Cricket fans in the Bolton area have the opportunity to watch some potential stars of the future at Westhoughton Cricket Club this week.
The club’s St George’s Oval home will host two days of T20 action for Lancashire’s Second XI squad, with Derbyshire visiting for a double header of games on Tuesday, before Yorkshire arrive for a Roses clash on Thursday afternoon.
Lancashire’s Second XI are annual visitors to Westhoughton, giving local supporters the chance to watch county level players up close, and as Club Chairman Gary Dixon explained, the relationship between the club and the county was first established at the point when the ground was being built.
“We relocated to this site 16 years ago this summer, and because we were building a big state-of-the-art ground, Lancashire took interest in us”, said Gary.
“Originally the plan was for us to be hosting County Championship games for the first team. However, the numbers didn't really add up with that, because they want you to sell hospitality and all sorts of other stuff.
“We did look at getting some support from Bolton Council, but the other outgrounds that Lancashire use at Southport, Blackpool and Liverpool have a tourism budget they can tap into, and Bolton doesn’t have a budget like that.
“Lancashire has an ethos of using outgrounds, and I know the players prefer playing at the out grounds in the County Championship, because they're a bit smaller, more intimate, compared to Old Trafford with about 1000 people on it which just becomes an echo chamber
“But there is a big cost involved in hosting those games, so we settled for having second team cricket as and when the opportunity arose, and we're happy where we're at.
“Since then, we generally host two fixtures per season, and have done so pretty much right from the start when we moved here. They are usually T20 games now, although we have had 50 over games in the past too.
“We’ve always had a good relationship with Lancashire and the people involved with the Second XI sides, especially now with Karl Krikken in charge of coaching the squad, who is a Westhoughton lad.
“His dad, Brian Krikken is a former Westhoughton player and still lives in the town”.
With the growth in other forms of cricket in recent years, Gary believes there is also plenty of scope for Westhoughton to be hosting more fixtures involving Lancashire’s teams in future.
“We're in a quite a privileged position having such a nice facility, and it needs using”, he said.
“Old Trafford was built when it was just the County Championship and that was pretty much it, and Lancashire are now building another facility at Farrington so there will be two main grounds.
“I believe Farrington will be the venue for women's and disabilities cricket, but obviously for the first team, there’s the County Championship, T20 and The Hundred, and there’s academy sides too.
“So it’s a lot of cricket for Lancashire to host and they will have to rely on outgrounds.
“I’m confident we'll still get a gig with the second team stuff, and possibly other games too, such as midweek fixtures, women's fixtures, and different age group fixtures for the county sides”.
For now, though, the club is focussed on hosting this coming week’s T20 games and Gary says that they are looking forward to welcoming players and fans alike for what promises to be two exciting days of action.
“The message to everyone is to come on down. It’s free admission on both days, the bar will be open, and there will be food on sale too.
“The weather forecast is decent, and it's looking like we are going to have two good days”.
Details of the games are as follows.
- Tuesday 1st July – Lancashire v Derbyshire – Game 1 starts at 11.30 am, Game 2 starts at 3 pm.
- Thursday 3rd July – Lancashire v Yorkshire – one game with a 2 pm start.
There is free parking at the ground, and the full address is:
Westhoughton Cricket Club, St. Georges Oval, Cappadocia Way, Westhoughton, Bolton BL5 2GG