Professional for 2021

Posted on January 6, 2021 by Steve Hunsley

It has been a long autumn and winter so far with plenty of uncertainty, however Haslingden Cricket Club is delighted to announce the signing of Grant Roelofsen as the new club professional for the 2021 season. Grant plays franchise cricket for the Dolphins in South Africa. Grant who comes off the back of an award winning season in 2019/2020 as he was named one-day player of the year at Cricket South Africa’s annual awards ceremony in July.

Club captain Jordan Shannon stated “It is fantastic to have a player of Grant’s calibre to be with us for the 2021 season, he’ll strengthen the batting and add a high level of quality and experience to the top of the order, there’s no question about that. Hopefully he can be the catalyst to drive us into the top division. I wish him all the best for the forthcoming season”

Everyone at the club would like to send their best wishes to Grant and also thank Rob Humphries at World Sports Xchange for his work in securing a top quality professional for the 2021 season.

The club would also like to thank Jordan Shannon for all his efforts over the last few weeks and months.

Steve Hunsley, 6th January 2021

An update on 30.12.2020 & the Annual General Meeting

Posted on December 30, 2020 by Steve Hunsley

As you will be aware from today’s announcements, Lancashire (including Rossendale) will be moving into Tier 4 lockdown regulations as from midnight tonight. This means that there is no realistic prospect of the club reopening for some time to come. We are unable to re-open the club until we move into Tier 1 as we do not satisfy the Tier 2 regulations on providing food and the likelihood of that move seems somewhat remote at the present time, so sadly we have to remain closed. Whilst we would prefer to be open, we are in a reasonable financial position and will be able to reopen as soon as that is feasible. Our hopes are firmly pinned upon the successful and fast roll out of the vaccines.

You will also be aware, that the Annual General Meeting is usually held in January. At this moment in time, there is no prospect of social distancing rules being relaxed before the Spring of 2021. On that basis, we have had to accept that holding the AGM in January will not be possible. We have considered a virtual meeting but have decided that that would not be appropriate and therefore the Committee feel that the only viable option is to postpone the meeting until the Spring, hopefully in March 2021. Whilst this is not ideal, not being able to accommodate an appropriate number of members is unacceptable and does not meet the precise terms of our constitution. We will send out the normal documentation and information as to the date of the re-arranged meeting when it can be confirmed.

On a positive note, the Lancashire League fixtures for season 2021 have been released and at the moment it seems that the season will proceed as normal although that remains to be seen.

The December monthly draw will take place tomorrow at 11am and will be live on Twitter as usual. It will revert to the last Saturday of the month in January. We send a very large thank you for your continued support with the monthly draw.

In the meantime we wish you a Happy New Year and hope that 2021 proves to be a much better year than 2020.

With best wishes

The Committee, Haslingden Cricket Club

HCC in the snow December 2020

JW Lees President’s Cup

Posted on July 18, 2020 by Steve Hunsley

After the completion of the Surridge Sports Valley Challenge in July, the Lancashire League have arranged games for the Lancashire League clubs for each Sunday in August 2020 in the JW Lees President’s Cup. The clubs have been drawn in four groups and we have been drawn in Group 3 with Nelson, Colne, Clitheroe, Bacup and Rawtenstall.

We start on Sunday 2nd August away at Nelson. We then have three home games against Clitheroe, Colne and Bacup and finish on Sunday 30th August away against Rawtenstall. The 2nd XI play the reverse fixtures on the same dates.

The winners of each group will progress to the semi finals which will take place on Sunday 6th September with the final on Sunday 13th September.

This season’s 3rd XI competition is in three groups and will take place on Saturdays in August and September. We are in group A with Nelson, Walsden, Todmorden, Bacup, Norden and Rochdale. Our first game is on Saturday 8th August away at Nelson. We then have three home games against Walsden, Todmorden and Bacup and finish with two away games the final one being against Rochdale on Saturday 12th September.

All games start at 1pm and are 40 overs. See our fixtures page for more details.

Cricket returns in July 2020

Posted on July 9, 2020 by Steve Hunsley

The Surridge Sport Valley Challenge

We are delighted to announce that cricket will return to Bentgate on Sunday 12th July.

