THE good people of Hoghton Cricket Club can feel rightly proud of themselves this morning – and everyone else in the cricket family should raise a glass to them after they fought back and defended their ground against an unusual threat.

Officials, players and fans of the Palace Shield outfit went into battle against a group of travellers who set up camp on Smithy Brow and staged a through-the-night vigil to prevent any more caravans appearing.

Sensing the growing ill feeling – and paying heed to a quickly arranged eviction notice – the travellers hitched up their vans and left the ground yesterday.

It was a big victory for the small village club as they rallied round to fight back.

Many people do not realise just how many hours of work and unpaid effort goes in to making a cricket ground what it is. And the people doing the hard labour are invariably volunteers.

They give up their time and sweat buckets for the cause – and the possibility of all that effort and good work being ruined by caravans and vehicles driving across a lovingly tendered cricket square is one that no-one deserves.

The people of Hoghton are heroes to their club – and also to the rest of the cricket family, who now know what is possible should this kind of situation arise at their club sometime in the future.

Another heart-warming sight for local cricket came on Friday night when Lowerhouse’s Neville Gee Recruitment Ground was packed to the rafters for the Moorhouse’s Twenty20 final with Ramsbottom.

A few weeks ago I posed the question as to whether Twenty20’s time was up.

I had witnessed a match played between two effectively second teams plus pro in front of a crowd that was on the low side of sparse.

But having seen the flip side with semi-finals and final played out in front of huge crowds I have had a rethink and maybe the clubs who don’t take the T20 seriously are the ones who need to change.

T20 is not everyone’s cup of tea – but when times are tough any income is more than welcome.

And the final in front of more fans than Accrington Stanley could dream of getting is one game that surely every player wants to take part in.