Celebration time for Royton aces

PAIR OF ACES . . . John Punchard (left) and Luke Procter share the stage after reaching their landmarks. Picture by DARREN ROBINSON.

THEY may be at vastly-contrasting stages of their cricketing careers, but John Punchard and Luke Procter have equal right to be proud after reaching notable landmarks.

At 52, Punchard admits his playing days may be coming to an end sooner rather than later.

But when he does eventually retire, the Royton stalwart can look back on a career which contained the capture of over 1,000 wickets in the CLL.

Procter celebrated his 21st birthday this summer, but already the Paddock professional has notched up more centuries than any other batsman in Royton’s history.

His 111 against Werneth on Sunday was his ninth century for the club, six of them coming as paid man and three as an amateur.

Procter has beaten the record set by Royton’s professional of 1997-99, India’s Tosh Arothe.

Punchard has been one of the CLL’s best-known characters since he first started as a 15-year-old at Royton in 1973.

He remained at the Paddock until 1980, when he was snapped up as pro by Bradford League side East Bierley, for whom he played for five seasons.

Punchard returned to Royton for another four CLL campaigns before switching to Werneth for five seasons.

During his time at the Coppice, he broke the club’s batting and bowling records, scoring the thick end of 1,300 runs during one season and taking 96 wickets in another to beat Brian Clarke’s long-standing mark.

Punchard’s travels then took him to Middleton for whom he achieved a cherished ambition by winning the Wood Cup in 2001.

But the lure of his home club proved too strong and he returned to the Paddock this summer to play under the captaincy of his long-time friend Barry Woodward.

So it was quite fitting that Punchard should take his 1,000th wicket while donning the Royton badge.

The landmark wicket came when he trapped Chris Lord leg before wicket during the recent game against Clifton, the veteran bowler fittingly finishing with five for 42.

He said: “I have always kept stats so I knew from the start of the season that I was nearing 1,000 wickets.

“I might have got there a bit sooner, but I was captain at Middleton and you tend to throw the ball to someone else to give them a chance so I didn’t bowl as much as I might.

“But I have bowled a lot at Royton this season and I will stay on and bowl as long as the captain wants me to do so!”

Punchard has another milestone in sight. He is just over 300 runs shy of the 20,000 landmark in the CLL and as he plans to “carry on playing as long as I am still enjoying it”, he looks sure to reach his target.




LUKE Procter had to leave Royton’s game at Werneth at 6.15pm on Sunday in order to meet up with Lancashire seconds, who were travelling to Sussex.



At that stage, Werneth were 150 for eight after 40 overs in reply to Royton’s 169 for nine.

A Royton spokesman said: “Had Luke been still on the field he may well have got the last two wickets as he was bowling superbly – as he has done all summer.

“But fair play to Andy Walker (the Werneth captain). He came on as a substitute fielder for him and, earlier, recalled Nick Maxwell to the crease after the umpire gave him out, caught behind, when he clearly missed the ball.”