SHEPLEY CRICKET CLUB
Members of The Drakes Huddersfield Cricket
League & The Sellers Huddersfield Junior Cricket League
|
SHEPLEY CRICKET CLUB
Members of The Drakes Huddersfield Cricket
League & The Sellers Huddersfield Junior Cricket League
|
|
© Shepley CC 2009
|
Phil Heaton – A GREAT SHEPLEY SERVANT
Writing in the Huddersfield Examiner in 2003 cricket correspondent David Lockwood, referring to Phil Heaton’s ten consecutive years of service at Marsh Lane, commented that: “in this day and age it is pretty much unheard of for a club professional “. That the spell extended for another five years is testimony to the loyalty to one of the best all-rounders seen in the Huddersfield League in modern times. Statistics can be used to show anything, but in cricket they tend to paint a pretty clear picture. Phil’s performances over the years have been superb:
Over 800 runs and almost 50 wickets per season is a hugely impressive performance, and Phil Heaton has been the backbone of the Shepley team since his debut in 1994. Shepley chairman David Hall was looking for an all-rounder to strengthen the side and phoned around lots of contacts in the game looking for a name. Lancashire coach David Lloyd, shortly to take over as manager of England, recommended a young man who was soon to leave the groundstaff at Lords. Shepley had their man. It all seems a long time ago. Heaton arrived at the end of a young Darren Gough’s spell at the club – they only played one match together. In that same early summer Huddersfield Town played their last game at Leeds Road (although they were not absolutely sure that the new stadium would be ready for the next season); a young Andy Booth was just breaking into the Town first team; Brian Lara was scoring a world-record 375 against England; and Tony Blair was still opposition spokesman on Home Affairs. Heaton’s debut was a home game against Lascelles Hall under the captaincy of Geoff Gill. Batting at number three he was the second-highest scorer as Shepley reached 125-8 off their 50 overs. His bowling spell of 16-6-22-6 not only won the match for his team, it was the best performance in the Huddersfield League that day, and set a standard that was rarely to fall during the next fifteen years. His first couple of months were memorable. One early game was a rain affected Sykes Cup tie against Thongsbridge that continued over several evenings and hit the headlines. Captain Gill refused permission for recent England batsman Derek Randall to bat, since he had not been present the previous evening. The rules said Geoff Gill was right, but Randall was an unhappy man. Amidst all the fuss, Heaton scored 98* and took 3-68. Around the same time came the first of 27 centuries for the club. The opponents were Meltham, who won both the League and Sykes Cup that year. Phil and Stuart Greaves (described by the Examiner as a veteran, but still captaining Shepley 2nd XI in 2008) put on 134 for the second wicket and Heaton went on to get 115. Needless to say he also contributed with the ball, recording 10-2-35-3. Incidentally, Phil scored a century in each of his 15 seasons at the Club apart from 2005, when his highest score was 99! Phil Heaton was making his mark and the Examiner noted the “exciting young double act of [Grant] Mitchell and Heaton”. Shepley finished in sixth place – about par for his spell at the Club – and reached the semi-finals of the Sykes Cup. For the first of many occasions, Phil finished top of both the Club’s batting and bowling averages. The following season saw Stuart Greaves take over the captaincy, and the Examiner was once again expecting “influential Lancastrian Philip Heaton” to be a key part of Shepley’s progress. Indeed, by 1996 Phil had become captain himself for the first time, leading from the front as he scored almost 900 runs, including three centuries, and taking 73 wickets. His contribution and competitive spirit could be summed up in a League match against Broad Oak, where Phil scored 136 from 137 balls, then bowled Mick Hall off the last ball of the match to earn a tie. The 1997 season was probably the most disappointing of Phil’s time at Marsh Lane. A very wet summer saw great disruption, and Shepley were relegated to Section B. Phil stepped down from the captaincy, but was a key factor in Geoff Gill’s side bouncing straight back as Section B champions the following year. In that 1998 season Phil scored 910 