WALLASEY CELEBRATE 150 YEARS AND PLAN FOR NEXT DECADE

Date: 5th March 2014

A Paul Edwards copyright exclusive for L&DCC Official Website.

150 years young

Few students of the Liverpool Competition see Chris Bourne as an elder statesman. The avuncular mantle would not sit easy on his shoulders and he is never to be found sharing a sharpener with Mike Aherne in Wallasey’s bar and expostulating about the decline of cricket on the Wirral since “his day”.

Yet it remains true that, along with Neil Cross and Graham Reid, skipper Bourne will be one of the senior players in the Wallasey team this summer as the club marks its sesquicentennial anniversary by placing its faith in young local cricketers.

“We have made the decision that we will be paying only the overseas professional this year,” said Bourne. “On top of that, 17 of the 18 players in our first team squad live within a mile and a half of the ground. I don’t think any other club in the Competition can match that.”

Wallasey’s approach appears to be paying dividends. Bourne’s team finished sixth in the ECB Premier League last summer and reached the last 32 in both national competitions. That achievement may have owed much to Neil Cross’s 601 runs and 51 wickets, statistics which underpin the captain’s view that Cross is the “best all-rounder in the Med Imaging Liverpool Competition.” Nor were Wallasey’s efforts hampered by Graham Reid’s 564 runs.

However, Bourne believes that Wallasey’s fortunes over the next decade will be in the hands of players like Jack Leckey, Alex Eagles and the other very talented young cricketers who helped the club re-establish itself as one of the league’s powerhouses.

“These are exciting times at Wallasey,” said Bourne. “We have six or seven lads in the 20-21-year-old age bracket and they can be first team cricketers for another decade or more. What’s more, players on the verge of the squad will also get an opportunity. The first team played over 40 games last season.

“We’re still sorting out a visa our overseas player for 2014 but I can say that we have decided to sign a Sri Lankan and we hope everything will be sorted out soon.

“Naturally, there will be a lot of events taking place at the club to mark the 150th anniversary and we are looking to get as many former players as possible back at the Oval.