In what has been an incredible week for the club at both Junior & Senior Level, with so many stand out performances, it’s a difficult one as to where to start.

However, given the prize at stake, the high level of quality cricket on show and the thrilling finish, we’ll start with the U11’s, who were crowned Lancashire League Cup Champions after a tense win over Clitheroe.

Longridge won the toss and asked Clitheroe to bat. Despite some accurate bowling from the Longridge Lads, the Clitheroe batting was of a high quality with the loss of only one wicket, and saw them post a more than competitive total of 273 in their 16 overs.

Longridge knew their run chase would require a contribution from all the pairings, who then methodically set about chasing down the target. After a fine start from Jake Durnell & William Vause who got the side to the mid 20’s, solid batting from Sam Wignall, Sam Dawson, Maxwell Seedall & Jonny Colyer, left the final pair with 21 to win off the final 4 overs. Zachary Procter & Lewis Garstang then set about the task, and despite losing the one wicket at the end of the 13th Over, a four from Lewis in the final over took us in front to a score of 275. Lewis then comfortably saw out the final 5 balls and saw us to victory. An incredible effort by all the boys against a very good Clitheroe side. Top Scorers were Zachary with 16NO, William 15NO & Maxwell 14NO and Sam W took the only wicket. The U11s have qualified for the Lancashire Cup Last 16 as a result of this victory and will play Little Hulton CC in the next few weeks.

The Under 11’s have a very busy week in the next 7 days which sees them play Chorley, East Lancs, Vernon Carus and Kirkham & Wesham.

Sticking with the U11s, the Development side have played a couple of games over the last week, beginning with a trip to Todmorden.

Batting first, Longridge never really got into the game against some decent bowling and it was only a flurry from Zachary Procter in the last pair, which saw Longridge reach 186. In contrast, the bowling was much improved against what was a decent batting side. Todmorden finishing on 258 off their 16 overs, a fine effort from Longridge. Zachary picked up 3 wickets with 1 apiece for Henry Procter and Connor Dewhurst.

Further improvement was evident for the team when they entertained Nelson in last night’s game. Having posting a decent score of 246, Longridge got home in the last over, thanks to some lusty blows from Jonny Colyer. Great credit to Jonny with his 22NO and to Henry 18NO who made the most significant contributions with the bat, and to all the bowlers who once again took a step forward in performance.

Our second cup triumph of the weekend came courtesy of the Under 13’s, who immediately followed the U11’s over the road, with their Lancashire Cup Quarter Final against Euxton CC.

Longridge lost the toss and were asked to bat, and after getting off to a cracking start through some nice strokes from Natalie Kaye, she unfortunately fell to a decent catch for 11. The Top Order then tried to rebuild over the following overs, but with some tight bowling from the Euxton attack, Longridge were a few runs shy of a competitive total, at 45-4 with only 7 over remaining.

Enter the fray, Dan Mason, Jacob Procter & Archie Smith who, with a mixture of aggressive shot making and excellent running, saw Longridge reach a competitive total of 92-6 off their 20 overs. Archie with 14 & Jacob with 26 NO made notable contributions.

Whilst the 92 was competitive, we would have to bowl well against fine Euxton batting line up, but once we were under way again, Euxton were never really in the hunt, as tight bowling from the Longridge attack made runs hard to come by.

Once Tobias Stewart & Daniel Wilson had entered proceedings, wickets started to fall steadily and the run rate required continued to rise. Tobias finished his spell with brilliant figures of 4-17 off his 4, and with the standard top quality bowling from Dan, who finished with 1-2 off 4, Euxton were squeezed out of the game. Euxton would eventually be dismissed for 50 following 3 run outs from Dan Wilson, the last 2 of the very highest quality.

This result sees the team qualify for the last 4 and finals day, where they are likely to meet Newton le Willows or Milnrow in the semi-final.

In other U13’s news, the team completed the double against Preston in the Palace Plate following a very easy win.

Longridge batted first, posting 127-6 off their 20, before dismissing Preston for 33. Runs and Wickets were shared around but special mention for Luke Rogerson & Jack Darley who made key contributions, Jack with the bat and Luke with the ball.

The Under 13s Pairs team were also in action this weekend, & despite losing to Ramsbottom, Kevin was impressed by the attitude of the team and encouraged by the progress seen with some of the boys from the earlier games. Special mention to U11 players Lewis Jackson & Jonathan Parkinson who acquitted themselves very well and to Tom Douglas who batted well.

Our Under 19 Team, “The Crusaders”, played their second game of their campaign with a home game against Burnley CC, in front of another packed house on Friday evening.

In a must win game following the loss against Salesbury, the Burnley side were always under pressure against some fine Longridge bowling. Only Scott really got any momentum against the bowling, with a fine 43, but Burnley eventually finished on 113-7 of their 20. Pick of the bowlers were Adam Eland with 3-19 & Oliver Lewis 2-17.

Despite the loss of a few wickets, we were always on top of the run rate and victory came with 3 over to spare for the loss of 4 wickets for a relatively comfortable win. Josh Mullin was once again in the runs with 26, and Oliver Hobro finished on 21NO.
Our Under 17s had a very tough assignment this week as they faced a very strong Leyland side.

Unfortunately, it was one to forget for the side as they were comprehensively beaten by Leyland, who recorded a 107 run victory. Only Oliver Lewis with 22 got into double figures, just one of those nights!!!!

The U12’s had just the one game last Monday, with a trip to Great Eccleston on a lovely evening for cricket.

Longridge were asked to bat and quickly had Great Eccleston on the back foot, as runs came freely. Longridge eventually finished on a formidable 152-4 off their 20 overs. Harvey’s was a stand out knock with him reaching 26 Retired off just 13 balls, but he was ably supported by Daniel Wilson and Archie Smith who also retired and by Tom Douglas with 20.

Great Eccleston were never really in the running and eventually finished on 84-6, the stand out bowler being Will Vause with 3-9 off 3.

In U10 Cricket, the team had 2 games in the last week, and although it resulted in 2 defeats, the progress from earlier in the season was marked, and reflected just how playing the game is crucial to their development.

On Monday, they travelled to Lytham to play Lytham B, and unfortunately came out the wrong side of a narrow 13 run defeat. The notable performance came from Joseph Riding who returned fantastic figures of 3-3.

Friday saw them travel again to top of the table Blackpool. The 55 run defeat doesn’t tell the story of a very competitive performance, which involved a number of boys completely new to cricket.

Henry Procter, Joseph Riding and Freddie Noone all scored 11NO with the bat, whilst Joseph Riding once again was amongst the wickets.

On the representative front, Daniel Wilson is in County Action once again for Lancashire on Wednesday. Let’s hope it goes as well as last week, when Daniel took 3-21 against arch rivals Yorkshire in a Roses victory.

On a final note, we now have a box in the pavilion where we are collecting old gear that can be passed on to the younger cricketers, and thus also generate some valued additional income for the club through donations. Please spread the word and get involved.

BATBOWLFIELDWIN