'THE proudest day of my career' was the way Church's longest serving player Ken Ferguson described the moment when his 14-year-old son Craig opened the batting on Sunday.

But reflecting on Craig's cool unbeaten 17 runs against Colne, Ken admitted that he thought the day would never come before he hung up his boots.

"I really hoped that I would play in the same side as Craig before I retired," said Ken. "But to be honest I thought he was too young and I told the captain. But I'm glad he didn't listen to me because it was the proudest moment of my career."

The father and son partnership - the first at Church since Jimmy and Jimmy Haworth Jnr in the 1920s - go into action together in this weekend's double header against Ramsbottom and Enfield.

And Ken, 40, who made his debut as a 19-year-old in 1975, believes his son has the ability to stay in the side - although it will be tough.

He said: "Craig is good enough for the firsts but now the hardest part is staying there. But he won't be afraid of playing with the big boys. As an eight-year-old he used to play for our Under 13s."

FIXTURES: Saturday: Colne v Haslingden, Enfield v East Lancs, Lowerhouse v Bacup, Ramsbottom v Church, Rawtenstall v Burnley, Rishton v Accrington, Todmorden v Nelson.

Sunday: Accrington v Rawtenstall, Bacup v Todmorden, Burnley v Colne, Church v Enfield, East Lancs v Ramsbottom, Haslingden v Rishton, Nelson v Lowerhouse.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.