Meeting closed

Photo: -DARREN ROBINSON-

LAST GOODBYE: Club representatives settle down for the final gathering of the Saddleworth and District Cricket League at Well-i-Hole.

AT 8.25pm, league chairman Eddie Bayliss politely asked each club delegate if they had anything else to say.

Mr Bayliss had gone through this same procedure on each of his 13 years in the role. But this time it was for the final time.

On declaring the annual meeting closed, the Saddleworth and District Cricket League was no more. From 1898-2015 — 117 years of balls bowled and appeals heard ended on a dank evening at Well-i-Hole.

The seeds of a new beginning are already starting to take root with the formation of the Pennine Cricket League.

The Saddleworth League and Central Lancashire League have teamed up for the good of the local game from 2016. But for the present, there were still the formalities of the annual meeting to attend to.

Diligently, the Saddleworth League executive committee went through the process — minus

re-election of officers and votes for rule changes. No need for them.

The chairman asked clubs to “spend wisely” the money heading their way after the go ahead was given for the disbursement of league funds, while secretary Trevor Harrison spoke of the “difficult decisions” the present committee had made in the past and also the “great support” given them.

Mr Bayliss added: “I have been proud to wear the badge of chairman and have taken a lot of pleasure from it. I only ask that when clubs gear up for the new venture, they invest in facilities, not in players.”

He thanked the league committee, naming each one for their unstinting service, and wished Droylsden, South West Manchester, Whalley Range and Wythenshawe all well in the Greater Manchester Cricket League.

Treasurer Mike Ward reported that the current account stands at £13,331 - not a final figure.

The launch of the Pennine Cricket League and all that it has so far entailed meant sundry expenses rose from £84 to £756, while the purchase of players’ identification cards was blamed for the increase in administration expenses from £521 to £855.

All this didn’t seem to matter, though. A constitution that had provided a stage for some of cricket’s greatest players – Sonny Ramadhin, Jaques Kallis, Sir Garry Sobers and Everton Weekes among them – was nearing its end.

Mr Bayliss had just completed his ‘tour’ of the room when Ray Entwistle of Moorside spoke up.

“I would like to pass on my personal thanks and also that on behalf of the club to the league

committee.”

Innings closed.