Lancashire Schools Cricket Association bids farewell as Lancashire Cricket Foundation Take Over
In an exciting development for youth cricket, the Lancashire Cricket Foundation (LCF) is set to take on the management of the Lancashire Schools Cricket Association (LSCA) ran competition. This transition aligns competitive school’s hard ball cricket with the broader Lancashire Cricket organisation, ensuring that the sport continues to thrive within the educational sector. The move provides an additional programme to strengthen opportunities that the LCF offers across school cricket, fostering the growth and development of young talent across the region.
Founded in Manchester in 1922, the LSCA was established to facilitate competitive inter-school cricket matches. The initiative quickly expanded, leading to the launch of a county-wide Town Team tournament, with the first county age group match against Yorkshire taking place in 1930 (a closely contested game won by Yorkshire by just 3 runs). Since its inception, the LSCA has been the principal organiser of hard ball cricket for school pupils in the region, overseeing a range of competitions, including; the Inter-Schools Competitions (1922–2024), Inter-Schools Cricket Merit League (1922-mid-2000’s), Town Team/District Cricket (until 2008/09) and the LSCA County Age Group.
In recent years, Lancashire Cricket has overseen the development of both Inter-League Cricket (formally District Cricket) and the County Age Group (CAG) player pathway. The decision to ‘hand the reigns’ of school hard ball cricket to the LCF brings the historic LSCA organisation to a close.
‘We are pleased to announce that the responsibility for managing and organising Secondary Schools Cricket in the county has been passed to the Lancashire Cricket Foundation. As time has gone on, the numbers of officials within the LSCA has gradually decreased, whilst the numbers of schools wishing to play has remained at a healthy level. Together with our friends in Yorkshire, our two Counties have regularly recorded the highest number of competing schools in the country’ - Martin Wadsworth (LSCA Competitions Manager).
Recognising the need for more organised matches following the discontinuation of the Merit Leagues, the LSCA introduced Plate Competitions for schools eliminated in early rounds, ensuring increased participation, especially among state schools. The LSCA’s reach has been extensive, welcoming entries from a wide range of educational institutions, including Comprehensive, Academy, Faith, Grammar, and both boys' and girls' schools. In 2023, the association saw participation from 63 schools (51 state and 12 independent), with 195 teams competing across four age groups. The 2024 season saw an increase to 71 participating schools and 193 teams, showcasing the ongoing passion for school’s hard ball cricket across the county.
Since the inception of the LSCA in 1922, many dedicated volunteers have contributed to its success. Dennis Houghton (LSCA Chair), John Williams (LSCA Secretary) and Martin Wadsworth (LSCA Competitions Manager) are the last in a very long line of dedicated individuals giving their time and lives delivering cricket into schools and developing young cricketers under the LSCA banner. Although there are far too many to mention everyone, Presidents of the Association have included Cedric Rhoades, Brian Statham and Jack Simmons, and following on from founder member Herbert Thomas, the list of officials includes people such as Robbie Robins, Derek Day, Geoff Eccles, Bob Hurst, John Heaton, Tony Hemingway, Bob Stamp, Colin Dunkerley, John Charlson and Nigel Warne.
‘The history of the tournament has gone from town team cricket to district cricket to interleague cricket, which underpins what they call the pathway. It was all started by lots and lots of volunteers. The volunteers is one of the reasons why the county has produced so many good players. Players like Andrew Flintoff and Mike Atherton came through the same system. The LSCA's pathway fed into county cricket, supported by volunteer teachers, before coaches were introduced by the Lancashire Cricket Board.’ – John Williams (LSCA Secretary).
The Lancashire Cricket Foundation would like to formally say a massive thank you to all those who have dedicated their time to ensure school cricket has remained so strong over the many years.
‘We are hugely excited about this transition and of overseeing such a historic school cricket competition. The LSCA’s competition is something I played in as a schoolboy, and we are eager to continue the amazing impact that John, Martin, Dennis, and all other volunteers have made over the years. There is clearly a real appetite for competitive school hard ball cricket, and we are looking forward to overseeing the management of the competition going forward. John, Martin and Dennis have been really supportive during this transition and we can’t thank them enough for their support’ – Jordan Clarke (Schools Development Manager).
To showcase our appreciation of the wonderful work John, Martin and Dennis have made to school cricket over the many years, the Plates will be rebranded the LCF Williams & Wadsworth Plate Competition and an additional ‘Dennis Houghton Spirit of Cricket Trophy’ will be awarded to teams that play in a truly sportsmanlike manner.
The Lancashire Cricket Foundation are now accepting entries to the newly branded ‘LCF Schools Hard Ball Competition 2025’. As per our previous successors, initially, there will be four main competitions (u12’s, u13’s, u14’s & u15’s) with additional plate competitions at each age group for state schools who are knocked out in early rounds. Plans for an open Primary School Hard Ball and Girls Hard Ball Competitions may be introduced in future years.
For further information please contact Jordan Clarke (Schools’ Cricket Development Manager): JClarke@lancashirecricket.co.uk or on 07799639902