Haig Village Knockout.

The match ended in a high-scoring tie, if memory serves, which Woodhouses won by losing fewer wickets and my dad got some runs, smashing the clock face on the front of the pavilion with a lofted straight drive, which was a rare event, given that he hit as few sixes as I did. With the exception of the crowd, which rendered the day unusual, it was a scene that could have been played out anywhere across England.

In those days Woodhouses was what you would call a bona fide rural, farming village, surrounded by preciously-guarded green belt on all sides and full of working pig farms. It was said by the villagers that there were more pig farms per square mile in Woodhouses than in any other village in the country, a statistic that I could never verify, although the smell and the noise on a daily basis rendered it perfectly possible.

There was a pig farm at three o’clock to the pavilion owned by a farmer named Len — he specialised also in unbelievably vicious dogs — and in those days the piggery was still very much in action. At around tea time during the match, the swill would be served and the smell (I’m told this as I don’t have a sense of smell) and the noise put a firm spoke in the wheel of the imagined idyll that is village cricket. Still, it was an authentic scene.

Not much happened in the village. There were exotic stories of members of the Quality Street Gang — a group of villains who allegedly ran much of the criminal scene in Manchester in the 1970s — some of whom were said to live nearby. There was great excitement when a retired Everton footballer moved into a swanky house at the southern end of the village.

Gradually, the shops shut, although the pubs — the Dog and Partridge and the Woodhouse Gardens — remained. The D&P had a beer garden and a crown green bowling lawn, where I used to play bowls against my grandad.

These days, some of the green belt has been eroded, although the village is still surrounded by open countryside. The extension of the M61 runs nearby, which is not that much of a nuisance to be honest, and gave some of the locals a happy financial windfall.

Most of the pig farms are no longer in operation, many having converted to stabling horses and some of the land has been flogged off to build housing. You can still differentiate it from the surrounding areas of urban sprawl in between Manchester and Oldham, but the contrast is less sharp than before.

The cricket club remains a focal point of the village, though. Some of those playing now were doing so when I played my last few matches for the club in the late 1980s, before I joined Lancashire. Some of the players are sons of cricketers I played with, and cricketers I grew up watching with my dad. The club has retained a village feel — a community in the true sense of the word — even though the village is much changed.

In 1972, Ben Brocklehurst, then owner of The Cricketer magazine, and Aiden Crawley, the chairman of the National Cricket Association, had the idea to set up a village competition to showcase both the strength of village cricket and the unique spirit that accompanies it. The rules of engagement are fairly simple: clubs must be in a village — defined by being surrounded by open country and having a population of fewer than 5,000 — and they mustn’t play paid professionals. It is, unashamedly, an amateur competition. The great incentive is that the final is played at Lord’s.

Woodhouses entered the competition for the first time in 1973 and they have played in it every year since. Playing in a competitive league in the north of England (the Lancashire County League) has meant that the club have paid professionals in the past, often decent ones in the case of Farokh Engineer, who spent a couple of post-retirement years in Woodhouses colours, and TE Srinivasan, who played one Test match for India. But those professionals have always given way in the village cup.

The dream of playing at Lord’s for Woodhouses has been a constant and over the years the club have reached the quarter-finals of the village knockout on three occasions and, before this year, the semi-finals once, in their centenary year in 2008. I played in one of those quarter-finals as a 15-year-old against a club called Forge Valley in Scarborough.

It ended in a defeat and a badly broken thumb for me — ironically the only bone I broke as a cricketer, amateur or professional. Who was that bowler, I wonder, who did what Ambrose, Walsh and Donald could not?

It has probably become easier to progress in the competition now. In 1972, 795 village clubs entered the competition; this year that number was down to 286. The decline is partly because of the decline of village life in general, and the growing urbanisation of England, but also because of the strength of league cricket. In the past, there were fewer organised leagues and therefore the village knockout was the only competition for many village clubs

This year, Woodhouses, for the first time in their history, have made it to Lord’s. They have done so by becoming Lancashire village champions and by beating the winning representatives of Cheshire, Derbyshire, Worcestershire and, last week (extra special, this), Yorkshire. The final of the competition, now sponsored by Persimmon Homes and still run, commendably, by The Cricketer magazine, is on September 4. I hope Mick Hunt prepares a decent strip somewhere near the middle.

The names of the players will not be familiar to you, but some of them are to me. Doug Sloan played when I played; Ryan Sloan’s father, Darrell, opened the bowling when I played; Nick Hardman’s father, David, was my opening partner when I played my first match for the seniors aged 14, in 1982. Gareth Tuson’s father, David, took four wickets in four balls in that match against Read in 1975. The president of the club is Gill Belfield, whose husband Richard was the president for many years but who died of cancer last year. She is the granddaughter of Jesse Clare, who founded the club in 1908.

