The club’s first eleven made it a memorable first season in the Lancashire League when they secured promotion to Division One with a comfortable six-wicket victory at rivals Enfield.
Defeat against Littleborough the previous week may have had the more pessimistic of the club’s followers fearing that they would blow the chance to go up at the final hurdle, especially as a victory for the home side could have seen them promoted.
But that was never going to be the case at Dill Hall Lane when skipper Ryan Senior won the toss and elected to put Enfield into bat.
After a steady start, the home side lost South African professional Stuart Els for seven with the score on 52. Jack Cook (6) then became Kieran Edwards’ second victim of the day at 62 before good knocks from Adam Bracewell (46), Lewis Wright (45) and Tiernan Hamill (27) moved things along.
However, some tight and economical bowling from the Mount lads prevented Enfield from getting too challenging a score and given the depth of the batting in the side, a total of 204 was one they were confident of surpassing.
With the real possibility that elevation to the top tier could come down to bonus points, the two wickets Callum Hunter took in the final over were a welcome sight as they earned Mount two precious points for bowling the opposition out at the same time preventing Enfield from getting a maximum 12.
Hunter took 3 for 61 ably assisted by Andy McGuiness (2 for 22), Evan Williams (2 for 28), Kieran Edwards (2 for 34) and Chesney Hughes (1 for 36).
The Mount’s reply didn’t get off the best of starts when Jack Harrison (7) was bowled by Nihaal Bhasharat in only the second over.
But on the plus side, that brought to the crease Andy Kerr and, once again, his superb partnership of 155 with paid man Hughes knocked the stuffing out of Enfield.
Hughes finished unbeaten on 81 in a sensible batting masterclass, and as the light began to fade and both Tom Heaton (0) and Evan Williams (10) were given dubious lbw decisions in the gloom, up stepped Lewis Dove to smash a match-winning four and ensure the Mount take their place among the Lancashire League ‘big guns’ in the summer of 2022.
The pro’s innings (six fours and a six) saw him pass the 1,000 mark for league runs this season while Kerr’s 64 (nine fours) resulted in him passing 500.
Meanwhile, at the Log Cabin, the second eleven put paid to Enfield’s chances of winning the second team championship with a 46-run triumph.
Skipper Alex Bullen won the toss, elected to bat, but fell lbw for a duck after three balls. Man-of-the-moment Brad Edge, thankfully, was again in good batting form hitting 62 as the seconds ran up a score of 218 for 9 from their 45 overs.
There were also useful contributions from Chris Sherrington (24), Patrick Kilvington (22), Ryan Edge (22), Nigel Franklin (20) and Matthew Senior (18).
The Enfield reply fell short of what was required due in no small measure to Kilvington who took 4 for 41. The other wickets fell to Tom Nuttall (2 for 11), Oliver Dixon (2 for 43) and Bullen (1 for 30).
On Saturday the third team played their final game of the campaign at near neighbours Ramsbottom.
The Rams won the toss, elected to bat, but were restricted to 145 for 5 from their 40 overs with Max Birtwistle, Matthew Gilmore, Luca Addleton, Adam Clarke and Charlie Exton all taking a wicket apiece.
Skipper Mark Crowther was again the mainstay of the Greenmount reply as he hit 65 while David Mason (29) also got the innings off to a steady start after the early dismissal of father and son combination Leigh (3) and Henry (4) Dickinson.
Rammy’s total was overhauled in the 36th over for the loss of six wickets, thanks to a fine six from Steven Addleton.