The Bolton Cricket League is a cricket league comprising fifteen teams in and around Bolton, Greater Manchester in North West England. The league runs competitions at First Team, Second Team, Under 18, Under 15, Under 13 and Under 11 levels. It expanded after the 2015 season, with nine clubs joining from in and around the area. However, the league lost two established clubs in the process, due to the formation of the Greater Manchester Cricket League in 2016.
In October 2022, the Bolton Cricket League and the Ribblesdale Cricket League merged to create the North West Cricket League. Bolton League Club, Little Lever CC, were 'Senior Premiership' champions in the inaugural season, 2023.
History The league was established in 1930 after breaking away from the Bolton Cricket Association. The League Heahquarters is based at Barley Brook Meadow, Bolton, Lancashire. The League also hold the Hamer Cup competition; a knockout cup competition for first teams in the Bolton Cricket League. The most successful team(s) to date is both Walkden and Farnworth who became league champions for the fourteenth time in 2019 and 2017 respectively.
Champions
YearClub+ League Champions, 1930 Farnworth 1931 1932 Tonge 1933 Heaton 1934 Farnworth 1935 1936 Bradshaw 1937 Farnworth 1938 Eagley 1939 Tonge 1940 Westhoughton 1941 Westhoughton 1942 Westhoughton 1943 Eagley 1944 Eagley 1945 Bradshaw 1946 Little Lever 1947 Farnworth 1948 Walkden 1949 Farnworth
YearClub+ League Champions, 1950 Walkden 1951 Walkden 1952 Walkden 1953 Horwich 1954 Bradshaw 1955 Horwich 1956 Westhoughton 1957 Little Lever 1958 Heaton 1959 Farnworth 1960 Farnworth 1961 Walkden 1962 Walkden 1963 Bradshaw 1964 Farnworth 1965 Farnworth 1966 Little Lever 1967 Tonge 1968 Tonge 1969 Tonge
YearClub+ League Champions, 1970 Astley Bridge 1971 Westhoughton 1972 Little Lever 1973 Tonge 1974 Kearsley 1975 Kearsley 1976 Bradshaw 1977 Bradshaw 1978 Horwich 1979 Kearsley 1980 Westhoughton 1981 Little Lever 1982 Kearsley 1983 Horwich 1984 Farnworth 1985 Farnworth Social Circle 1986 Kearsley 1987 Farnworth Social Circle 1988 Greenmount 1989 Walkden
YearClub+ League Champions, 1990 Kearsley 1991 Farnworth Social Circle 1992 Bradshaw 1993 Kearsley 1994 Farnworth Social Circle 1995 Little Lever 1996 Tonge 1997 Tonge 1998 Tonge 1999 Tonge 2000 Kearsley 2001 Walkden 2002 Tonge 2003 Walkden 2004 Westhoughton 2005 Farnworth 2006 Walkden 2007 Walkden 2008 Walkden 2009 Farnworth Social Circle
YearClub+ League Champions, 2010 Farnworth 2011 Greenmount 2012 Farnworth 2013 Little Lever 2014 Farnworth Social Circle 2015 Egerton 2016 Farnworth Social Circle 2017 Farnworth 2018 Walkden 2019 Walkden 2020 League suspended 2021 Horwich RMI
League performance by season from 2011 Key Gold Champions Blue Left League Red Relegated
+ Performance by season, from 2011 Club 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 Adlington 14 10 Astley Bridge 6 13 11 9 7 19 Atherton 13 9 Blackrod 11 Bradshaw 8 7 7 2 5 8 2 6 9 Daisy Hill 15 10 Darcy Lever 16 Eagley 13 12 14 14 11 10 9 Egerton 11 3 3 7 1 Farnworth 5 1 5 5 4 4 1 2 2 8 Farnworth Social Circle 4 5 6 1 3 1 5 5 6 3 Golborne 17 Greenmount 1 2 4 6 6 Heaton 9 10 10 11 12 9 10 Horwich RMI 2 4 9 4 13 5 7 3 3 1 Kearsley 10 9 12 8 8 7 3 4 4 Little Hulton 18 Little Lever 12 6 1 12 10 12 7 4 Lostock 6 8 8 5 6 Standish 20 Tonge 14 11 13 13 14 21 7 Walkden 3 8 8 10 9 2 6 1 1 5 Westhoughton 7 14 2 3 2 3 4 7 8 2 References
Notable players A number of quality cricketers have played in the Bolton Cricket League including: Michael Atherton Ian Cowap John Crawley Kapil Dev Charlie Griffith Matthew Hayden Ronnie Irani Dheeraj Jadhav Collis King Javed Miandad Dilip Vengsarkar Sir Garfield Sobers Mark Taylor Mark Waugh Farokh Engineer Aiden Markram Devon Conway Atiq Uz-Zaman Agha Salman Ross Sutton Josh Bohannon Callum Parkinson Matt Parkinson Haseeb Hameed Footballing brothers Gary Neville and Phil Neville also played in the Bolton Cricket League.
See also Club cricket List of English cricket clubs
References
External links Official website