In village cricket, the lines of continuity and community run strong. For Woodhouses, the realisation of a near 40-year dream is a wonderful thing.”

Rottingdean at Lord’s 4^th September

This was the first time in the history of the competition since it started in 1972 that a village from Lancashire was represented in the final. The other team Rottingdean were from near Brighton, East Sussex.

The draw for the competition that year had seen the club having to play all its games away up to the semi-final. Reaching the final was a just reward for the excellent cricket Woodhouses had played in every game. The quality of their cricket reflected the strength of the whole team which was as good a side as the Club had ever fielded

The team and many spectators had arrived on the Saturday. Sky did a special feature on the club in the Long Room and the team were shown around the Lord’s ground. A dinner was also laid on by the sponsors of the competition, Persimmon Homes, for the team and officials of the club on the Saturday evening. On the Sunday morning the team were first to arrive at the ground and claim the England dressing room. There were treated like and afforded exactly the same privileges and hospitality as the England team.

The match started on time at 11.00am but under grey skies which threatened rain at any time. Rottingdean were restricted to 43 for 3 in the 13 overs that were possible before heavy rain intervened and this lasted for nearly 4 hours. The 40 overs a side match had to be abandoned and in the limited time that was available the captains agreed to hold a 10 over shoot-out. The Lord’s bell tolled at 3.40pm delighting a frustrated crowd who proceeded to cheer wildly every dot ball and run. Drastically reduced it may have been but the teams, first time finalists, were to get a game at the Home of Cricket after all.

Rottingdean won the toss and elected to field. The Woodhouses crowd were not to be denied their day out. The significant contingent of support from Woodhouses generated a fantastic and very voluble party atmosphere for the pulsating denouement of the competition.

Woodhouses wasted no time in targeting the shortest boundary and demonstrating a youthful exuberance with excellent running between the wickets and forceful shots all -round the wicket. Josh Tolley showed why he was the leading scorer in the competition that year keeping his side ticking over at 10 runs per over for the first half of the innings. Not to be outdone, Doyle blasted a six over mid-on to bring up the fifty partnership in only 34 balls. Tolley fell for a very accomplished 36 in the eight over. Nick Doyle, only 17, picked up the mantel of responsibility for accelerating still further the run rate per over. He reached his 50 with a huge 6 over the Mound Stand and his brutal assault continued in the last over with a further 2 belligerent sixes. The 10 over total reached a formidable 112-1.

Rottingdean were soon in trouble losing Jamil their hard hitting batsman in the first over. Pressure built up through dot balls and athletic fielding not least Luke Swards who dived forward at mid-wicket to take a stunning catch off the bowling of Nick Hardman to dismiss Rottingdean captain Henry Ledden. A Rottingdean challenge that was faltering was killed off in the seventh over of the innings by the introduction of Woodhouses’ leading Village Cup wicket-taker that season, Ashley Prescott. The medium pacer took a hat-trick – at Lord’s –doing all the work himself for the second and third wickets with two caught and bowled dismissals.

Callum Megram (2 for 7) did a good job dismantling the Rottingdean tail ending the innings with a wicket maiden as Rottingdean limped to 58 for 8. The match ended in bright sunshine with the Woodhouses flag flying proudly above the Lord’s pavilion.

Nick Doyle was named man of the match for his 63 not out from 30 balls (5 fours and 4 sixes) and he was given the ball by Christopher Martin Jenkins which had been recovered by a spectator. It had disappeared over the roof of the Mound Stand and finished up on the doorstep of a synagogue across the road from Lord’s!

Sky Sports provided superb coverage of the Woodhouses weekend at Lord’s with extensive interviews of our players in the Long Room on the Saturday afternoon and the full match on the Sunday.

2011 was to prove a particularly successful year for cricket across the whole of Lancashire. Not only had Lancashire C.C.C. won the County Championship but there were also 6 other Lancashire Teams including Woodhouses who had achieved national success. Old Trafford were keen to share the Lancashire success and Dave Hardman, who worked for the Lancashire Cricket Board at the time, played a large part in organising a presentation evening and dinner to remember for all the teams in the Point at Emirates Old Trafford. The Club had the chance to take centre stage on the evening and have the National Village Cup presented to them at what was a unique and historic one off occasion. It was a fitting tribute, reward and recognition of our team’s achievement.