The Road to Seedhill….
On Saturday 1st August 2026, Seedhill will play host to the Lancashire League junior cup final between Nelson 2nd XI and Littleborough 2nd XI.
The journey home started on the 2nd of May against Rishton 2nd XI with a 6 wicket victory chasing a competitive total of 222, with Ali Syed Asghar, Armaan Moghal and Chris Gildea all passing 50.
Next up was Darwen 2nds, a competitive total of 212 was lead by 60 from Caleb Lister, Gul Sabir (35) and Andy Hakin (28). Darwen were bowled out for 132 with 3 wickets each for Sardar Asghar and Ali Syed Asghar.
A quarter final tie away at Enfield was next, with the home side posting a good score of 193/8, 3 good partnerships of 40+ kept the innings going and Enfield added 30 in the last 5 overs to go in at tea with the momentum. At 43/3, Nelson needed to dig in and a 64 run partnership between Ali Syed Asghar (43) and Caleb Lister (73*) put Nelson back on track. A flurry of wickets meant Nelson went from 104/3 to 125/8 within 8 overs to put Enfield in the driving seat.
Josef Whitlam (33*) came in at No10 and added a 71 unbeaten partnership with Lister to finish the game with 1 ball to spare. To say it was a tense last 45 mins was an understatement, with superstitions about moving seats during a partnership and questions about a tie being the main topic on the balcony…..
A false start to the semi final vs Clitheroe meant we came back a week later to see who could progress to the final and also host.
An experienced Clitheroe side would be a challenge, they won the toss and chose to bat, hoping to repeat their innings from the previous week.
A fantastic opening bowling partnership of Manaf and Bradley bowled their 20 overs through on a hot day and were rewarded with figures of 10-4-14-3 and 10-3-21-2 respectively, leaving Clitheroe 36-6 off 20. 7 and 8 put a partnership on as the fielders continued to put a shift in under the unusually blazing sun, with Clitheroe eventually bowled out for 118 in the 41st over.
Nelson passed Clitheroe’s total in the 40th over with 6 wickets down, Matt Pettinger anchoring the steady reply with 44 off 94, supported by Ali Syed Asghar (26) and Caleb Lister (17)
Elation and relief followed as the cup final place and home turf advantage was secured.
We hope that the weather stays fine for a great day of cricket on Saturday as we host Littleborough 2nds with a 1230 start.
