Review of 1995

Membership: Manchester Association
Captain: Dave Dove

At 6.29 p.m. on Saturday, 2nd September, Leigh secured the bonus point necessary for the 1st XI to become champions of the Manchester Association and bring the Stockton Trophy back to Beech Walk for the first time since 1923. It was altogether fitting that the championship was secured against rivals Wigan, and Dave Dove's team celebrated their notable triumph in fine style. This rounded off a triumphant season in which Leigh had also beaten St. Helens in the final of the Burtonwood Trophy to recapture the cup that had previously been won in 1989.

The team had performed at a consistently high level throughout the season, with superb stylish batting, penetrative attacking bowling and outstanding fielding with a wonderful team spirit always in evidence under Dave Dove's astute leadership. The games played resulted in fourteen wins, eight draws and only one defeat enabling Leigh to finish 46 points in front of its nearest rivals.

The 1st XI's championship success after a wait of 72 years came as a result of the best ever season in 11 years of premiership/first division cricket with most wins, most points, highest runs per wicket for, lowest runs per wicket against, and an unbeaten run of 21 matches which narrowly failed to equal the 22-match winning sequence of the 1923 season.

Australian Greg Dimery required 100 runs in the last game of the season to beat Alf Unsworth's club record of 862 league runs set in 1938, and he duly obliged with an innings of 134 which narrowly failed to beat the 140* of Hadrian Pedrola of Worsley which remained as the highest score in the premiership in 1995. Greg's overall total of 1325 runs, made up of 1188 in league and cup matches and the 137 in the friendly match against the Presidents XI, beat the club record aggregate of 1312 runs in all matches set by Dean Reeves in 1994.

Dave Dove's batting average of 49.13 was the highest ever achieved by a Leigh player in premiership/first division cricket.