THE first round of the Lancashire Knockout was completed last Sunday, and on a league-by-league basis the Lancashire League was the most successful by a significant margin.

Arguably the most famous cricket league in the world, because they played their league matches predominantly on a Sunday, up to a few years ago their progress in the LKO had always been restricted.

Since they left some Sundays free for the LKO they have made more impact, without ever reaching a final.

Last weekend, out of eight clubs who qualified last season, plus the two who qualified while still in the Ribblesdale League, eight went through.

The second most successful league was the Pennine League with five teams in the last 32, but, ominously, at least three of them will be in the Lancashire League next season.

The two most successful leagues in the competition in recent years, the Liverpool Competition and Bolton League, have four teams out of eight each, followed by the Greater Manchester, Northern and Ribblesdale Leagues with three, the Palace Shield with two and the Greater Manchester Amateur League with one.

The really big surprise in the first round was Vertex from the GMACL defeating Formby from the Liverpool Competition Premier Division. In footballing terms this is similar to Atherton Colls winning an FA Cup tie at Middlesbrough.

Many local clubs have been frustrated by the new Home Office rules preventing some non-professional players being allowed to play on an amateur basis in the UK. Players not allowed to take part include those who have played first-class or other professional cricket at any time in the past, and any who have played representative cricket at junior level for the overseas equivalent of a county, even though they may have no future in the professional game.

The League Cricket Conference has now asked leagues to make representation through them to the Home Office, so hopefully from next season there will be a relaxation of the rules, but it seems certain some of ex-first class players and most promising younger players will still not be allowed.

There was mention of The Buff – the Bolton Evening News’ old Saturday edition – last week on Neil Bonnar’s Twitter, and it left me wondering if I was the only person writing reports back in the late 1970s and early 1980s who was still contributing to the sports pages.

The Buff was published around 5pm, covering Wanderers and other local sports. Back in those days football matches finished at around 4.45pm.

Cricket scorecards for the League and Association were phoned through at 3.30pm, and appeared on the back page with the latest scoreline phoned in at 4.15pm, which was included on the front page in stop press late news section.