runs and won the Section B batting prize; he missed out on the bowling prize by a fraction of a run to team-mate Ian Glover, but won the Jack Gledhill Trophy for the best all-rounder throughout the Huddersfield League. In the subsequent seasons, under captains Geoff Gill and Rob Denton, Phil was a consistent performer as the team re-established itself as a strong Section A (Premiership from 2001) side, occasionally challenging for honours, but never quite making it. By the time 2003 arrived, Phil was celebrating his tenth consecutive season at Shepley by regaining the captaincy. To mark his anniversary the Club arranged a testimonial match at Marsh Lane. The game was a Roses Challenge between Phil Heaton’s Lancashire XI and Arnie Sidebottom’s Yorkshire XI. It is a measure of the respect and affection with which Phil is viewed within Huddersfield League circles that not only a big crowd, but some of the area’s finest players turned out to support the occasion. By this time, Phil was wondering whether his time with Shepley should draw to an end. Commuting from his Lancashire home was inevitably an issue (for his day job Phil is Steward at Tottington Conservative Club in Bury), as was the need to spend time with his young family. Towards the end of every subsequent season, Phil would announce that he was leaving. With equal regularity Club officials would catch him at a weak moment and persuade him to stay. Finally this year, after a great deal of heart-searching, an emotional Phil told the Club that this time he really meant it. Over those past five years Phil has continued to deliver on the field. Almost four thousand runs and over two hundred wickets show the continuation of the high standards he has set, despite the handicap of a shoulder injury that has affected the past two seasons. In 2004 he won the League bowling prize, The Tom Oldham Trophy, with 67 wickets at 11.82, almost five runs better than the runner-up. In 2006, he took the second hat-trick of his Shepley career in a seven wicket haul against Lascelles Hall. So now Phil Heaton returns to his roots at Greenmount Cricket Club in the Bolton League where his mother was Secretary, where he played as a boy and where he will now follow his own son’s progress thought the junior ranks. Shepley Cricket Club loses its captain, a top bowler and a top batsman. (Incidentally, it also loses its scorer, a role filled by Phil’s daughter Sophie for the past two seasons). The Club will also miss the regular visits and great support from wife Pam and Phil’s parents John and Eileen. But the connection will not be broken completely. Every July or August, a coach loaded with regulars from Tottington Club is brought to Shepley by its Steward to play a fun game of cricket and to drink the odd ‘shandy’ or two. Indeed, it is usually after several of these odd ‘shandies’ that Phil has agreed to return for another season! Likewise, Shepley’s annual trip, an end-of-season jaunt to Haydock Races via Tottington, will remain a firm fixture. Phil Heaton’s only regret will be that he did not win more honours with Shepley: only a Section B Championship medal to share the mantelpiece with his individual awards. Four Sykes Cup semi-finals took him tantalisingly close, but never to the final. League positions were usually mid-table. But, where others would have left to go ‘pot hunting’ (and there were plenty of offers every year from the Huddersfield League and elsewhere), Phil stayed loyal. Asked in the build-up to his Testimonial Match in 2003 why he stayed at Shepley he summed it up: “There are many very warm and welcoming people at the Club, and Marsh Lane is a very friendly place to play cricket. I enjoy the people at the Club, officials, supporters and, of course, my team-mates”. Loyalty is not terribly fashionable these days, but Shepley Cricket Club has been very fortunate to have had the continued loyalty of a great cricketer and a great guy. There are big shoes to fill. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Website Administration: ian.watkinson@shepleycc.com
|
Shepley's
captain, Phil Heaton, left the Club in September 2008 after 15 seasons as a
professional. Such lengthy service to one club is unusual enough, but when
one considers that Phil commutes every weekend from his home in Lancashire, his
contribution is all the more remarkable. Shepleycc.com pays tribute to a chapter
in the Club's history.