GREENFIELD-RAISED Kyle Hogg described it as the “icing on the cake” after being named Lancashire County Cricket Club’s player of the year.
It came after Hogg’s 60 wickets and starring role helped Lancs win the Second Division in the LV County Championship and an immediate return to Division One.
The 30-year-old Hogg, who began his playing days in the juniors at Greenfield, admitted it has been a rollercoaster couple of years for Lancs.
He said: “Two years ago I took 50 wickets as Lancs won the county championship for the first time in 77 years.
“It was special to be part of that when you look at the great cricketers who played for Lancs and who never won it.
“We were relegated last summer so there was a lot of pressure on us to get promoted. It was a great season and the icing on the cake to be named player of the year.
Hogg attributed Lancs’ success to a great team effort explaining they had three bowlers who claimed 50 or more wickets and two batsmen who scored over 1,000 runs.
As for season’s highlights, Hogg selects how he and Glenn Chapple bowled out Essex for just 20 runs in their championship match at Chelmsford, Hogg taking four wickets for 11 runs from seven overs.
“It was amazing and something which may never happen again. We then bowled out Northants for 62, when I took seven wickets for 27, so it was a good couple of weeks,” he continued.
Hogg received a congratulatory text on Lancs’ title success from Rugby League legend Kevin Sinfield who was one year above him at Saddleworth School where they were once former pupils.
Hogg has now played 105 first-class matches for Lancs which have yielded 253 wickets and 2,596 runs. He has also featured in 167 one-day matches.
It is hardly surprising that Hogg should become a professional cricketer as he is the third generation – dad Willie was a pace bowler for Lancs and granddad is Sonny Ramadhin, the former West Indies Test spin bowler who still lives in Saddleworth.
He began playing at Greenfield aged only five and was in the first team at 14 and soon captured by Lancashire for whom he made his debut aged 17.
Hogg is already looking ahead to when his playing days are over and has begun to sow the seeds for a career in the music industry.
This will be the third winter in which he has worked for friend and Austerlands-based music promoter Graham Lambert who is also a massive cricket fan.
As soon as the cricket season finished, Hogg joined up with Lambert and one of his first concerts he worked on was Jessie J.
Meanwhile, Arron Lilley was a second local cricketer to feature in Lancashire’s title-winning team.
The 22-year-old off-spin bowler and middle-order batsman, in his first year on the professional staff at Old Trafford, played in Championship games against Glamorgan and Worcestershire in which he claimed two wickets and had a top score of 35 not out.
Lilley, who played at Micklehurst from the age of seven, appeared in a total of 16 games in all competitions for Lancashire’s first team.
He said: “It has been a good first year for me on the full-time staff.
“I never expected to play so many games, but an injury to Steven Parry gave me the chance as the second spinner to Simon Kerrigan.”
Lilley also helped Lancashire seconds with a double of league and cup making it a season to remember.
Lilley, who plays for Delph when not needed by Lancashire, is the third generation of his family to have played at Micklehurst where he played in the second team, which was captained by his dad, as a 13-year-old.
He has been at Lancashire since he was under-12’s and played for every age group eventually joining their Academy and winning a scholarship aged 19.
Lilley was also a promising footballer saying Latics and Leeds United showed interest, but cricket was always his first love.
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