Manchopper at the Cricket….(Clifton CC)

Result: Clifton CC 210-4 (33.3 overs) BEAT Flixton CC 209 all out (49.2 overs) by 6 wickets. (Greater Manchester Cricket League Premier Division)

Venue: Manchester Road (Saturday 17th April 2021, 12.30pm)

Att: peaked around 75.

After over five long months, I was finally able to return to the real blog trail on these pages and it was cricket that would, for the second year in succession, herald the return. It was in Liverpool and Aigburth that I restarted last year – but this time I’d be a little bit closer to home. Indeed, I’d be headed to Clifton in the North West of the City of Salford, as they welcomed Flixton – one of my more local sides and a club I visited way back in the old times!

Grabbing a bus and transiting through the Trafford Centre, I travelled past my planned venue for the following weekend, Monton, before hopping off right outside Clifton’s Manchester Road home. My plan to arrive a half hour before play was due to begin paid off, as I grabbed one of the benched seats out front, pretty much behind the bowlers arm, where I’d be camping out today.

Clifton is situated alongside the Irwell Valley, within the City of Salford. Historically a part of Lancashire, it was, perhaps unsurprisingly, a coal mining centre which once formed part of the Municipal Borough of Swinton and Pendlebury. Its name derives from the Old English clif and tun, meaning “settlement near a cliff, slope or riverbank” and it was mentioned in the Pipe Roll of 1183-’84…nope, me neither! Standing upon the Manchester coalfields, the old Clifton Hall Colliery was situated on a site now taken by a recycling and refuse centre and operated for over 100 years, before closing in 1929. Like many others, it too saw tragedy strike, as 178 men and boys were killed in an underground explosion, which an inquest concluded was caused by firedamp coming into contact with a candle. Two George’s (Hindley – a blacksmith and Higson – a fireman) both were part of a band of men who immediately descended into the pit to aid in the recovery effort. The two were awarded the Albert Medal (2nd Class) for bravery. Notably, blacksmith Hindley was aged just 16. Nearby Wet Earth Colliery was closed a year before Clifton Hall closed its doors, its remnants can still be seen within Clifton Country Park.

Arriving at Clifton!

Tying in with the cricket club, the Pilkington’s Lancastrian Pottery business (the family owners largely introduced the sport in the local area) was founded in 1892 and battery and metal factories joined over the later years, to keep local jobs alive. Being a town in the local ecclesiastical parish of Eccles, within the hundred of Salford, Lancashire, it remained as such until 1933, when the township was dissolved and the areas split between Kearsley Urban District and the aforementioned Swinton and Pendlebury municipal borough.

It once was connected by rail far more regularly than it currently is (its own station is barely used), with the Bury-to-Rawtenstall line previously having also ran through the area, with some of its old route and platforms still in place. The station at Clifton previously had the suffix “Junction”, where the two lines (along with Manchester-Preston) met, with the Bury line crossing the dominating Clifton Viaduct – known locally as the “thirteen arches”. The station dropped from importance, as the factories and Agecroft Power Station steadily became more disused. The nearby Clifton Aqueduct may soon see a second life however, being earmarked for a makeover for recreational canal use, as it is listed at Grade II. The Army’s TA centre is colloquially known as “Clifton Barracks”.

It was a fairly balmy early afternoon in leafy NW Salford, as Clifton, led by former Lancashire championship winning wicketkeeper Gareth Cross, made their way onto the field. They were duly following the two Flixton openers and umpires, who made themselves home (they hoped anyway!) out in the middle. Cricket was back! Clifton’s Manchester Road home is a tidy venue – one that belies the fact it’s on a busy road to the point that you barely hear it…unless the ice cream vans make their way in anyway! The facilities are spread in three of the four corners, with the scoreboard to the North West, as you enter, and the players’ pavilion on the other side of this. Immediately in front of you, kind of around cow corner to mid-on, is the clubhouse and the like, where we would legally be required to remain and drink all day long. Who’d have ever thought a legal requirement to drink at sporting events would be a thing?!

View from (around) that bench. Can see why it was liked!

Benches line the two sides of the pitch, most holding an epitaph of sorts to members since passed. I always like to have a read of these as I go, perhaps imagining their forms, in whichever follows, still enjoying the sport and ground they loved during their time on our mortal coil. Indeed, one says to share some time with one fella – I duly did. I probably made him leave, mind you! Speaking of the past, here’s the story of Clifton’s long history…

History Lesson:

Cricket was first ‘put in’, as it were, to Clifton from the late 1860’s-to-early 1870’s, via the Pilkington brothers and their mining company, giving a leisure pursuit for their workers to take part in, with a local man’s diary – now taking a spot in the Salford museum – showing as much, describing a game taking place in 1871. However, it wasn’t until three years later, in 1874, that Clifton Cricket Club would officially come into being, along with St. Anne’s Church, both of which were funded by the Pilkington’s. The club’s, seemingly, first foray into league cricket was in 1892, as they entered the South Lancashire League. It wasn’t the most auspicious of starts for the Kingfishers, as they finished bottom of the table, at the end of that first season. They resigned at the close of play.

