IT cost Lancashire League champions Rishton around £22,000 for Allan Donald last season.

But, thanks to an excellent year on the social side, the Lancashire Cricket League club were still able to announce a small overall profit of £344 - compared to a loss the previous year.

The cricket accounts showed a loss of £3,405 (£4,157 in 1995), despite some significant increases in income which rose to £34,213 (£20,958) and included £8,576 (£402) from the Social Club.

Big profits on the social side, however, saw their gross surplus rise to £12,325 (£3,850) and, after the major donation to cricket, the nett figure was still £3,749 (£3,448). That left Rishton, having paid for easily the most-expensive professional in their history, still able to show a small profit.

The capture of Donald saw gate receipts rise to £6,136 (£3,988) and income from subscriptions also went up significantly to £4,818 (£3,824).

Income from advertising more than doubled to £1,615 (£710), profits on the weekly draw were up to £3,116 (£2,388) and there was "new" money of £1,200 from the Valley Century Lottery.

But Rishton did not have the benefit of the previous year's £5,000 from Lancashire.

Wages, honoraria and national insurance cost the club £22,316 (£11,298) and, with Donald being a match-only pro, coaching fees jumped to £2,020 (£910).

On the social side, bar takings were up to £115,175 (£104,153).

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