By Paul Hargreaves
Lowerhouse and Todmorden contest the 98th edition of a Worsley Cup final today. It is the tenth meeting between the clubs and the first beyond the second round. Lowerhouse are in their seventh Worsley Cup final and seek a fifth victory. They appeared in just 3 out of the first 92 finals but bizarrely 4 out of the last 6. Increasing the number of contenders from 14 to 24 has strangely seemed to have been a boon for the ‘House!
For Todmorden, this is their 22nd final appearance and they seek an eighth outright victory. Tod shared the 1962 Cup with Nelson. Only East Lancashire have contested more finals than the West Yorkshire team. The teams met in a ‘dress rehearsal’ on the eve of the final. Lowerhouse will be hoping it serves as a form guide because they achieved a 28-run victory. In truth, it was a very strange game with more reversals of fortune than Stalingrad.
So to the day itself. In a summer of generally unsettled weather, there’d been some anxiety in the early part of the week about rain, but this was dispelled, and it dawned as an excellent, sunny day. Todmorden won the toss and made an easy decision to bat first. Given the choice, Ben Heap would have made that same call. Lowerhouse made a great start, having the Yorkshire side at 4-2. Tom Walker got both wickets. Abbas was l.b.w., although he and the umpire weren’t on the same page regarding the dismissal. Andrew Sutcliffe has had a love affair with the ‘House ground recently, but this was only the briefest of romances as Walker and Joe Martin combined to dump him. After 10 overs, the visitors had recovered to 24-2, but Atkinson soon fell for 9 to the Martins.
Todmorden needed their pro’ Ed Moore and excellent amateur, Harry Rickard, to turn their ailing fortunes. This they gradually did, and they reached 64-3 after 20 overs. Moore hit his first six to bring up a 50 partnership. It was kind of nostalgic to see Ben Heap come into the attack, twenty long years since his crucial involvement in helping the Lowerhouse cause against Haslingden. Ben bowled tightly in tandem with Paddy Martin, and a frustrated Rickard went for 24, well caught by Henri Cottam. The partnership had ended at 72.
The 100 came up in the 30th over, and it was now time for the ‘Bob Spencer 30 over Challenge’. Guesses were Bob 199; Joe Milburn 195; Simon Fisher 187; Myself 191; Eddie Fisk 220. Darren(173), Phil(165), and Dave(225) also joined the challenge of predicting the first innings total. Regular guessers who failed to register were Ian Wilcock, who was elsewhere on the ground, and his brother Colin, who was at a wedding. Two occasional guessers who also didn’t register a total were Alex Martin, a.k.a. Mystic Meg, and ex-skip Joe Beneduce. The latter was rumoured to be suffering the slings and arrows of ‘hospitality’.
The score had progressed to 124-4 at the second drinks break. Noah Priestley was giving fine support to his pro’, scoring 28 before being a much-needed wicket for ‘House pro’ Salpietro. Tod had a mini-collapse to be 149-7, and all depended on the shoulders of pro’ Moore. He was to dominate the latter overs, ending on 124 from just 129 balls. He hit 5 fours and the same in sixes. Considering the dire position of the Yorkshire side’s innings when he came to the crease and his unruffled response to it, it makes it a special innings in Worsley Cup history. Todmorden had made 221 all out. Paddy Martin was the pick of the Lowerhouse bowlers taking an impressive 2-20 from his 10 over allocation. Tom Walker and an economical ‘fifth’ bowler in the captain also earn praise. Eddie Fisk was congratulated on an excellent guess, only being a single run out. Unfortunately, Bob Spencer didn’t acknowledge the good guess, insisting that it’s spot on or nothing.
Lowerhouse started positively, and openers Whitehead and Heap looked in good touch. It changed when a bowling change saw Jonny out for 17, well pouched low at mid-off. Haasbroek soon followed, leaving a nervy home crowd having doubts at 43-2. Ben Heap carried on securely and responsibly and found the right ally in the pro’. Unfortunately, the 54-run stand was ended when Salpietro found backward point’s safe hands, and 97-3 became 97-4 when Tom Walker soon followed. Ben Heap brought up his fifty and looked almost impregnable when a rush of blood saw him just fail to clear the long-off boundary. At 122-5, it looked a long way from pay dirt for the home team, but they chipped away as wickets fell, and the run rate gradually increased. Henri Cottam got a valuable 34 but was the seventh man out at 163. ‘House wanted 37 from 4 overs and soon lost Paddy Martin.
There were premature celebrations from the traveling supporters and almost a resigned feeling from all but the most optimistic of Lowerhouse nation. It was clear that those few optimists didn’t include Bob Spencer, a.k.a. Dr. Doom. What followed was a combination of superb do-or-die batting and a meltdown choke by the bowling side. Charlie Gansler hadn’t got on to bowl, had dropped a catch, and looked likely to be an also-ran until his brilliant 38 not out, including two six hits, largely won the game and made him an instant hero. He was well supported by Joe Hawke, who played a similar role in beating Burnley in 2018. That said, there’ll be inquests galore on the Todmorden side of things. It was puzzling that Rickard only bowled 1 over, and even more so, that their pro’ was withdrawn from the attack after attaining 1-18 in a fairly miserly 6 over spell. The other Tod bowlers certainly seemed to lose their nerve towards the end. Lowerhouse had wanted 29 off 18 balls and won with 8 to spare!
In conclusion, it was a marvellous topsy-turvy game played before a large, well-entertained crowd. Only twice in Worsley Cup history has a chasing team been successful when seeking a 200-plus target. The ‘House are responsible for both, today and when winning their first Worsley Cup in 2004. There was a mixture of good and bad cricket, but that didn’t diminish the match but more likely enhanced it. Lowerhouse has now won 5 Worsley Cups since 2004, whilst Todmorden’s trophy drought stretches to almost a quarter of a century. Maybe one side’s belief and the other’s lack of it led to the result we eventually got. LOWERHOUSE WIN BY 2 WICKETS.