As the years went on, Clifton continued to add to and grow the ground around the playing area, with refreshment huts and seating added prior to the club’s return to the South Lancashire League in 1905. They would remain here until the outbreak of WWI, during which the ground fell into disrepair until the restart of the game in 1920 saw the Kingfishers return to the field of play once again. Further sports and teams were added to the club, as they became more of a multi-sports centre, whilst Clifton’s first honour finally arrived in 1922, via the second team’s championship winning campaign.

Clifton CC

Clifton joined the Bolton Combination in 1923 and spent the next two seasons playing in that competition, before returning back to the South Lancashire League once again. In 1925, Lancashire played at least one game at Clifton and this must have spurred the club’s first team onto silverware, with their first honour being the 1928 Pilkington Cup. However, the club’s Manchester League road home soon saw significant changes, with the road widening seeing the end of the tennis courts at that end of the ground, whilst the ground itself was sold to the local council, without the club’s knowledge!

The club moved to the Bolton & District Cricket Combination in 1937 and continued playing through WWII; though may have wished they hadn’t, as they made a club and league record low score: seven all out, versus Astley & Tyldesley Collieries. However, worse tragedy was to befall the ground, as after this somewhat comical version, real life sadness struck in 1945, when Taylor Brother’s wicket-keeper Arthur Sullivan was killed in a freak, mid-match, accident. Even away from the war, dangers were still widely-ranging, even in the most serene of games.

Clifton CC

Post-war, the seconds won the Hardcastle Shield in 1947, whilst the club building known as Army “Jane” hut was built in 1951 and laid the foundation for the current club buildings to follow at the same locations. 1961 saw the near-century-long connection with the Pilkington family come to an end, whilst Clifton House, the family home, was demolished four years later, in almost a final goodbye. On-field, the seconds continued to pick up silver, winning two successive Hardcastle Shields (1967-’68) whilst a brick pavilion was approved around the same time, with a bar added in 1972. The firsts, clearly buoyed by this addition, won the Cross Cup in 1973, whilst the u-13 side became National Champions, to round off the club’s first centenary in style.

1981 saw further tragedy come the way of Clifton, this time affecting their own club, as bowler Geoff Griffiths was killed (seemingly off-field on this occasion), but the club seemed to pick up their efforts with both 2nds and 1sts becoming championship winners – the latter for the first time ever in their history – in the following years (1982 and 1983, respectively. The 2nds also won the Halliwell Shield in the 1983 season, as both teams secured honours for that campaign. Further club building improvements followed in the late 1980’s, and after finishing as runners-up in 1991, the club won the league title for a second time in 1994. 1997 saw a second Cross Cup secured, whilst Gareth Cross was named most promising young player, Clifton’s first winner of this prize in sixteen years in 2000. We’ve all immediately aged!

Clifton CC

2001 saw the club have to play elsewhere, due to weather and drainage issues, but the seconds still managed to win their league title, and added a Isherwood Cup a year later, before 2003 saw a league and cup double secured. 2005 then saw Clifton accepted into the Central Lancashire Cricket League for the 2006 season onwards – this coming a half-century of years after the club had almost folded due to financial problems. The 1st XI won the Cross Cup in 2005, their final attempt at doing so, whilst Sri Lankan cricketers began to make their name at the club in the mid-2000’s, with Chinthaka Jayasinghe and Hiranthe Wijesinghe, both racking up many a-run. The second XI won the Burton knockout cup in 2009 – the club’s first Central Lancashire Cricket League honour at senior level. 2013 saw Steven Cheetham pick up match figures of 10-18 against Rochdale, whilst he was later joined back at the club by former Lancs team-mate, a returning Gareth Cross. 2015 saw Clifton take the decision to become a founding member of the Greater Manchester Cricket League for 2016, thus resigning from the Central Lancashire Cricket League at the end of the 2015 season; the seconds signing off with a league and cup double.

Clifton’s GMCL stint began with T20 competiton glory, the Kingfishers defeating the interestingly named Heywood Monkeys to seal the inaugural title. Chairman Ian Morris has a camera installed to allow for live streams of Clifton’s games (did he know what was coming in 2020?!) whilst the side’s T20 exploits went nationwide, as the club were led by Cross to ECB National Club Finals Day. The Cross Cup (the oldest competition in Lancashire, and one of the oldest in the world, apparently) was revived for 2017, after a year off the fixture list, with this – perhaps fittingly – being lifted by the cup’s namesake too, after victory for Clifton over local rivals Roe Green. 2018 saw another final reached, this time the Lancashire Knockout Cup, where defeat would befall the Kingfishers at the hands of Darwen CC. 2019 saw the 2nds win the GMCL Division 2 West, and finish as 2nd XI cup runners-up, to round off a pretty successful decade. Last year’s Covid-affected season still saw Clifton gain success, as they finished top of the mini “Division J”, with Gareth Cross ending up top of the MVP table.