As soon as the Government gave the green light for recreational cricket to recommence, the Rossendale Valley clubs moved quickly to set up a new competition to commence on Sunday 12th July at 1pm. These will be 40 over games, with the 2nd XI’s playing the reverse fixtures at the same time. See our fixtures page for more details.

3rd XI games have also been scheduled for the Valley clubs to start on Saturday 11th July, Stacksteads are playing these games in place of Ramsbottom. See our fixtures page for more details.

We look forward to seeing you.

Professional for 2020

Posted on March 6, 2020 by Steve Hunsley

We are delighted to announce that our professional for 2020 is Senuran Muthusamy. Senuran is an allrounder from Durban who bats left-handed and bowls left arm orthodox spin. He represents the Dolphins franchise and KwaZulu Natal in South Africa’s domestic cricket.

Senuran has excellent statistics at First Class and List A level where he has so far scored almost 5000 runs and taken over 200 wickets. He has also played 2 test matches for South Africa in the recent series in India (2019) where his first test wicket was that of Virat Kholi. The all-rounder has impressed at every level of cricket in South Africa and took the Player of the Year award for the Dolphins franchise in 2017/18.

Senuran is the 5^th South African to play for Haslingden following in the footsteps of Peter Swart (1974 to 1977), Stephen Jones (1980), Rob Bentley (1982) and more recently Burton de Wett in 2015.

Everyone at HCC looks forward to welcoming Senuran in April and we wish him well for the 2020 campaign.

Jordan Shannon Interview

Posted on March 4, 2020 by Steve Hunsley

How are you feeling about becoming first team Captain of the club?

I’m very much looking forward to the challenge ahead, when I was offered the role it was a no brainer to take the opportunity. I’m quite aware or at least I think I am aware of the difficulties ahead and complications that come with the captaincy but I’ve got a good group of people around me plus a VC that having wintered in Australia will be raring to get back in the mix over here. But ultimately it will be an honour to represent Haslingden CC as captain and regardless of the outcomes, I appreciate the opportunity.

What are your expectations of your first eleven this upcoming season?

The lads are fully aware of what our expectations are and that’s the main thing. We have to stick together as a team and find ways to win close games and ways of pulling ourselves out of tough situations during the closer games, a combination of the above will play a big part over the duration of the season.

Which teams are you fancying to mount the biggest challenge for promotion?

Church are a good side, arguably the best team in the division given a proven league professional in Ashar Zaidi & some very good amateurs. Whoever finishes above them will have had a good season. I think Littleborough have a good chance, experience at the top of the order and a good hard working group of youngsters. Also both Rishton & Enfield have good solid sides with proven professionals, basically it’s going to be tough to get out the division!

It would be nice to have a cup run this season wouldn’t it?

Yes, I’ve been fortunate enough to play in a Worsley Cup Final albeit on the losing side but they are top days and the reason you play. We will be looking to mount cup runs in both the t20 & WC this year, cliché being we’ll just take each game as it comes.

You’ve got a very youthful side, how will that benefit the club in the long run?

Youthful as in age but not in experience, the younger lads have all played a lot of cricket, they’ve been in games where plenty of different game-changing scenarios have happened and they’ve got to learn from these situations. They’ve been around the first team environment for a long time now and it’s down to them to stick the hands up, take some responsibility and make a statement. I’m behind them and will back them through it all, the platform is there!

We start the season with a tough away trip to Littleborough, how confident do you feel you and the lads can secure a big 12 points early on in the campaign?

Yes, we’ll be looking to get off to a flying start and get some momentum early in the campaign, as I’ve said Littleborough are a good side and will be a good marker to see how we’ve wintered.

Reflecting on last season, what improvements do you think you can make this year?

Application, I’m a firm believer that our side have the ability to beat all the teams in the league. It’s about applying ourselves better and as above learning from mistakes. Joe Sipocz did a great job last year but things just didn’t go to plan here & there, so I wouldn’t say there are a massive number of improvements required, as mentioned above the lads are aware of the expectations.

Any grounds you’re looking forward to visiting this year?

Seedhill, Nelson CC.

