Lancashire Spin Magazine Autumn 2023

Mark
Chilton
— DIRECTOR OF CRICKET PERFORMANCE —
D
espite not winning any silverware this year, that should
not detract from plenty of positives which all the teams at
Lancashire Cricket have achieved this summer. The hard
work that has been put in since pre-season back in November
2022 has reaped rewards for many individuals who have
continued to progress their games. The challenge for all of us, is
to continue in this vein and keep putting ourselves in contention
to compete for trophies in the long-term.
In the County Championship, the
weather seemed to play its part
more than usual this season and
to not come away with any wins
from the first five games was
disappointing given the quality
of cricket that we played. That
quality shone through against
two of the stronger teams with
excellent wins against Surrey
and Hampshire during the
middle of the season. In my
opinion, a mid-table finish didn’t
reflect the quality of cricket that
we played in the Championship
– losing just once in 14 matches.
Lancashire Lightning made
the Vitality Blast quarter-finals
for the sixth time in seven
seasons which, again, reflects
our strength and consistency
in this format. This year, after
finishing second in the North
Group and securing a home
quarter-final, we came across
a very strong Surrey side at
Emirates Old Trafford - who
played a great game and ran out
deserved winners on the night.
Once again, the Metro Bank
One Day Cup provided an
opportunity for some less
experienced members of the
squad, with plenty of positive
performances and some great
learning experiences. It was
brilliant see Tom Aspinwall
and Matty Hurst both make
their debuts in this format and
impress, with Matty using the
momentum built in the One
Day Cup to go on and make his
County Championship debut
– ending the season strongly
with two very impressive halfcenturies
– whilst Tom only
missed out on making his red
ball debut due to injury.
September also brought the
news that our Men’s Head
Coach Glen Chapple would be
stepping down at the end of the
2023 season. Glen has made
an immense contribution to
the Club over the last 31 years
as a player, captain and - most
recently - as Head Coach for
the last seven seasons. He
is a great friend of mine who
will go down as a legend of
the Club for everything he has
achieved - 1,373 wickets as
a player, captaining the Club
to the County Championship
in 2011 before overseeing a
sustained period of success
as Head Coach. On behalf of
the cricket department, I wish
Glen well for what comes next.
I know that Thunder’s Regional
Director of Cricket, David
Thorley, will provide you with
much more detail on this during
his column within these pages,
but I would also like to thank
outgoing Thunder Head Coach
Paul Shaw. Paul joined us from
the other side of the Pennines
in 2020 and has led a huge
change in the Thunder set-up,
12 SPIN AUTUMN 2023