ON THIS DAY by Paul Hargreaves
24th May, 1980
Church vs Lowerhouse
Lowerhouse were visiting Oswaldtwistle on this date 46 years ago. The two teams were contesting a 34 over match with 8 balls per over. Lowerhouse would have been very pleased at the break. The home side had decided to bat first and were dismissed for 122.
There were two significant contributors for Church. Stalwart opener James Metcalf made 36. He scored over 6,000 runs in 400 games but was probably the second best batsman in his family. Fortunately for ‘House his brother Steve only made 7 this day. Ian Osbourne, another Church loyalist, top scored with 41.
Indian Test player Jimmy Amarnath took 3-39. He was in the Indian team that pulled off a shock World Cup win versus the West Indies in 1983 and scored more Test runs than any other ‘House pro’.
The star bowler this day was Jon Hartley. He was a great amateur all rounder even if his Lowerhouse career was all too brief. In 1980 he became the only Lancashire League amateur between 1955 and 2002 to pull off the ‘amateur double’.
Lowerhouse proceeded to win in a relative canter. Openers Brian Higgin and Stan Heaton scored over 16,000 League runs for the Club. Don’t ask them about scoring centuries though! Higgin made 33 and helped set things up for Amarnath (36 not out) and Hartley (32 n.o.) to reach the target in less than 27 overs.
Lowerhouse would go on to finish fifth in the final League table whereas Church only finished above a poor Nelson side. The lasting memory of the season wasn’t the League performance but Lowerhouse’s first appearance in a Cup final at East Lancs. It felt like for once the club had reached the big time! Although the game itself was lost it was still an uplifting moment for the Club and inspired hope going forward.