Early days…

Speaking of that man, Cross wasn’t the only former Lancashire man lining up for the hosts this afternoon either. Medium-quick Steven Cheetham (fine surname, Sir!) was also in their eleven, but wouldn’t be opening up the season’s account for the home side. Instead, this honour would fall the way of Cross himself, though, after all the build up, the first delivery was a wide and so, of course, didn’t count. Scenes!

However, both he and his opening partner Rob Lord would make amends with swift inroads into the Flixton top-order on what looked a fairly green pitch, but one which played well, as the scores suggest. It seemed the visitors may have been a little perturbed by the sight of said pitch, and the start by Clifton, as apart from opener Muhammad Ghafoor, most struggled to get into any kind of rhythm or stride.

Match Action

Match Action

With Flixton surviving two early chances – with neither a run out or lbw going the way of the hosts – they did eventually strike through Lord, who breached the defences of keeper-batsman Sam Barlow to have him bowled without scoring. Connor De’Ath then followed in short order, though appeared rather unhappy with the decision to give him out leg-before to Cross, having scored just a single run.

The early strikes continued, Shakeel Ansar being bowled off his inside edge by Lord for four, before a bit of a partnership between Ghafoor and Anwar ul-Haq allowed Flixton to gain something of a foothold. But it didn’t look like the land they held was too steady to stand on for long, and so it proved, as Matt Wilkes got in on the action, having the latter of the pair caught at mid-wicket, having made eleven. There was even a chance for wicket number five to go down nearly immediately afterwards, but a very tough return chance was grassed. Barely worth mentioning, though, due to its difficulty.

But it would eventually go. It would be third time lucky on the run-out front, as Andy Morrison was caught short of his ground for four, whilst Alfie Stamper was given lbw after possibly the longest ever time between the beginning of the appeal and the decision. A first wicket for the spinner, Charlie Dorsey, and Stamper made one. At the other end of the spectrum, Ghafoor continued on unabated with his innings, passing a well-played 50 and putting on a fine partnership with Kamran Basharat (45), who pushed Flixton up towards something resembling a competitive score.

Playing the invisible man.

Crowd building nicely…no idea of the shot!

However, Ghafoor would fall agonisingly short of his ton, nicking behind to Davidson off the bowling of Lord for 91, shortly after hitting the square-leg gardens! A fine knock that really deserved a three figure score. Basharat would follow in fairly short order, falling to Steve Cheetham, whilst Mustafa Bashir was dismissed for a decent 21, being caught swinging towards cow corner off the returning Cross, who bowled briskly.

Two more Stampers were left as the final pairing, but it didn’t last all that long, as Peter was run out without scoring, via ‘keeper Davidson’s very leisurely throw from behind the stumps and Flixton were dismissed for 209; Marc was left stranded on two not-out. Incidentally, each of Clifton’s bowlers picked up a wicket, to get their respective accounts open for the year.

All out…

Kaltenberg continued to go down well through the break, along with numerous other drinks for the lads on the table next to me(!), before the Clifton openers made their way out to begin the hosts’ reply; and they began at pace. Clifton’s Luke Perry tried to force the pace early on, cracking a quick-fire ten, before slicing to gully off of opening bowler Kamran Basharat.

Adam Holt also rode his luck, seeing drops at gully and point go his way – drops which Flixton would go on to regret very muchly. He would go on to pass 50, along with Gareth Cross, as the two’s partnership – spanning Cross’ every ball removal and reapplication of his gloves – advanced Clifton towards their target at good pace.

Solid.

Driven.

Cross would be dropped on 56, only to be ousted next ball off Marc Stamper’s bowling, a superb catch at mid-wicket by De’Ath getting rid of the ex-Lancashire man, who showed his class throughout his knock. Rob Lord,(eleven), fell shortly after his captain, becoming Basharat’s second victim and Davidson (eight) would be unfortunately run out just before the end of the game, but Holt accelerated on to complete his century with a few sixes, before cracking away a final four to complete the run chase in style. In both games I’ve watched Flixton, De’Ath has been in business at the end of both games; the De’Ath knell alive and well…just on the wrong side on this occasion, from his perspective, I suppose!

Calm before…

…the STORM!!!

A fine knock.

Success for Clifton, but not so much for me, as my phone lied to me about the bus times – meaning I’d been led to believe I had a few minutes until the bus…until I saw it around the corner! Despite sprinting across the road and gesturing to the driver to await my imminent arrival at the bus stop – this didn’t happen, and he continued on his merry way. Bastard.

I thus broke up my journey home with two journeys, first to Swinton station, before a short walk took up some time I had before catching the next Trafford Centre bound service. No issues with the trip itself, and I was home just a half-hour later than planned…and a lot earlier than if the game had gone the distance! Thanks to Clifton for a good day out in New circumstances – all looked to be running smoothly and well oiled. So well done. And to Flixton too, for putting on a score to allow for a good game of cricket, early on in the day. Onto Monton, as the tour de #22 bus route continues!

RATINGS:

Game: 7

Ground: 7

Food: N/A

Beer: 7

Value For Money: 8