2020 Membership & Loyalty Cards

Posted on January 29, 2020 by Steve Hunsley

We thank you all for your ongoing support and membership of HCC and would take this opportunity to remind all our members that HCC subscriptions for 2020 are due on 1^st January and prompt payment would be much appreciated. Membership prices for 2020 have remained the same as 2019. The expiry date of your loyalty card will be set to 31st March 2021 upon receipt of cleared funds.

Payments can be made by cash, or card at the Bar, by BACS (please email us for bank details) or online by clicking on this link Pay Membership.

Match Report 14th September 2019

Posted on September 16, 2019 by Steve Hunsley

Saturday 14^th September 2019 – Third XI v Rochdale

A young Haslingden Third XI travelled to Rochdale for the final game of the season on Saturday for the 4^th, 5^th and 6^th place play off when captain Jeff Stanton lost the toss and was asked to field first. A steady start by Rochdale resulted in an early bowling change and Olivia Blomley provided the breakthrough with the score on 19 for 1. She followed up with a further wicket and when 14-year-old Lucas Bargh was introduced to the attack he bowled an excellent spell of eight overs, three maidens 3 for 22. He was ably assisted by Joe Hayton who bowled eight overs, two maidens 1 for 14 as the Haslingden spinners took control of the game. The score at that stage was 97 for 6, but unfortunately for Haslingden the Rochdale number 6 was just playing himself in before unleashing an end of innings onslaught which took the Rochdale score to 159 for 7 from their 40 overs.

The Haslingden batsmen made a stuttering start, and the team were reduced to 65 for 7 before 13 year old Jack Fuller joined his more experienced captain and they put on an impressive partnership of 47, during which time the team passed the score of 109 which was required to give them the one point needed to finish in fifth place in the league table. When Fuller was eighth man out with the score on 112 the innings quickly subsided to 121 all out leaving Jeff Stanton stranded on a solid 31 not out. Leon Brennan with 17, Joe Hayton with 19, Lucas Bargh with 11 and Jack Fuller with 13 were the other batsmen to reach double figures. The wickets were spread between the eight bowlers used by Rochdale. Twelve points to Rochdale who finish in 6^th place and two points to Haslingden who finish 5^th. Haslingden 3^rd XI used 20 players during the season including seven debutants from the junior section. Leon Brennan was top run scorer with 153 runs and the leading wicket taker was Lucas Bargh with 22 wickets. The team can feel very pleased with their 5^th place finish, mission accomplished.

Match Reports 8th September 2019

Posted on September 10, 2019 by Steve Hunsley

Sunday 8^th September 2019 – First XI v Rishton

Haslingden welcomed Rishton to Bentgate for the final home game of the Lancashire League season. Graham Knowles was the home team captain in the absence of the injured Joe Sipocz, he lost the toss and Haslingden were asked to bat first. Haslingden started poorly and were 3 for 2 when Matthew Griffin was out for two in the third over, Nathan Thornton having already been dismissed without scoring. Sub-professional Neels Bergh and Sean Hunsley put on 31 for the third wicket before Hunsley was caught at gully for 8. Bergh followed shortly afterwards for 22 with the score on 42 for 4. Graham Knowles and Lawrence Adlum put on 34 for the fifth wicket before Adlum was stumped for 6. Oliver Cameron scored 8 and when he was dismissed the score was 90 for 6. Graham Knowles top scored for Haslingden with 45 but was bowled with the score on 103. Jordan Shannon was dismissed without scoring, Oliver Nicholls followed shortly afterwards for 1 with the score on 104 for 9. Last pair Oliver Lord and Ethan Stanton put on 19 in a vital last wicket partnership before Lord was bowled for 12, Haslingden finishing on 123 all out. Rishton spinner Luke Eddleston took 4 for 46 from his 15 overs.

Rishton started brightly until Oliver Lord removed Richie Fox who was caught behind by Ethan Stanton for 8 when the score was on 20. Matthew Griffin took a stunning one-handed return catch to remove the Rishton sub professional Ashen Silva for 12 and Neels Bergh removed the hard hitting Sajid Patel for 36 to reduce Rishton to 69 for 3. Sean Hunsley and Neels Bergh reduced the scoring rate with some accurate bowling backed up by some excellent fielding. When Hunsley bowled the Rishton captain Brad Boddie for 7 with the score on 78 for 5, the pressure told on the Rishton middle order and, with Hunsley taking four wickets and Bergh three, Rishton were reduced to 98 for 9. Danny Curran and Matthew Bradley took the score to 112 before Curran was caught by Oliver Nicholls off the bowling of Oliver Lord and Haslingden won by 11 runs. Sean Hunsley was the pick of the bowlers taking 4 for 32 from his 15 overs, Neels Bergh took 3 for 22 from his 13 overs. 12 points to Haslingden and 6 points to Rishton.

