Northern’s Cole delighted with his team full of matchwinners after Lancashire Cup glory

Stephen Lucas and Tom Sephton celebrate a wicket in the Lancashire Cup final
Picture by GEORGE FRANKS

James Cole says Northern were a team packed with matchwinners as they claimed their third Lancashire Cup on Sunday.

Stephen Lucas was player of the match for his unbeaten 78, which helped set Formby a DLS target of 210.

But he had plenty of competition. 

Louis Bhabra made 54 in a stand of 118 with Lucas; Dan Wilson took the key wickets of Ian Cockbain and Lucas Kennedy; Tom Sephton claimed 3/25; Josh Thompson helped keep Formby at arm’s length with a spell full of clever slower balls and variations.

And all-rounder Liam Grey, having rolled his ankle a day earlier, chipped in 35 then managed an effective eight-over spell.

“We didn’t think Liam would even play to be honest,” said Cole. “It was a great effort.

“Tom Sephton does what Tom Sephton does, and really controlled the game.

“And Josh was absolutely fantastic at the end – he’s done it countless times. It could have gone either way without that.”

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The trophy is Northern’s second Lancashire Cup in three years, to go with last year’s national T20 win and run to the national knockout final, and last week’s ECHO Cup T20 win.

It all results in a team that has played a lot of limited overs cricket together recently, and it showed in the way they kept their foot on Formby’s throats in the crucial middle overs.

Cole said: “We’ve played that much cricket over the last few years, it’s sort of drilled into us how to play on a Sunday.

“They’ve got a really good top four and we just didn’t let them sort of get away. 

“I think we kept them at four an over for 25, 30 overs – when you look at the quality of Ian Cockbain, Tom Billington, Jack Carney, young Lucas Kennedy, they have been fantastic all year. 

“We’ve played them four or five times and we’ve not really got them three down early on at all.

“We just kept on getting that run rate climbing and climbing, and then it was over to Josh and Sepho and they did their thing.”

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Seamer Mathew Laker, who has broken into the 1st XI this year and played a part in wins over Prestwich and Clitheroe earlier in the Lancashire Cup run, came into the XI in place of batter Ben Edmundson for Sunday’s final, as insurance in case Grey’s ankle didn’t hold up.

Leaving out a big player is famously a nice problem to have, and Cole sees it as another sign of the quality of his squad.

“We feel like we’ve got 14 or 15 1st XI cricketers, so it’s a good place to be,” he added.

“I think we obviously want to win as many trophies as we can over the next few years.”

Saturday’s rain benefited only Ormskirk in the Comp title race, not so much for the two points the defending champions gained on their nearest challengers but for the time it took out of the season.

Northern are 33 points behind with just three games left – Cole describes it as an “outside chance”.

But with two pieces of silverware already secured, and the Ray Digman Trophy final at Leigh next Sunday, 2025 could still go down as an outstanding season. 

“We want to win as many trophies as we can,” said Cole. “I’m very proud of the lads.”

from Merseyside Cricket Online https://ift.tt/uO51DP3