by Paul Hargreaves
There are two ways to pick these kinds of dream teams. The fair and democratic way is by committee and is fine, but after all the compromise and horse trading, nobody gets their exact team. The other way is my dictatorial way where I get my exact way and turn a deaf ear to those who scoff!
I purposely waited whilst the great and good picked the post-1974 50th anniversary Dream Team before deciding on my wicketkeeper. Because they didn’t want Brian Higgin, I am able to snap him up. He made his debut in 1962, so is fair game for my fishing net. Alf Veevers had been my provisional ‘keeper.
In Possible Batting Order:
(1) Maxie Mahmood
The club’s best amateur batsman from the mid-50s to mid-60s. He scored 4,470 runs. His best year was in 1962 when he was just 20 short of the club’s amateur record. Probably retired a little early when watching horse racing rather than cricket took over.
(2) Ken Tranter
A most consistent servant of L.H.C.C. over many years. He scored 4,182 runs and took 216 wickets. He scored 11 half-centuries, and his best bowling analysis was 6-41.
(3) Brian Higgin
A long-serving productive player both as a batter and wicketkeeper. He scored over eight thousand runs for ‘House and has only recently been demoted to third on the overall list. His top score was an agonising 99 at Bentgate. Brian is still the club’s most successful ‘keeper with 517 victims (457 caught and 60 stumped).
(4) Herbert Lawson
He became the highest-scoring batsman in club history in the 1940s. A career total of 6,474 wasn’t exceeded until passed by Brian Higgin in the 1980s. His career profile would be very similar to the one Charlie Cottam has in recent times.
(5) Walter Monk
Scored just 4 short of 3,500 runs, mostly through the fifties. His highest score of 114 versus Rawtenstall was the first time a ‘House amateur centurion had lost in that particular game. He loved his time at Lowerhouse so much that his ashes were scattered close to the old pavilion area.
(6) Jim Minhas (Capt.)
‘Big Jim’ was the Francois Haasbroek of his day. A fine pro for the club who then served even more seasons in an amateur capacity. Scored 3,142 runs and took an excellent 343 wickets. In one year, he came within four wickets of surpassing Tommy Shutt’s seasonal record.
(7) Manny Martindale (Pro)
The West Indies of the 1950s had the 3 W’s, and the Lowerhouse Dream Team has the 3 M’s in their middle order. Martindale is one of the very few pro’s in club history to have served more than three years. Between 1947 and 1950, he took 307 wickets with his Test-level fast bowling but was also a significant contributor as a batter, scoring 2,100 runs. Great Fred Webster-like consistency.
(8) Joe Drabble
His career at Lowerhouse was curtailed by a move to Derbyshire, but he did enough in the 1930s to warrant inclusion. He took 102 wickets and scored well over 3,000 runs. In his best year of 1937, he scored 667 runs and set a club record that stood for exactly 40 years. He still managed to play an odd game whilst on police leave, right up to 1957, some as a teammate to his younger brother Leonard.
(9) Ernie Smith
In a similar vein to Tranter, Ernie Smith was an excellent all-round performer for ‘House over two decades. He scored nearly four thousand runs and took 319 wickets. His century at home to Accrington in 1937 was the only three-figure score by a Lowerhouse amateur between the two World Wars.
(10) Jack Stott
Not many players in team history put as much effort and sweat into the ‘House cause as this workhorse fast-medium bowler. His career started in the early sixties, and he retired in 1975. His 345 wickets were well-earned.
(11) Ken Smith
Smith was such a talented off-spin bowler that even that great opposition pro Johnny Wardle had great respect for him. That said something because Wardle wasn’t noted for giving anything away, especially compliments! Ken played just 84 games, taking 150 wickets at 19 apiece. He was also notable for being a fairly hopeless batsman, so his No. 11 position was the easiest of my decisions. Smith had a long, successful career ahead of him when he just decided to pack the game in, leaving the Lowerhouse faithful bemused and disappointed.
Twelfth Man
Rennie Holdsworth
A classy batsman, well-respected by club members of that era, whose peak was in the early 1950s. He scored 3 centuries for the club amongst his 3,043 runs. I also considered Gordon Jones, who scored over 2,500 runs in the sixties and early seventies. When I first supported the club, Jones seemed, at least to my untutored eye, to have a touch of class about his batting. I wonder if it’s now too late for my eye to become tutored!?