COMMENT By Neil Bonnar

MIKE Hall's resignation as chairman of the Bolton Cricket League on Saturday morning came as no surprise.

Once his club Egerton voted to leave the league to join the rival Greater Manchester League his position became untenable.

Mr Hall, aged 60, has been a key man in the setting up of the Greater Manchester League which has already killed off the Bolton Association and threatened to do the same to the Bolton League.

Had Mr Hall remained an active part of the committee – never mind chairman – it could have been seen as something akin to having an enemy in the camp.

And that would not have been fair on Mr Hall, as nothing could be further from the truth.

He has Bolton cricket in his blood and has tried to help run and improve it throughout his entire adult life.

He is a good man as well as a fine servant to local sport and the Bolton League will be worse off for no long having the benefit of his skills, passion and enthusiasm.

Unfortunately though, he had to go, another victim of this Greater Manchester cricket revolution which has already cost Bolton one league.

He has given impressive service to the Bolton League, beginning at the age of 18 when he became Egerton's league representative.

He has fulfilled that role for 36 of the last 42 years, was chairman of the league from 1998 to 2012 and then again from 2012 until Saturday.

His letter of resignation, which can be read in our online story of his decision to step down posted on Saturday, summed him up as a dignified man who just wants the best for Bolton League cricket.

Some questioned whether it was right that he should have held key roles in both the Bolton League and Greater Manchester League at the same time.

That's unfair on him. He has performed both of them well and to the deliberate detriment of neither.

It is just the way the whole cricket saga has developed that has put him in a position that eventually became untenable.

To be one of the key members of the steering group charged with bringing in the Greater Manchester League at the same time as holding a top position in the Bolton League just cannot happen.

The Greater Manchester League has seriously threatened the existence of the Bolton League when the vast majority of those connected to it did not want it to die.

The GMCL, it has to be said, does not want to harm anybody connected with cricket.

It has an admirable vision to bring together the six leagues in the area – including the Bolton League and Bolton Association.

Two leagues have joined it willingly but the other four – including both of Bolton's – wished to remain independent and resisted the threat to their existence.

Unfortunately, the Bolton Association has been forced to fold due to the emergence of the GML while the Bolton League has countered the threat to them with its own impressive expansion plans.

And it has done so with great skill and success, already having recruited enough clubs to form a high standard league of at least 20 teams for next season.

Recently both the GML and the Bolton League have been looking to recruit clubs to strengthen their own leagues – in some cases targeting the same clubs.

There were two camps and Mr Hall had a foot in both.

When Egerton voted to leave the Bolton League it meant his only official connection to the league other than being its chairman, was as secretary of a club which had committed itself to a rival league whose emergence had already killed off one Bolton league and threatened to do the same to the other.

As the Bolton League made it clear they intended to fight the GML threat, Mr Hall's position began to look untenable.

When, last Thursday night, Egerton voted to leave the Bolton League, it was untenable.

That was when his involvement in taking the league forward was effectively ended.

He was told he was not required to chair their next meeting at Kearsley on Monday night and he informed the League he would consider his position as chairman over the weekend.

He told The Bolton News on Friday: "I am in conversation with officials of the league at the moment regarding the position of chairman.”

The morning after he decided not to wait to inform the league and its clubs that his decision was to resign and sent them his letter of resignation. He also sent it to The Bolton News with his permission for us to use it.

Mr Hall left the Bolton League the way he has served them throughout his adult lifetime – well.