(Image: NQ Staff)
MANNINGHAM Mills had endured a rollercoaster start to life in the Bradford League.
Moving into the big-time in 1974, they put faith in their Bradford Central League players who had got them there and nearly immediately had to reply for re-election.
But a shock run to the Priestley Cup final in 1975 and Mick Robinson’s astonishing 88 wickets in 1976 showed promise.
But on this day 50 years ago, Manningham really stepped up their efforts to get among the big boys.
Our reporter Malcolm Hartley confirmed that Yorkshire’s Phil Sharpe would be signing ahead of the 1977 season, joining his former county team-mate Don Wilson at Scotchman Road.
Both players quickly showed their worth, Sharpe scoring over 1,000 runs and off-spinner Wilson taking 64 wickets as Mills got promoted at the end of 1977.
They also won that year’s Priestley Cup, Sharpe scoring 97 as Lightcliffe were beaten in the final.
They never did quite win the First Division in their Sharpe and Wilson heyday, coming agonisingly close in 1979, finishing four points behind champions Pudsey St Lawrence in third.
Wilson won the league’s bowling averages in 1981, taking 62 wickets at 12.30.
There were other huge contributors in Manningham’s peak period, seamer Richard Noble taking wickets galore, Mike Valletta topping the league’s batting averages and Jack Heron going on to play for Zimbabwe at the World Cup.
But their greatest era could not last forever and after relegation in 1983, the club had real ups and downs over the next 30 years.
That culminated in their expulsion from the league in 2013 over a lack of seating in the ground, unrepaired sightscreens and substantial unpaid fines.
- Our thanks to Bradford League historian Reg Nelson for his help with this article.