This was a mighty team with one of the finest batters to grace the Lancashire League.

Yes indeed, Bill Alley, the big-hitting Aussie who, in his five seasons at the Horsfield, from 1948 to 1952, scored 5,713 runs, with many of them being tremendous sixes hit over into the Grange or the bowling green at the other end. Also not forgetting the hundreds of fours Bill hit into the Keighley Road side of the ground, usually smashing the front room windows of houses from Nos 156 to 166.

So who were Bill Alley's cricketing team-mates from his very first year at Colne six decades ago?

First, on the back row, left to right, are Ronnie Payne, Harold Wilson, Hyndman Snell, Ken Bradshaw, Leslie Sutcliffe and Norman Ingham.
Front row, left to right, are Rennie Mitchell, Colin Wharton, Ellis Dickinson (captain). Bill himself, in his new South Wales Cricket Club blazer and Geoff Schofield.

This was a Colne Cricket Club side of extraordinary talent; the professional W. E. Alley was, along with Everton Weekes, one of the most exciting batsman in the league. The captain and wicketkeeper, Ellis Dickinson, was an acclaimed stumper of great ability. A truly skilful bowler, Hyndman Snell (my dear late stepfather) had bowled out pros George Headley, Cecil Pepper, Vinoo Mankad, Dattu Phadkar and Clyde Walcott with deadly accuracy.

A supremely reliable batsman, Geoff Schofield, would also star 11 years on as a key member of the legendary 1959 "double" team. The team spirit of the 1948 side was, as my old teacher from Primet School once told me, a major factor in winning the trophy. His name, Colin Wharton, who, along with his brother Alan, always gave 100 per cent on the field of play.