Accrington Cricket Club
Latest

Accrington 141-6, Colne 137
8th June 1985

Accrington 1985
Accrington CC 1985
©Lancashire Telegraph

Accrington completed their second double of the season with a 4 wicket win over Colne at Thorneyholme Road to stay in fourth place in the table. Opener Geoff Fryers fought an almost lone battle, hitting 77 of the 121 runs scored whilst he was at the crease as the Accrington professional David Lloyd increased his ever growing wicket tally by another 4 to dismiss the visitors for 137. Mark Aspin 3-19) and Ian Birtwistle (3-49) also bagged three apiece. It was Aspin who struck first sending back Paul Simmonite (0) and professional Craig Norris (5). Birtwistle accounted for Terry Little (10), Stephen Hipgrave (8) and Trevor Lonsdale (7) with Lloyd sending back Andy Leah (3) to have the visitors 95-6. Fryers fine knock ended when Aspin held the catch off his professional after the opener had faced 109 balls and hit seven boundaries. Aspin held a return catch off Gary Hunt (11) and Lloyd (4-40) polished off the tail with the assistance of wicketkeeper Billy Rawstron. Accrington were in some trouble in reply with Geoff Lonsdale (3-46) and Norris (2-42) removing Rawstron (13), Lloyd (12), Neil Jones (7), Andy Stevenson (8) and skipper Trevor Hatch (15) with Hipgrave sending back Aspin (18) to have the home side 93-6. Cometh the hour cometh Andy Gardener (28 not out) and Paul Barratt (29 not out) who calmly knocked off the runs in just seven overs to see Accrington home with four wickets and 12 overs to spare. Scorecard

Paul Barratt remembers: "I recall a fairly devastating opening spell from big “Fred” Aspin who charged in and generated some decent pace and swing and picked up the vital wickets of Paul Simmonite and the Pro Craig Norris. As I recall both these players had been scoring plenty of runs early on in the season and Paul Simmonite had been playing with Lancashire so they were both important scalps to get early on. This set the scene for Bumble and Birty to come on and tighten the screws even further and restrict them to a low score. We started off our innings at a fairly steady rate but then started to lose wickets at regular intervals and couldn’t really establish a partnership of any significance, but we managed to crawl into the 90’s where we then lost our 6th wicket leaving  Andy G and myself at the crease. Both of us had had limited experience and opportunities in these situations, but I remember Andy being great to bat with as we were both reasonably quick between the wickets and had a good understanding so we managed to keep the scoreboard moving by pinching a few quick singles here and there. A couple boundaries helped the partnership flourish and eventually as we got more confident with the partnership we got nearer to the finish line. I am not sure why, but I do remember hitting the winning runs by clipping Trevor Kegg off my legs to the mid-wicket / square leg boundary (Cemetery side), this was particularly satisfying, primarily because we had won the game but also because Keggy had been sledging me throughout the innings."

If you have any memories of 1985 please email Nigel Stockley