Colne Cricket Club

Colne Cricket Club is a cricket club in the Lancashire League, which plays its home games at The Horsfield in Colne. For the 2011 season their captain is Matthew Wilson, and their professional is Mansoor Amjad of Pakistan. The club has won the league on four occasions and won the cup six times, achieving a league and cup double in 1959. It has employed professionals including Amar Singh, Bill Alley and Collis King.

The club was founded in 1830, making it the oldest club in the Lancashire League and among the oldest in the area. The club folded after around ten years but was reformed in 1848, soon employing its first professional and playing its first recorded matches against other clubs. The club folded again in 1854 before reforming once more in 1860, folding in 1871 and reforming again in 1874. In the years following the club attracted crowds in the thousands and began charging for admission, employing two full-time professionals.

In 1891 Colne CC became founder members of the North East Lancashire Cricket League, which became the Lancashire League the following season. Colne finished as runners up in the first season but experienced no similar success in the 19th century. In 1898 the club president Richard Sager who had been intimately involved in every incarnation of the club died. The early 20th century saw success for Colne, winning the league in 1902, 1905 and 1910 and finishing second on three further occasions, losing a 1903 title play-off to local rivals Nelson. The 1904 match with Nelson drew a crowd of 10,000 to the Horsfield.

When the league resumed after the First World War Colne found little success, though the club did twice win the Worsley Cup in 1919 and 1924. In 1921 Colne played a match against probably the strongest side ever to play on the Horsfield - a Yorkshire team containing seven test players, losing by 22 runs. In 1935 Colne employed its first ever overseas professional, Amar Singh. He was seen as a rival to Nelson's Learie Constantine and his arrival caused the club's gate receipts and membership to double. Also that year Colne played against the largest crowd ever to watch the team. 14,000 people watched the fixture with Nelson at Seedhill which ended in a tie after Amar Singh took Nelson's last wicket with the scores level.

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