ON THIS DAY by Paul Hargreaves.
April 26th, 1952 Bacup vs Lowerhouse
Last week we featured a brilliant Lowerhouse rally and no apology for staying with that theme. Lowerhouse had started the season with a drawn game at Acre Bottom and now faced another journey, this time to the other side of the Rossendale Valley.
Duke/Harburg wrote a famous song about ‘April in Paris’ but nobody has written of the glamour of April in Bacup.
‘House batted first and with only pro’ Marshall(18) and Ernie Smith(11) reaching double figures, the visitors were mired at 56-9. It looked all over bar a young Clive of India’s shouting!
Yet in seemingly impossible circumstances ‘House rallied. Jack Salkeld played 223 games for his local club, and was within 8 runs of his personal best, making 29. He found a willing partner in the recently deceased Trevor Riley(7) and crucially, 36 was raised for the final wicket. Bacup’s best ever pro’ Everton Weekes took 6-39. Weekes had come to Bacup in 1949 as a rather poor bowler, but he and Rocky’s pro’ George Tribe, had struck up a deal for each to coach the other on the weaker part of their respective games. Weekes’s figures on April 26th showed the fruition of the deal. It was clearly reciprocated as Tribe would go on to achieve multiple ‘double’ seasons for his adopted N’Hants in the County Championship.
Despite the late heroics, Bacup were massive odds-on favourites at the interval, with only 93 needed. Lowerhouse, though, kept chipping away at the Bacup order and Marshall bowling Weekes for 10 must have given some belief. Bacup skip Tom Graham top scored with 24 but Ken Tranter(4-31) took the last 3 wickets for a famous 8 run victory. Marshall(4-30) and Riley(2-21) were the other stars of ‘House’s three-pronged attack.
Lowerhouse finished 6th, above Bacup in 9th, in the 1952 standings. Roy Marshall’s 969 runs created a pro’ batting record that lasted exactly a decade, until Basil Butcher topped it. He would go on to have a long and marvellous career with Hampshire, scoring more first class centuries than any other ‘House pro’.
Probably the lesson from this game is it’s not over until…..it’s over. True 74 years ago and true now.