The History of Hindley St. Peter's

Hindley St. Peter's Cricket Club was established shortly after the First World War by and for the men of St. Peter's Church. Whilst the link with the Church has remained, and the ground still belongs to the Church, membership is now open to all.

The Club originally joined the West Lancashire League and remained there for many years with, it has to be said, not much success! Things changed at the end of 1986 when the Club absorbed the Aspull Methodists Cricket Club, who had a strong team but no ground of their own. From then on, fortunes improved. The Club joined the Lancashire & Merseyside League (soon to become the Wigan & District League) for the start of the 1987 season, and soon started on a winning streak.

After missing out in a title decider at Highfield in the last game of the 1989 season, the 1st XI became League Champions for the first time in 1990, and the 2nd XI made it a Club double. This was the beginning of HSP's domination of the Wigan & District League, winning the title for four years in succession, as well as numerous Cups.

The Wigan & District League merged with the North Cheshire League in 1996 to form the North West Counties League, and HSP's 1st XI were League Champions again in 1996, 1998 and 1999, making a total of 7 League Championships in the 1990s. In fact, Hindley St. Peter's won every available honour in the Wigan & District League during its membership.

For Hindley St. Peter's, 1999 was a year of change. Following the news that the North West Counties League was to be absorbed into the Manchester Association for the 2000 season, HSP took on board near neighbours Joy Mining CC to enable the Club to be a potent force in the new League.

The play-offs at the end of the 1999 season saw both the 1st and 2nd XIs qualify for their respective top divisions in 2000, and the 1st XI taught some of the Association clubs a few lessons by finishing runners-up in both League and Cup in its debut season. The 2nd XI also fared well, finishing in 5th place, although a win in the last match of the season would have made it 3rd.

The 2000 season saw HSP run a 3rd XI for the first time, returning to the West Lancashire League and playing on the Brunswick Methodists ground at Leigh Road, Hindley Green. With a mixture of youth and experience, the team gave a good account of themselves, finishing in 4th place in the League.

After a short-lived foray into Sunday cricket in 2000, the Club re-joined the Sunday Section of the West Lancashire League in 2003 with a stated policy of using the Sunday XI to develop junior cricketers. The Sunday XI ran away with the League title in its first season, following that up in 2004 by winning the Cup and finishing runner-up in the League.

Saturday cricket in the West Lancashire League became a thing of the past at the end of the 2004 season, as a shortage of clubs forced the Saturday Section to call it a day after 97 years. The West Lancs lives on in its Sunday format, but HSP's 3rd XI were left needing to find a new home for 2005.

It wasn't just a new league that the 3rd XI had to find. In the autumn of 2004 the Trustees of Brunswick turned the ground over to football and threw HSP off. Yet another local cricket ground was lost and St. Peter's 3rd XI were well and truly homeless.

Fortunes soon changed for the better. An offer of a place in the Chorley & District League for 2005 was gratefully accepted and the 3rd XI began to hire the Aspull ground which had become available after the demise of Ashton Town CC. HSP dominated the Chorley League, finishing the season, undefeated, as League Champions. Sadly the Chorley League disbanded at the end of the season, leaving HSP's 3rd XI to move into the Southport League, their third league in as many years, for 2006.

2005 saw an overseas player, Mohammad Fazil, joining the club for the first time. Mo spent two seasons at Hindley, scoring over 2000 runs at an average of nearly 60, and in 2006 narrowly missing out on the club record for most runs in a season.

Twenty20 cricket arrived in the Manchester Association in 2007, and Hindley St. Peter's laid down the standard in the "new" format of the game, taking the inaugural title by beating Brooksbottom in the final.

In October 2007 construction finally began on St. Peter's Pavilion, a new facility adjacent to the cricket field which will be used by HSP, St. Peter's Church and Hindley A.R.L.F.C., as well as being available to other community groups. The building will be finished around the end of the 2008 season, meaning that in 2009 HSP will be moving out of the current pavilion after 41 years and into the new facility.