LSCA 90th Anniversary

On Monday May 21st thanks to the outstanding support of Lancashire County Cricket Club the Lancashire Schools Under 15 County team will play a special fixture against Yorkshire Under 15’s at Old Trafford.

On May 22nd the Lancashire Schools Cricket Association will celebrate its 90th Year in existence.  The game at Old Trafford, the day before, marks the beginning of what is hoped to be a summer of celebrations.

Andrew Hayhurst, the LCB Director, and a former LSCA player, comments: “To mark this very special occasion John Heaton, the current LSCA Secretary, has put together a history of this famous Association beginning way back in 1922 and culminating in this special year of 2012. It is a fascinating documentary both of the Association itself but also about the person who has been part of its history since 1964. There have been many special moments in the author’s life which have not only had massive implications for him personally but also for the fortunes of the Association. I have been privileged to have been given the chance to read this book and would wholeheartedly recommend it.”

To help his research John has been able to put together a database of players who have represented a Lancashire Schools team since he became Secretary. A total of 841 players are listed. These will have played for a full Lancashire Junior County Team in at least one of the years since he became Secretary in 1984.

Of these eight were selected to play International Cricket for England. They were: Michael Atherton, Glen Chapple, John Crawley, Andrew Flintoff, Warren Hegg, Ronnie Irani, Graham Lloyd and Chris Schofield.

Two Lancashire / England cricketers since 1984 not in the list are James Anderson and Sajid Mahmood. James Anderson played for the U15 “B” team in a Festival at Ampleforth College in 1997, and Sajid was involved in the LSCA District Competitions in his youth but was not selected for a Lancashire Schools team.

Two became England captains - Michael and Andrew.

Two former LSCA players became England Internationals at Soccer: Gary and Philip Neville.

Two became England Internationals at Rugby Union: Iain Balshaw and Will Greenwood.

50 played in at least one First Class / List A match with, in addition, 74 playing at least one 2nd Class / Minor Counties fixture.

35 became League professionals.

Just out of interest since 1945 a further 15 ex-Lancashire Schools players have represented their country at cricket: Ian Austin, Graeme Fowler, Tommy Greenhough, Frank Hayes, Malcolm Hilton, Jack Ikin, Peter Lever, David Lloyd, Geoff Pullar, Derek Shackleton, Ken Shuttleworth, Brian Statham, Roy Tattersall, Frank Tyson and Mike Watkinson. Quite an interesting list.

You can add 2 further Soccer International players in Andy Goram and Eddie Hopkinson.

One of the least known facts revealed in John’s book “WHOD HAVE THOWT - 90 Not Out – the History of the Lancashire Schools Cricket Association” is that there have been just three Secretaries in all that time. Herbert Thomas MBE was the founding Secretary who kept his place for 49 years before being replaced by Bob Hurst. John Heaton followed in 1984 after Bob’s sudden death. This means that in 2012 he will have clocked up 28 years at the helm.

Quite a number of guests will be invited to the special 90th Birthday match at Old Trafford including the current LSCA President, and ex-LSCA Player as well, Jack Simmons. It would be superb if some of the 841 players who have represented LSCA in his time could come along to Old Trafford to help celebrate the occasion. 

The Association with the help of the County Club is hoping to attract at least one of their more famous old boys to the Lancashire v Yorkshire Under 15 game at Old Trafford on Monday May 21st. The game begins at 10.45 and will be played to the ECB 50 Overs U15 Competition rules. The Lancashire team were National Champions in 2011 in the U14 age group and this will be their last game before the 2012 Competition gets under way on June 3rd.

John Heaton’s book is with the printers and we hope it will be available on the day of this celebration match. This 220 page book including 32 pages of photos is called “WHO’D HAVE THOWT – a Personal Journey through Life & Cricket, and the History of LSCA over the Past 90 Years”. It will cost £12.50 with a further £2.50 for postage and packing.

Pre-Order your copy here

Past Images

A certain David “Bumble” Lloyd is in this picture. Out of interest on the opposing South Lancashire team in that game was Frank Hayes. They both, obviously, went on to be selected for the Lancashire Schools U15 team in 1962, and then to play for Lancashire and England.

This picture of this Under 13 team was taken at Stonyhurst College during their match  in 1985 with Yorkshire which they won comfortably. Two of the Lancashire players went on to play for England at Test level – John Crawley and Ronnie Irani. There is another England International in the picture – Will Greenwood !!

This is a picture of the LSCA Primary XI taken at Rainford CC in 1998 before their match v Yorkshire which they won comfortably. Two of the players in the picture played for England, one at cricket and one at soccer – Andrew Flintoff and Philip Neville.

This was taken prior to the Under 14 Festival at Taunton School. The Team Manager was a youthful John Heaton, and third from the right on the front row is Gary Neville.

These are four of the many photos to be found in John Heaton’s book about the Association.