Lives in Cricket No 23 - Brief Candles

43 At the end of the 1919 season he was approached by another unnamed Lancashire League club to turn professional, but he turned the chance down as he had ‘no ambition in that direction’. 63 He also resisted any blandishments to make himself available for the county side, deciding that his business commitments meant that he could not devote the necessary time to three-day matches. 64 But in any case, his outstanding form of 1919 now deserted him. In 1920 ‘weather conditions were not favourable to Coulthurst’s bowling’, 65 and he took only 42 wickets as East Lancashire slipped to a disappointing ninth place in the League. Although he continued to take wickets steadily for the club over the next ten years, this, and his figure of 46 wickets in 1922, were to prove his highest wicket tallies in any year after 1919. That’s not to say that he didn’t have his moments, among them his only League hat-trick against Haslingden in August 1921 at Blackburn’s Alexandra Meadows ground, and his career-best figures of eight for 14 against the same opponents in the away fixture the following May. But these were only fleeting glimpses of his triumphs of 1919. By the 1929 season, Coulthurst could see that his Lancashire League days were coming to an end. He played only once for East Lancashire in that year, and in July dropped down to the Ribblesdale League to make a single appearance for Ribblesdale Wanderers, taking three for 43 against Darwen. For 1930 he stayed in that league, but moved a little closer to home to play 63 Blackburn Times , 13 September 1919. 64 As reported in Coulthurst’s obituary in the Blackburn Times, 9 January 1970. 65 From ‘A history of East Lancashire Cricket Club’ in East Lancashire CC, Souvenir Handbook of the Merrie England Bazaar … March 1929. Never Seen The East Lancashire side which won the Lancashire League in 1919. Standing ( l to r): T.Eastwood (secretary), J.W.Carmichael. T.Turnbull, A.Dawson, D.V.Norbury, J.Coulthurst, E.Higham, R.C.Bardsley, J.Campbell (chairman). Seated: T.K.Stones, R.Mercer, H.Emmett (capt), S.J.Catterall, J.Turnbull. Norbury was the club professional.