The rain may have washed out Saturday’s final 1st and 2nd XI games but the weather failed to dampen the mood at White Coppice Cricket Club.
The washout meant the 1st XI finished in 5th place in Division 5 with 11 wins and nine defeats while the 2nd XI secured seven wins to secure 9th place in Division 7 with 101 points.
Across the club’s 150th anniversary season, 50 players turned out at least three times for the club.
1st XI captain Jake Smalley said it had been an outstanding season and praised groundsman Phil Dewhurst and the army of volunteers.
Three batters – Ryan Adderley; Richard Bush; and Chris Maguire – were among the division’s top 10 run scorers with Ant Dark coming on at No 17.
Adderley scored 610 league runs at an average of 76 with four 50s and one century.
The highlight was an undefeated partnership of 228 in July that he shared with Richard Bush (102) away at Standish.
The 1st XI’s most successful bowler was Matt Tinsley, who finished with 39 wickets while Smalley himself, Adderley and Ibby Akram all took 27 league wickets.
Wicketkeeper Ant Dark finished top of the fielding averages with 23 victims, including 18 catches.
Smalley said: “I’m really pleased with the season. To put out two competitive teams every Saturday is a great achievement. The net numbers have been outstanding too.
“The club is definitely moving in the right direction. It took a lot of hard work but it’s great to see it coming into fruition.
“I’d like to thank the umpires Shaun and Ian and a huge thank you to Phil for giving us the best pitch in the league. Mandy too for scoring but mainly for putting up with our juvenile behaviour!
“On the playing front it was great to see Richad Bush score his first ton, Ant Dark win the wicketkeeping award, Matt Tinsley’s bowling and Ryan Adderley’s batting discipline and contribution to training.
“Thank you mainly to everyone for backing the club this year. We need that same support again next year to keep it moving and become self-sustainable.”
In the 2nd XI, three players – Dan Preston; Nathan Shepard and Amaan Ughradar – all scored hundreds with the latter smashing 154 against New Longton 3rd XI.
Special mention for Anis Haider, who hit 209 runs in 11 league matches at an average of 21 with a highest score of 55.
Despite only bowling 62 overs, Adam Mannan finished in 13th place in the bowling table with an impressive 24 wickets.
Captain Martin Cuerden said: “Overall, I think the season has to be considered a success, particularly the second half of the season.
“At the start of the season I had two main aims for the 2s this year, firstly get 11 out every week, and we achieved that pretty comfortably, especially considering that it is nearly 10 years since we fielded two teams in one day.
“The second target was to get a competitive side out there and winning the first game of the season was a massive relief and took that pressure off our back.
“We won five out of nine completed games in the second half of the season so it took a little while but we got there as well.”
Cuerden also praised the contributions of vice captain Jeff Smith; Anoop Appu and wicketkeeper James Field.