by Paul Hargreaves
I listened to the deliberations on the 1974-present day Dream Team. I don’t envy the difficulty of getting it right and balancing the sheer talent versus longevity quandary.
It shows how many good players we’ve had that, listening to the early thoughts, players of the brilliance of Steve Gee, Hasan Khan, and Jack McGregor are all unlikely to make the final cut.
I have done a couple of ‘dream teams’ from the past. The first covers the years 1892 to 1930. Hopefully, this won’t cause as much dispute and controversy because only Stan Heaton and myself are old enough to have seen the likes of Tommy Shutt in person.
Selected Team in Possible Batting Order:
(1) Joseph Cook
A steady, specialist opener who scored 4,711 runs for Lowerhouse. That amount was sufficient to be a club aggregate record until the 1940s.
(2) Arthur Spencer
Very much a similar profile to Cook and scored only a handful of runs fewer. Unlike Cook, he followed the Higgin, Heaton, and Astin road of being a prolific scorer without a century.
(3) George Green (Capt.)
I felt it imperative to pick a batsman who played most of his games in the nineteenth century. These players had to face two opposition pros who were generally ace bowlers putting in long shifts. Runs, therefore, were at an absolute premium, and Green’s total of over 2,300 is very creditable. He was also a much-respected skipper in his time. That said, J.J. Eliot and Richard Holden pushed him close for the spot.
(4) Billy Whittaker
A great all-rounder for the ’House up until 1916. He was slightly overshadowed by Tommy Shutt but scored over four thousand runs to add to his 333 wickets.
(5) Tommy Whittaker
No relation to Billy but another pre-1914 player with all-round abilities. He scored 3,451 runs and took 290 wickets with a remarkable best of 9-18.
(6) Tommy Shutt
A club legend who reached a daunting thousand wickets for his local club. He also scored nearly five thousand runs. His 76 wickets set in 1910 is still a club amateur record, and his score of 175 not out at Haslingden in 1905 stood as a record until 2017. What is even more noteworthy about Shutt’s numbers is that he only played just one season for Lowerhouse whilst in the prime of his twenties.
(7) Fred Webster (Pro)
Not an easy choice between the Accrington-born Webster and League legend Billy Cook. The ill-fated Webster took 285 wickets and scored 1,670 runs in his three-year stint. Fantastic consistency!
(8) James Heap
Heap only just qualifies because he played only 37 matches for his local team. That said, this Lowerhouse-born player is by far the best-ever ‘graduate’ of L.H.C.C. His farewell was to take 5-21 with his brilliant slow left-arm bowling to win a game at East Lancs in 1903 before Old Trafford beckoned. He played over 200 games for Lancs, taking 412 first-class wickets. Also, at Bournemouth in 1914, he became the only Lowerhouse-born cricketer to score a first-class hundred. It’s sad that his achievements are largely forgotten—the star player we never had!
(9) J.W. Halstead
He was Lowerhouse’s best amateur bowler of the 1920s, taking over 200 victims. No slouch with the bat either, making three 50s in a 1,500-plus total.
(10) A. Pate
He would be considered this side’s best amateur bowler, taking 220 wickets in just 102 career games. A good opening partner for the pro’. He wasn’t the worst with the bat either, averaging double figures with a best of 48.
(11) Arthur Smalley (Wicketkeeper)
The dominant team ’keeper of this era, Smalley achieved 344 victims, which is still as high as third all-time. Not the best batter, he would be the obvious candidate to be the last man in. Certainly more obvious than Joe Martin, who is a far better batsman.
Twelfth Man
M.J. Walker
An antecedent of Stan Heaton, Walker was part of the Lowerhouse team that managed six consecutive top-half finishes from 1906 to 1911. This was incredible considering they hadn’t a single top-half finish between 1892 and 1905! Walker was in sight of a career 4,000-run total when he retired.