A SAD TIME AS THE COMPETITION LOSES TWO OF ITS FINEST PLAYERS

Date: 25th October 2016

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

John Lonsdale and Ronnie Cockbain pass away.

Members of both Bootle and Sefton Park Cricket Clubs and very many in Merseyside’s wider cricket community have paid tribute to Ronnie Cockbain and John Lonsdale, both of whom died over the past few days.

Although of different generations, the two cricketers felt a deep loyalty towards their respective clubs and were very fine players in their own right.

Neither left the game when their playing days were over. Ronnie Cockbain was often to be seen prowling the boundary at Wadham Road, especially in the years when his son, Ian, was skippering the first team to a raft of trophies. In latter years Cockbain was to be found at Cricket Path, watching Ian lead Formby back to the ECB Premier League.

Over twenty years ago he was likely to be accompanied by his grandson, also named Ian, whom he coached just as he had many generations of cricketers on Merseyside. Ian is now enjoying a successful first-class career with Gloucestershire.

Before he devoted his time to watching cricket Cockbain, had played for Bootle’s first team with great distinction from 1951 to 1962 and from 1969 until 1980, skippering the side in 1971 and 1972. In the intervening period he played from Cammell Lairds, where he also worked as an accountant. He also appeared in seven matches for Cheshire.

“Ronnie played a total of 393 first-team games for Bootle,” said the club treasurer Tommy Law. “He made 7810 runs and took 397 wickets. Although a fierce competitor during games, he was a generous host off the field.”

Cockbain’s prowess as a player can perhaps be gauged by the anecdote he, himself, often told of the nine-year-old boy at Wadham Road who was selecting his England side in the early 1960s. Peter May was captain and Ted Dexter got into the eleven. too. But at No5 on the team sheet was scribbled the name of R G Cockbain, who was also identified as first-change seamer.

“Ronnie was a special influence on an awful lot of us and he was my Mr. Cricket, ” added Birkenhead St Mary’s Billy McGenity, one of the many players to have been coached by Cockbain. “You were richer for having known him.”

Cockbain’s loyalty to Bootle was matched by that of John Lonsdale to Sefton Park, the club he joined when he moved to the area from Bolton in 1972.

After playing for his home team, Horwich RMI, in the Bolton League for 8 years, Lonsdale’s teaching career took him to Merseyside and a search for a new club. A glance at the 1972 league table revealed that Sefton Park were top of the Competition, which made his mind up. When telling this story, John always pointed out that Bootle were bottom that season!!

Lonsdale was immediately selected for the first team and was made captain in 1984, a post he held for five seasons. This was the year of the fire at the club but the portakabins and charred pavilion did not put the new skipper off.

Instead, he went on to celebrate the club's 125th anniversary in 1985. Although primarily a batsman, he was particularly proud of taking 7-41 in his lasat game as first-team skipper.

He was made a vice-president of Sefton Park in 1989 and served later as second team skipper for four seasons in the mid 1990s.

Lonsdale spent most of his working life as a PE teacher St Mary's College, Wallasey, from where many of his pupils went on to play Competition Cricket.

After finishing playing, John continued to support the club, both watching the cricket and chatting at the bar.

At the bar, John was an excellent companion,” said an obituary on the Sefton Park website. “He had an exceptional knowledge of many sports, cricket, football, both rugby codes, horse racing, golf and many more. You could talk to him knowing that he new a lot more than you did but not for one minute did he take a superior attitude and always listened to your views, however insignificant.”

The sympathy and thoughts of everyone in the Liverpool Competition will go out to the families and friends of these two fine cricketers at this time.