Farnworth away first round. It is certainly a case of straight in at the deep end for Hamer Cup champions Read this coming Sunday, believes captain Will Wrathall. But they are relishing the challenge.

Read travel to Bridgeman Park to feature in one of six round one ties against a Farnworth side who last won this competition in 2018 as a Bolton League side.

Ten teams have been handed byes to the second round, including Blackrod, Little Lever, Padiham and Salesbury, who all begin their Lancashire Knockout campaigns on Sunday. 

“Farnworth away. We’ve not played over there yet in the NWCL, I don’t think,” said Wrathall. “They came to our place when we played them in the league in 2023, so everything’s going to be new for us.

“I actually did an interview for the league’s social media channels at the start of the season, and I picked Farnworth to win the Premiership title. So it’s going to be a challenge, that’s for sure. 

“But we’re certainly up for it. We’ll never shy away from it.

“I also said that I think everyone will beat everyone this year and it will go right down to the wire, and Farnworth have started with three losses in the league. So it shows that unpredictability. 

“We might beat Padiham one week, then we might lose to Farnworth and then Padiham will beat Farnworth. You know what I mean? 

“I think it will be a bit like that right through the season in the league and the cups.”

Read were arguably the standout team across the top two divisions of last summer’s Anthony Axford North West Cricket League, winning the Championship title and earning promotion added to their Hamer Cup triumph, beating Little Lever in the final.

And they have started this season superbly as well, winning all three games to sit second in the Premiership behind Farnworth Social Circle.

“It wasn’t a bad year last year, was it,” continued Wrathall. 

“I think we lost one game to Walkden in the league, in which they played an ineligible player and he got 50. And the other one, we lost to Barrowford in the T20. They were the only two games we lost in all comps.”

Wrathall is confident that his side are well placed to have another crack at silverware.

“I think we needed to be in that bottom division last season just to help with our rebuild,” he said. “This year, we’re more prepared for it, and we’ve got a better understanding than we had when everybody played everybody in that first year in 2023.

“We’re playing better, more consistent cricket now.

“I certainly think playing in the Championship last year was a blessing.

“Then, when we went into the Hamer Cup, it was a nice little challenge for us playing against the Premiership teams, and it showed us where we’re at as a team.

“The aim is, ultimately, to win as many trophies as we can this year.

“I don’t think any of them are going to be easy, but we definitely want to be challenging for all three. 

“I reckon there’ll be teams out there who are thinking the same as well, definitely, so it’s not going to be easy by any stretch. But we’ll be giving it a go.”

Early signs are that Read have got an excellent professional to help with their silverware search in Sri Lankan all-rounder Sehan Weerasinghe, who has been in the runs and wickets.

“The pro’s settled in really well,” added Wrathall. “I think he even scored 125 the other Sunday whilst sub-pro’ing for Edenfield. 

“We’ve also got the veteran Chris Holt playing more games this year as well.

“We’ve lost a couple, but we’ve enough depth in the seconds for people to push up – youngster’s coming through.

“In all three games we’ve been two wickets down quite early on, and we were 13-3 in a friendly. But I’ve never been panicked. I know how strong our batting line-up is, how deep it is.

“I always know someone’s going to drag us out or get us to a competitive score. So the squad’s in a good place, the team’s in a good place.”

*****

Astley Bridge believe they have all bases covered as they chase another Hamer Cup title this summer – this one under the banner of the Anthony Axford North West Cricket League.

Bridge were the last winners of the Hamer Cup when the old Bolton League was in operation, back in 2022.

And the Championship club’s latest trophy hunt gets underway on Sunday where they welcome Premiership side Kearsley to their Sharples Park home.

Astley Bridge is a good place to be at the moment. 

They have won their opening three matches – most recently at home to Brinscall on Saturday – in the NWCL’s second tier and sit atop of the table. But after this Saturday’s home clash with Whalley, they can put their promotion bid to one side and have a crack at a cup which has been kind to them.

“It’s incredible for a club like Astley Bridge, winning the Hamer Cup,” said new captain Syd De Silva. “We’re a slightly smaller club but with a long heritage, and it’s very important to us. 

“It meant a lot the last time the club won it, so we’re keen to do well again and go further into the tournament.”

De Silva has just started his second spell with the club. He was pro in 2014 and 2015 and captain in 2016. He has returned from a spell in the Greater Manchester Cricket League, where he played for the likes of Dukinfield, Austerlands and, closer to home, Egerton.

“It feels just like coming home, to be honest,” continued the batting all-rounder.

“I live literally a couple of miles away from the club. Even though I played in the GMCL, I still practiced with the boys for the last couple of years because I know everybody there.

“The lads who are playing for me now, they were juniors the last time I was there, nearly 10 years ago. 

“I was excited about coming back, and I had no strange feeling at all because I’m not new to the set-up. It feels like I’ve never been away.”

Whilst away in the GMCL, De Silva was a serial promotion winner, and that’s obviously the main aim for Astley Bridge this season. But confidence is high that they can achieve more.

“We’ve had an amazing start,” he continued. “We didn’t have any pre-season matches, and we played the first couple and it was like, ‘Let’s see how we go’.

“But everything we planned, it worked out really well.

“The pro has had a good start as well, and we’ve got a very balanced team at the moment.”

The new professional is Sri Lankan Dhanushka Dhamasiri, who bats, bowls and keeps wicket, the latter which he has been doing during the early stages of the summer. Dhamasiri is kind of the perfect example of having every base covered.

De Silva said: “We’ve got experience with myself and Richard Northrop in the middle order, and then the pro bats four or five depending on the score. Then we’ve got seven bowlers, which gives me a lot of options.”

A weight of bowling options is especially key in the 40-overs per side Hamer Cup, with bowlers limited to a maximum of eight overs. And if one or two of those have a bit of x-factor about them, that is even more important.

De Silva believes he has that at his disposal.

“We have two young lads in their early twenties who are doing a great job for me at the moment,” he added. “One is Haaris Akhtar and the other is Azan Riaz.

“They’ve got a bit of pace and bowl really good lines and lengths, and they’ve been getting the first couple of wickets early. Most of the players are playing and missing with that pace and bounce. They will be very important to us.”