IN a season of unprecedented success for local clubs, Moorside, Friarmere and Saddleworth are all celebrating promotion in the Greater Manchester Cricket League.
In Friarmere’s case they were double league winners as their second team was also title winners wile the first team were also first winners of the re-born Tanner Cup.
Greenfield, promoted in 2018, also established themselves in the premier division while Austerlands’ second team was runners-up, though there is no promotion from their division because of the restructuring of the league.
Meanwhile, Captain Rick Harrington admitted MOORSIDE’S successful season – they finished runners-up in division 1A – was unexpected.
“We did far better than expected as we weren’t looking at promotion but simply to maintain our first division status,” he said.
In fact, Moorside were unlucky not to be crowned champions after missing out by one point following a four-wicket last-day defeat at Flowery Field.
“It was a shame to go so close. Had we picked up one more wicket at Flowery Field we would got a bonus point which would have made us champions,” Harrington explained.
Harrington is looking forward to playing at the highest level in the county and personally testing himself against the best teams.
At the club’s presentation night, Imran Khan landed the club’s batting award and was named players’ player of the year while Shahib Mamhood claimed the bowling prize.
South African overseas amateur Nimroe Lategan is returning for the 2020 season.
FRIARMERE were crowned champions of division 2B while the reserves finished top of division 4E.
Incredibly the two teams lost only once between themselves in 44 league matches.
Twenty-four hours after being confirmed as division 2B champions, the first team completed a double by winning the Tanner Cup following a six-wicket win at Stayley who hosted the final.
Club official Gary Kershaw described it as “an unprecedented season of success” for the club.
The club has also re-signed South African overseas player Adrian Du Toit who has been in prolific form with the bat.
SADDLEWORTH were runaway winners of division 3E by 21 points, the largest margin by any of the championship winning sides in the 11 divisions.
It was unexpected as Saddleworth voluntarily dropped down two divisions amid fears they would not be able to raise a team following an exodus of players.
Captain Steven Howard said: “It was an achievement when you bear in mind we were scratching around for players 10 days before the start of the season.
“It was a case of cajoling people into playing and calling in favours.
“From what could have been a very difficult season turned out to be an enjoyable one.
“We pulled it back and had a good set of lads and are looking forward to playing at a higher level next season.
“Sometimes you have to take a short-term backward step to move forward long-term and we will be aiming to get to the third tier in the next couple of years.”
Howard was full of praise for the likes of fifty-something Francis Sutherland who was coaxed out of retirement to play along young batsman Sam Holt and Assad Ali, the division’s top runscorer.
GREENFIELD relished life in the premier division, apart from a miserable finish in which they lost their last five games.
Captain Chris Gill said: “We were second with six weeks to go and then lost our last five matches to finish just above the relegation zone which was disappointed.
“When we were second we were above where we should have been and I would have snapped off your hand to be in that position.
“Though we fell away at the end, it was generally a good season.”
Gill added the successes came despite losing two key players before the start of the season, Alex Peter moving to Delph and Jake Caudwell returning to Micklehurst.
Greenfield’s Brad Woolley finished top of the premier division’s bowling averages while Adam Robinson was near the top of the bowling averages.
AUSTERLANDS, promoted from division 2B, found the step-up too great as they were relegated from division 1A.
Former captain Andy Young admitted it had been a challenging season with an injury to South African professional Roger Arendse, who missed half the season, a massive blow saying it upset the balance of the team.
Austerlands also lost captain Neil Inkpen mid-season for family reasons with Adam Sunderland taking temporary charge of the team while opening bowler Lee Milner also left around the same time.
Young said: “We didn’t win a game in the first half of the season and were scratching around to put out a decent side each week.
“We never quite got going or put together a run of consistent results.
“If we had better in the last couple of matches we would have stayed up, but that summed up our season.”
In the last game of the season, Austerlands bowled out promotion-chasing Denton West for 90 only to be dismissed for 73 in reply.
The second team lost out for the division 5E title by one point to Shaw in controversial circumstances.
Young explained: “In our second last match, South West Manchester emailed us to say they could not raise a team and they would forfeit the game.
“The league emailed South West Manchester to say the first team would be relegated if they didn’t play the second-team game and they miraculously put out a team.
“Their scorer didn’t know most of the players, who weren’t registered on the league app and they hammered us.
“It wasn’t also ideal that after we had completed our fixtures, Shaw had two games still to play.”
UPPERMILL captain Darren Shadford described it as “massive” to stay in division 1A after a difficult campaign.
Uppermill were hit by the loss of four players on the eve of the new season.
“To stay in the division with the team we put out was massive,” he explained.
Former Lancashire county player Shadford described it as a challenging season for him personally.
But he was delighted to see young players like the Potts brothers, Jake Hill and Charlie Mills establishing themselves in the side.
“They have grown since the start of the season when they didn’t look ready for the first team. As the season went on they got better and that bodes well for the future,” he said.
SPRINGHEAD narrowly missed out on promotion from division 3E, finishing fifth.
It was a new-look side following its merger with Rochdale Catholic Cricket Club.
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