Crompton aiming to make history

FRIENDLY FOE . . . Wood Cup final captains Rochdale's Dale Highton (left) and Crompton's Simon Wright

CROMPTON skipper Simon Wright reckons whoever holds it together on the day will get their hands on the prestigious JW Lees Bitter Wood Cup on Sunday.

The Glebe Street outfit face Rochdale in the Pennine Cricket League's showpiece final at Middleton CC's Towncroft ground (1.30pm).

It is a chance for the clubs to carve their name in the history books.

With the Pennine Cricket League competition coming to an end after two seasons - the cup-final protagonists are heading the Lancashire League in 2018 with five other clubs with the remainder joining the Greater Manchester League - this year's renewal has added significance.

Five points and three places separate the sides in the Premiership, with Crompton looking up at their rivals.

Wright, apart from two summers at Bamford Fieldhouse, has spent his entire cricketing life at Crompton and would love nothing more than to bring the Wood Cup back to base.

To do so he will have to get the better of a Rochdale side captained by friend and former Crompton junior Dale Highton. See other story.

All-rounder Wright (35) said: "We don't want to be second-best on the day, we're sure of that.

"Individually to man, there isn't much between us.

"We beat them earlier in the season. They got 220-odd and we chased it down with four wickets to spare and a couple of overs. It was a good game.

"It will come down to which team keeps their nerve the most. I've told the players to treat it as a normal game of cricket, but there a bound to be a few butterflies playing in front of a big crowd.

"It's hard to explain what it would mean for Crompton to lift the Wood Cup. The club have only won it once before and potentially it could be the last one."

Crompton reached the final with an emphatic seven-wicket defeat of Littleborough - Rochdale were equally as dismissive of Royton. Wright scored an unbeaten 88 in the game and John Punchard was 45 not out.

Absent recently as he has been helping England beat Australia 3-0 in the over-60s Ashes series, Punchard will return alongside overseas amateur Denis Louis at the top of the order.

"It looks like it will be same XI which beat Littleborough in the semi-finals," said Wright.