With rain decimating the cricket programme in the Bolton area over the weekend, Bill Allen takes an opportunity to look back at a post-war era when the popularity of the local leagues was at an all-time high...

THE popularity of league cricket, whether in Bolton or elsewhere in the cricketing towns of northern England, has never been greater than in that time between the wars and in the early post-war period of the 1950s.

TV was a distraction for only a few and a lack of money and the means to travel far meant that the lure of coastal resorts was confined to the annual Wakes fortnight.

Consequently, sunny summer weekends were likely to be spent watching cricket and whole families would often make their way to The Rigbys, Barlow Memorial Institute, The Tyldesleys, the Old Vicarage, or the Harriet Street Oval to watch the likes of Bradshaw, Edgworth, Westhoughton, Little Hulton or Walkden duelling for Bolton League or Bolton Association honours.

The Warburton Cup, presented to the champions who had proved their worth over 22 games, has always been the bread and butter of the Bolton League, but in July - the competition was played much earlier in the season in those days - the knockout Hamer Cup final would always generate a lot of interest.

Never more so than in 1949 when a record total of 16,620 people paid to watch a final played between Kearsley and Heaton on Bolton Cricket Club's beautiful ground at Green Lane.

It should be explained that the match was played over four nights, the practice in those days being to still respect the Sabbath and to arrange cup-ties for midweek nights in mid-summer when the days were at their longest.

Among the spectators on each of those nights was current Bolton League president Peter Stafford, who was then a 16-year-old playing for Kearsley second eleven.

"There was always a tremendous atmosphere for Hamer Cup finals, but this one was exceptional. Local cricket was very popular in those days, though crowds of more than 4,000 on consecutive nights was unheard of. Added to that, Green Lane was by far Bolton's best venue for such big matches," recalls Stafford, who has always regretted the fact that Bolton Cricket Club has never competed in the Bolton League.

The match was one of perpetual record-breaking.

Winners Kearsley's total of 249 beat the best ever in a final, topping their own 243-9 when beating Little Lever in 1934.

Three players scored fifties and so earned collections from the appreciative spectators, generous sums of money which "Olympian", writing in the Bolton Evening News of the day, described as "bigger than any previously known in local cricket". Each was in the region of £50 - round about a month's wages for the ordinary working man. The first recipient was Heaton's deputy professional Bill Alley, a pugnacious left-hander who was standing in for the absent Ronnie Sutcliffe.

Alley had previously had a career as a boxer - unbeaten in 28 fights - back home in Australia before making his mark in Sheffield Shield cricket. He left New South Wales to join Colne in the Lancashire League in 1948 and went on to have a distinguished career with Somerset, playing county cricket until he was 49 and standing as an umpire in 10 Test matches.

Alley had a swashbuckling style but was a little more circumspect in the final, taking his "deputy" duties very seriously as he helped his side build a solid reply to Kearsley's suspended innings of 130-4. His 67 was scored in an hour and the fluency of his strokes gave much pleasure to a crowd of 4,369. He was rewarded with a collection of nearly £47.

After sharing a stand of 94 with Alley, amateur Bob Lilley went on to complete a stubborn half-century himself on the fourth evening as his side concluded their suspended innings at 201, which was 49 short of their victory target. Lilley's 70, the highest innings of the game, may have been in vain but his £51 collection must have been some consolation.

In-between, Kearsley had batted a second time and were indebted to good scores from professional Les Bulcock - regarded as one of the best paid-men in Bolton League history - and opening partner Garnett, then more so from the middle-order partnership of father WH (Bill) and son JH (Harry) Davies, an outstanding all-round athlete who was later to pro in both the League and the Association before moving to Essex.

For young Davies, his 68 could not have been more opportune, because he was to be married two days later and his £50 collection was a timely wedding present.

In addition to record scores, record collections, and record crowds the 1949 Hamer Cup final also set a new record for receipts of just over £383. So it fully deserved the Bolton Evening News headline describing it as: "The Hamer Cup Final of Records".