Sunday 8^th September 2019 – 2^nd XI v Church

Haslingden travelled to Blackburn Road to take on Church 2^nd XI in their final game of the season. The Church captain McDonagh won the toss and asked the Division 2 Champions to bat first on what was a very soft and difficult wicket. Matthew Sudworth and Jeff Stanton opened the innings and put on 67 for the first wicket before Sudworth was out for a rapid 43. Stanton was third out for 30 when the score was 102. The other batsmen who made double figures were Alex Jeffrey with 20, Tom Richards 17 and Joseph Blomley 12 in the very competitive Haslingden total of 158 all out from 44 overs.

Haslingden made short work of bowling out Church for a total of 45 in 23 overs. Only Nathaniel Young reached double figures. The wickets were shared between the Haslingden bowlers with Alex Jeffrey taking 3 for 21 from 9 overs and Tom Horrocks taking 3 for 10 in his 7 overs. 16 year old Niall Clarke took 3 for 5 in his 3 overs which included an excellent slip catch by Matthew Sudworth and 14 year old Lucas Bargh took the other wicket to fall when he dismissed Muneeb Alam for 2. The average age of both sides was very low with a lot of promising youngsters on both teams. 12 points to Haslingden and 2 points to Church.

17 year old Tom Horrocks finished as the leading 2^nd XI wicket taker in Division 2 of the Lancashire League with 42 wickets for the season.

Match Reports – Sunday 1st September 2019

Posted on September 2, 2019 by Steve Hunsley

Sunday 1^st September 2019 – First XI v Great Harwood

Haslingden First XI travelled to Great Harwood for their final away game of the season. Unfortunately, the ground was deemed to be unfit for play as the wicket was extremely wet and the umpires called off the game shortly after 2.30pm. 3 points to each team.

Sunday 1^st September 2019 – Second XI v Great Harwood

Great Harwood were the visitors to Bentgate as the Haslingden Second XI sought the five points they required to be promoted as 2019 Champions to Division One. Captain Tom Richards won the toss and decided to bowl first in a rain affected game. Haslingden got off to a good start and two wickets from Alex Jeffrey reduced Great Harwood to 8 for 2 early on. There were then several interruptions for rain, with the covers coming on and going off on at least three occasions in a short space of time. When the game finally resumed, the match was reduced to 37 overs a side and Great Harwood moved the score onto 62 before Zeain Ali was out, caught by an excellent catch by vice-captain Ian Cameron to be the first of Joe Hayton’s five wickets. The Great Harwood middle order all scored over 20, and when Jason Kayley was bowled by Tom Horrocks the score was 141 for 7. Haslingden stuck to their task and the last wicket fell in the final over as Great Harwood posted a score of 158. Joe Hayton was the pick of the Haslingden bowlers with 5 for 48 in his 11.4 overs.

Nathan Thornton and Matthew Sudworth opened the batting and put on a classy 55 before Thornton was out lbw for 19. Sudworth followed shortly afterwards for the innings’ top score of 39 when the score was 65 for 2. The next batsmen struggled to score quickly, but Oliver Nicholls and Tom Horrocks gave the innings momentum and when Tom Richards joined Nicholls in the middle the score was 119 and Haslingden required 38 from 9 overs. Nicholls was out for 20 with the score on 127, by which time Haslingden had achieved the five points they needed to be Champions. When Joe Hayton was out with the score on 145, Haslingden required 12 from 2 overs to reach the revised Duckworth Lewis target of 156. Richards stepped up a gear and in a fitting finale to the last home game of the season he smashed the third ball of the last over for six to take the score to 160 and Haslingden won by three wickets.

Twelve points to Haslingden and they are Division 2 Champions for 2019 with one game still to play. A presentation of the cup and individual trophies was made after the game by Mike Bibby, Chairman of the Lancashire League.