ON THIS DAY By Paul Hargreaves
July 26th, 1930
Lowerhouse vs Bacup
We think of this era as one where bowlers had the upper hand and no game better illustrated this thought than this match played in late-July.
Lowerhouse batted first and quickly faced the setback of losing pro’ Helm Spencer. He was born in Padiham but played his county cricket for Glamorgan. He later became a respected coach and ‘father figure’ at Lowerhouse.
Four ‘House batsmen got exactly 10 before being seemingly happy at reaching double figures and perishing. These batsmen were Halstead, Lupton, Arthur Spencer and Arthur Green. Lowerhouse were all out for 63.
Another Arthur, Australian pro’ Richardson, took 3-32 but was second fiddle to the great Fred Hartley’s 6-29. Hartley, like our own outstanding professional Fred Webster, only got a couple of games for Lancashire. In League terms he went from Bacup amateur to a legendary pro’ at Church. In a long career Hartley made 7,691 runs and took 1,669 wickets. Some career!
If Bacup thought it would be an easy chase; they soon changed their attitude. Indeed the four ‘House batsmen who scored 10 would remain the joint highest scorers in the match. Holt’s 9 was the visitors best. He didn’t deserve to be the scapegoat but this was his only first team appearance for Bacup.
Bacup plunged to 44 all out. Pro’ Spencer(5-24) and Pollard(5-15) shared the spoils. Only 107 runs were scored on the day but that wouldn’t have dampened ‘House fans joy. We do have to wonder at the quality of the playing surface?
Strangely despite this setback Bacup went on to do the ‘double’ in 1930, bettering Nelson in the League, and thrashing Church in the Worsley Cup final, whereas Lowerhouse were only eleventh. Remarkably this was Bacup’s only loss in the whole season as the form book had been turned upside down. If it had been a horse race there would have been a Stewards Enquiry!