Lostock captain James Evans has reflected on two contrasting seasons in the Anthony Axford North West Cricket League, but had no doubt when asked to choose between them: “100 per cent this season’s been better,” he said.

Last season, Lostock finished second in the Premiership behind champions Little Lever, whereas this year they will finish third bottom - one place above the relegation zone.

But that has been married with a trophy, having claimed success in the Birtwistle Cup T20 competition.

“The club’s not won a trophy in 40 years,” continued Evans. “For us to finally get over the line and win something was amazing, and we did well in the regionals after that as well. We said after that, ‘If we can survive relegation, we’d have bitten your hand off for that’.

After beating Blackrod in the NWCL T20 final in July, Lostock went on to reach the regional Finals Day of the Vitality National Club T20 Plate competition as well.

On Saturday, they beat Ribblesdale Wanderers to send their hosts down and preserve their top-flight league status in 2025. Ribblesdale were bowled out for just 37 in pursuit of 81.

“It was a bit more of a relief than anything,” said Evans. “We can go into that last game of the season (bottom side Astley Bridge away) and enjoy ourselves a bit more.”

Lostock, inserted, recovered from 31-7 to 80 all out, with crucial contributions from Rob Holgate with 22 not out, Reece Gray (13) and number 10 Harry Jackson (20).

In defence, Lostock were indebted to Tom Sheen’s excellent new-ball 6-14 from seven overs. He bowled Ribblesdale’s sub-pro Ruhan Pretorius for a golden duck as part of that return.

“There was a lot of rain around last week, so we were never expecting the pitch to be batting-friendly,” continued Evans. “They won the toss and bowled well. They put the ball in the right area and made it hard to score. There were soft dismissals, but Rob, Reece and Harry batted time and the runs came. I spoke to a couple of our fans and said, ‘If we can get anywhere between 80 and 120, it will be a good score on that wicket’. We got bang on 80 and again put the ball in the right area and built pressure. Tom, got their pro out first ball with an absolute seed! What we did well in the first innings, even though we didn’t get the amount of runs, we batted time.

“Tom’s been really good for the last five weeks or so, and it was nice to see him do that given everything he’s done for the club over the years. He deserved that. That’s what’s been good for the last few weeks, especially, someone has put their hands up with the ball.”

Evans and Lostock know improvement is needed ahead of 2025, when they expect the Premiership to be an even tougher assignment.

“Read showed what quality they have by winning the Hamer Cup,” reasoned the skipper, who took two of the last three Ribblesdale wickets to fall on Saturday. “I think other teams will improve as well, but we have a plan in place with what we want to do. We just have to put the wheels in motion with that.”

A large part of that, insists Evans, centres around getting a more stable professional - not necessarily quality wise, more so availability wise.

He added: “This year, Suley (Muhammad Suleman, Pakistan) was a nice guy and a good pro. But he came late and left early. This year is the first since I’ve been back at the club that it’s been a bit of a headache for us. Looking back on last year, we didn’t quite realise what having a stable pro does for a team. Look at the teams who have done well. Blackrod’s pro has been there all year, for example. Little Lever, last year, their pro was there up until the last four or five weeks, by which time they’d won the league. We didn’t take that into account as much as we should have done. But we’ve struggled with availability on top of that.

“We’ve got a number of young lads who haven’t played a lot of first-team cricket and are still learning - Matt Lamb, for example, George Jackson, Reece Gray. With the lads who have experience, I’ve not had the best of seasons, and we have a couple of lads who are new dads and haven’t been able to play as much. Fingers crossed we can get it right and look forward to next season.”

Tomorrow’s fixtures: Premiership - Astley Bridge v Lostock, Blackrod v Ribblesdale Wanderers, Farnworth Social Circle v Tonge, Little Lever v Farnworth, Padiham v Eagley, Salesbury v Kearsley; Championship - Atherton v Oswaldtwistle Immanuel, Barnoldswick v Walkden, Brinscall v Feniscowles, Read v Baxenden, Whalley v Cherry Tree.