HEATON Under-15s are kings of the county after winning the Lancashire Club Knockout.

The Bolton League team came out on top out of 64 sides who entered the competition.

Their outstanding campaign culminated in finals day glory at Chorley Cricket Club on Sunday when they beat Walshaw by 49 runs in the final after edging out Fleetwood in the semi-final.

They now go on to represent Lancashire in the ECB U15 National Club Championships which start with an away game against Cheshire in two weeks.

Manager Mark Greenhalgh’s team reached finals day after coming through three rounds.

They knocked out fellow Bolton League side Bradshaw away in the first round before beating holders Euxton then Leigh, both at home.

In Sunday’s semi-final they beat Fleetwood in a thrilling match before convincingly winning the final in which Jignesh Varsani was the star with 50 not out followed by 3-19 from his four overs.

Greenhalgh, who led Heaton to the semi-finals of the competition last year, paid tribute to the efforts of his players Lee Halliwell (captain), Varsani, Nathan Donaldson, Nikhil Maini, Luka Williams-Denton, Louis Greenhalgh, Tom Sleigh, Ajay Patel, Adi Halai, Ollie Lightbown, Umar Shaikh and Lawson Bates.

“It was a phenomenal achievement,” he said. “I felt I had a better group of players last year when we got to the semi but this year’s team have done better.

“One of our hardest games was against Bradshaw in the first round.

“Our captain Lee Halliwell got 40-odd not out and won it on his own really.

“We were missing a couple of players and he stepped up.

“Euxton won it last year and they are a fabulous team. We managed to scrape through that one in a really tight game.

“In the third round we just clicked against Leigh. Two of their lads are at Lancashire but we didn’t give them a chance.

“They were 59 off 20 overs and we knocked them off in eight overs with one out.

“It was a great finals day at Chorley on Sunday for the semi-final and final. There were good standard, neutral umpires on a good ground and it was organised well.

“In the quarter-finals Fleetwood had knocked out Egerton who have a really good side so I think they were confident.

“It was a very tight game and we sneaked through by about eight runs.

“Nikhil Maini got 47 not out and bowled really well. Lee Halliwell bowled really well and so did Luka Williams-Denton who also got some runs.

“Jignesh Varsani got 20-odd opening the batting and he and Nikhil put 50-odd on for the opening wicket.

“Lee Halliwell marshalled his troops really well under a lot of pressure and his bowling was excellent.

“He is district standard – I don’t know why Lancs haven’t picked him up.

“Nathan Donaldson bowled well under pressure and Lawson Bates, who’s 14, kept wicket well in the semi-final.

“In the final Jignesh got 50 and had to retire and Luka got 36 and Lee Halliwell got a six. We scored 131-4 then they all bowled well and kept it tight.

“We fielded unbelievably well and Nikhil took a fabulous stumping.

“They were all brilliant and and I’ve got to thank Gill Greenhalgh who was our scorer and organiser. It was a real team effort by everyone and now we’re all looking forward to representing Lancashire in the national knockout.”