Lancs junior duo are honoured for talent
TWO of the area’s most promising cricketers enjoyed nights to remember on Monday when they were named the Lancashire Cricket Board’s Under 17 players of the season at a glittering awards evening held in The Point at Emirates Old Trafford.
Ormskirk’s George Lavelle won the boys’ award for the second year in succession and Rainford’s Ellie Threlkeld was honoured as the girls’ player of the year, both awards being named after Cedric Rhoades, who was chairman of Lancashire from 1969 until 1986.
For 16-year-old wicketkeeperbatsman Lavelle, who attends Merchant Taylors’ School, Crosby, the award crowns a year in which he has continued to justify the predictions of good judges that he might eventually have a professional future in the game.
He made three centuries and claimed 28 victims behind the stumps for Lancashire’s Under 17s and also played for the ECB’s North of England team. In the Liverpool Competition his 327 runs included a century against Birkenhead Park on the final day of the season and he also accounted for 30 batsmen behind the stumps as Matt Glayzer’s side finished third in the ECB Premier League.
17-year-old Threlkeld, who attends Winstanley College, also keeps wicket and achieved an even higher profile than Lavelle when she was a member of the Lancashire Thunder squad in the inaugural Kia Women’s Super League. However, her year also included appearances for Lancashire, for whom she made a century against Cheshire, and selection for the England Women’s Senior Academy.
“We continue to pride ourselves on producing home-grown talent, linking our pathways into Lancashire County Cricket Club, and Monday evening was about celebrating this,” said the LCB’s Managing Director, Bobby Denning
“Wearing the Red Rose comes with responsibility on and off the field and I sincerely hope all the players continue to strive to have the honour that comes with being a Lancashire cricketer.”