Last updated at 14:15, Monday, 21 September 2009

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THIS year has been a big one in the history of Lindal Moor CC.

The Pennington Lane club have been celebrating their 125th anniversary in 2009 and IAN DUNSTAN talks to those involved with the grand old club today and in the past.

LINDAL Moor have been celebrating birthday few ever reach this year – they are 125 not out and showing no signs of declaring.

After starting out life as a works team in 1884, the club has progressed to the solid family club it is today, with several success stories along the way.

Messer’s Harrison, Ainslie and Company’s Employees played their first recorded match in 1884 against Mr. O’Brien’s team.

The next year the club changed its name to Lindal Moor Cricket Club and the rest, as they say, is history.

In its 125 years of existence, the club has experienced much success and produced some of the best players to have graced the North Lancs League.

Current first team skipper Alistair McDougall explains the draw of Lindal Moor: “We get a lot of the kids come from the local area – mainly through word of mouth or family ties.

“It is a family club and it’s an independent cricket club as well, so it has its own sustainability and a uniqueness.

“We are fortunate to have people like (club stalwart) Tony Wallace, who has kept it going through thick and thin.”

As part of the anniversary celebrations, the club hosted this year’s South Cumbria Twenty20 Grand Finals Day - a competition which Lindal helped bring to the area in 2005 and which player and secretary John Atkinson is still heavily involved with today– as well as a former players day, including a past v present match, and a sportsman’s dinner.

Unfortunately for the villagers, they were unable to make it a double celebration at the Twenty20 Grand Finals day.

Despite a tremendous effort in reaching the competition’s climactic day, they were beaten by North Lancs League winners Furness in the semi-finals.

Still regarded by many as one of the best teams to grace the North Lancs league, the Lindal side of the 1970s are still held in the highest regard by the club.

McDougall – Lindal-born and bred – reflects on some of his fondest memories of his involvement with the club, including watching his heroes from that decade.

He adds: “My best memories are watching the team of the seventies that got to the Haig Cup final (at Lord’s). As a kid growing up they were my heroes.

“The team that Lindal had back then are probably as good an amateur team that has ever graced the North Lancashire League.

“They were my heroes as a boy and you try to model yourself on them.”

The man who led the side in the glory days, Eric ‘Bush’ Gardiner, says the success 30 years ago was down to a coming together of talent.

“We never had a professional, we were just a good amateur side,” sayd Kirkby-born player, who took 261 catches over the years, ranking him second in the clubs all-time fielding honours.

“We got Eddie Shuttleworth right out of the blue. Eddie was one of the best amateurs from round here.

“Getting him and Tom Gifford from Ulverston was the turning point.

“Winning breeds winning, when we were losing in the 1960s nobody thought about winning, but when we started winning in the 1970s people took on a different attitude.

“Throughout the 1970s we were probably the best team in the area.

“I’ll always have affection for Lindal, I had some good years up there. It was a family club, we never had any money and everyone had to battle for what they had.”

Gardiner played for Lindal for most of his cricketing career, before moving to his hometown team, Kirkby, in 1979.

Another of that decade’s greats was Wilf Knight, whose son Colin still plays for the club now and tops Lindal’s all-time top run-scorers chart.

“I was playing cricket for Dowdales and the teacher offered to pay my subs at Lindal Moor, that’s how I got started,” explained former opening batsmen Wilf, who himself is the third-highest run-scorer in Lindal’s history, with more than 12,000 runs.

“A lot of people have played at Lindal for a long time, they do tend to stay up there, I never thought about going anywhere else.”

Like many of the other squad members, Knight was not a native to Lindal, but believes it was the influx of talent from outside the area that created a very strong team.

“It was a very good side,” he added.

“We weren’t all Lindal lads, Eddie Shuttleworth moved to the area to play for Barrow RL, Tom Gifford came from Ulverston, John Parkinson came from away and Wilf Ethrington came from Levens Valley.

“When you go round the grounds people still talk about the 1970s, it was a good side.

“We attracted some good players (after the side’s success).

“I enjoyed my time at Lindal Moor, every minute of it.

“I go to as many of the home games as I can now, it’s still a club I hold close to my heart.”

Still affectionately known as “Young Ronnie”, the son of the great Lindal pace bowler who shares his name, Ronnie Coulson Jnr is still remembered for his magic spell of bowling at Lord’s in the Haig Cup final when he was only 21 years old.

He too shares fond memories of his time at the club.

“It was a close-knit group. We had a good team,” said the former bowler, who took six wickets in the Lord’s final.

“My father nearly got 1,000 wickets for Lindal Moor, when I was younger I used to go and watch Lindal and it caught on from there.

“It’s always been a real good, friendly club and very well run. I always look for their result before anyone else’s.”

On his time playing in the most successful ever Lindal side, he added: “The first team was well established, I knew I was stepping into a good side.

“The only team we had a problem with at the time was Millom, they always gave us a hard game.

“At the time in the North Lancs, if we weren’t winning trophies, they were.”

In more recent years Lindal have not enjoyed the success the golden generation had, but in 2002 they ended their barren spell by defeating Workington in the Higson Cup final.

The club also won the firs- ever South Cumbrian Twenty20 Cup in 2005, beating old rivals Millom in the final.

In more recent years, the introduction of overseas professionals has seen many top players grace Pennington Lane, with the club boasting the likes of Indian star Robin Morris, Sri Lankan pro Muditha Maduwantha and one of the best all-rounders to ever play the league in Shawn Findlay.

Given the hard work behind the scenes to keep the club running over the last 125 years, all those involved now will be hoping the juniors take up the mantle and continue the tremendous history.

Lindal Moor legend Tom Gifford sums it up best, saying: “Once you’ve been a part of the Lindal Moor set up, it’s in your blood.”

First published at 13:08, Monday, 21 September 2009
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk