Lancashire Cricket Board: Washout of a weekend ends the season

Washout of a weekend ends the season
================================================================================
John Heaton on 19/09/2011 13:47:00

Well almost – but it does not dull the “champion” feeling

The “well almost” from my point of view refers to the last piece of action
for LSCA which will be the John Heaton U13 Final this coming Thursday. Lancaster
RGS will play either Bolton School or Blessed Trinity in Lancaster starting at
12 noon. As I have the trophy, match balls and medals it looks like I will be
travelling up to Lancaster to do the honours.
The “washout” refers to the final weekend of the season in the Bolton League
as well as the demise of the Shakers up in Hartlepool on Saturday.  The least
said about the latter the better. I did manage to see a football match on Sunday
when I was Transport Manager for Sophie whose team the Diamonds were far from
that standard losing 6-2 to a team in Nelson. Good job I had a brollie with me
as the heavens opened at kick off.
The “champion” feeling was certainly present on Saturday at the Log Cabin
where the Mount were able to start celebrating the treble a little earlier than
planned. The annual Stewie present giving ceremony was performed by Woody aka
Mark Stewart and Sheikh Willetts. It did go on for quite a while but was still
rather funny. Each first team player received a “present” to reflect their
season. The most bizarre was the pig’s heart and peas for Danny Hornby. The
last was to pro Asif who will be returning next year.
THE PRO, WOODY STEWART AND THE SHEIKH
Wherever I have been over the past few days mention “Lancashire” and the
reaction has been brilliant. I paid some cheques into the LSCA account on Friday
in Radcliffe and when the cashier saw the Lancashire Schools Cricket name her
response was exactly the same. The success has most definitely captured not just
the cricket supporters in the county but many, many others. That “champion”
feeling will be bubbling along for some time to come. Certainly the meeting of
the LCB Development of Excellence Committee this evening at Old Trafford will be
a celebratory one. When you add the U14 Boys and the U13 Girls National titles
to the “Big One” then we have a Lancashire treble for 2011.
To finish the blog today I have a story to tell you of a little boy and a big
boot. A week last Sunday when the Mount were at Old Trafford for the LCB Final
the Lancashire team were heading off for their encounter in Taunton. I realised
this and alerted a little posse of young Greenmount supporters including
grandson Thomas. They went down to collect autographs and chat to players as
they boarded the coach. It gave me the chance to offer good wishes as well
between nipping up to see how the Mount were progressing. On my final visit down
I discovered Tom holding a very large cricket boot. Apparently when boarding the
coach one of the players had asked the group of youngsters if they needed a pair
of boots. When he realised the size of the youngsters and then the boots he had
dumped them in a bin near to the coach. Tom had retrieved one and was clutching
it as I arrived. After hearing the description of said player and looking at his
autograph we decided it must have been Kyle Hogg. Now any amount of persuasion
would not allow Tom to put the boot back with the other one in the bin. Super
supporter Helen was tasked with the care of said boot and its safe return to the
Log Cabin. Tom felt that if he took good care of the boot it would ensure good
fortune for Lancashire in Somerset. This “boot” is still there in the Heaton
Family residence in Tottington. I wonder if we put it up for sale on EBay if
there would be any buyers. I, also, wonder how much longer it will be before it
will finally ends up in the wheelie bin.
Now the mention of wheelie bins opens up another fascinating topic. We are part
of the Bury MBC and they have just changed their re-cycling policies.  All
households in the authority are now to have four wheelie bins. In fact last
Thursday we had our latest delivered – a green one. So into which coloured
wheelie bin would Kyle Hogg’s right boot go – would it be the black, brown,
blue or green one ???
Enough for today. Much too soon for a T – Moment, so time for a brew.