Former Lightcliffe junior and senior player, junior manager and committee member Philip Radcliffe was awarded the Gordon Rigg Bradford Premier Cricket League's most prestigious award, The Leonard Hutton Trophy, at the annual dinner held at Headingley on Friday evening.

Growing up on Osborne Grove in Lightcliffe, Philip attended Lightcliffe C of E Primary School and watched his first cricket at LCC whilst at our village school.
Passing his 11+ exam, Philip moved up the hill to take a place at Hipperholme Grammar School, then a state school. With a full summer of cricket fixtures, Philip's love of cricket grew at HGS and, of course, LCC.

Philip took charge of the LCC junior section in his twenties and introduced us to the Bradford Junior Cricket League, establishing teams at under 12 and 14 age groups to add to the Under 18 team which had operated in the Halifax Red Triangle league. These teams were the forefather's of our current junior set up, which is the envy of almost all Yorkshire clubs. LCC owe much to Philip's foresight in establishing these teams,

Philip became the fifth Lightcliffe Cricket club recipient of the League's major award although his recognition is mainly due to a lifetime dedicated to many roles amongst various Yorkshire cricketing institutions which are all mentioned below.
The first recipient, in 1960, was Bert Foster, who’d been 1st XI captain, secretary, chairman and president of LCC and was known as “Mr Bradford League” at the time. Bert was followed by former 1st XI captain, club secretary and groundsman Herbert Aspinall, former 1st XI player and chairman George Bottomley and most recently "Mr Lightcliffe CC" Rod Heyhoe received the League's top gong.
Rod has been at LCC for over 70 years, man and boy, as player, secretary, groundsman and general go to man for any ground, building or machinery issue as well as being a font of Bradford Cricket League knowledge.

Rod was amongst the 480 guests at Headingley and is pictured with Philip and former 1st XI skipper Paul Ramsden whose first coach at LCC was Philip.
Club Treasurer Richard Thompson was also present representing LCC.

Philip received his award from former England Test player (Welshman!!) Robert Croft MBE who proved to be a most excellent after dinner speaker.
Crofty told tremendous tales in hilarious accents about playing for both Glamorgan and England under Zimbabwean coach Duncan Fletcher and rooming with Yorkshire and England's Baaaarnsley boy Darren Gough whilst on England duty.
He also recounted Glamorgan's winning of the One Day Cup in 1993 alongside "the great" Viv Richards and the County Championship in 1997, mainly thanks to Pakistani Paceman, The Burewala Express, Waqar Younis!

Below is the citation read by Bradford Premier League Chief Executive, Alan Birkenshaw, to the dinner guests highlighting Philip's commitment to and achievements in cricket :

"Long-serving official Philip Radcliffe is the latest winner of the league’s coveted Sir Leonard Hutton Trophy.

The league’s Cricket Operations Officer has made a long and valued contribution to senior and junior cricket over more than 50 years.

He has officiated at club, league, county and national level, and was for 37 years one of the league’s best-known umpires.

Philip has an outstanding CV which illustrates just what a valued contribution he has made to the Bradford Premier League, junior cricket, umpiring and the wider game.

He is a very deserving winner, and we are very fortunate to have him giving up many hours of his time on behalf of our league.”

Our winner has become a fixture on the cricket scene and has shown an exceptional dedication on and off the field.

His CV is impressive and over the past 50 years he has played, umpired, scored, team managed and has officiated at club, league, county and national level.

He was first introduced to the Bradford League when his father George took him along to watch his local side Lightcliffe, and it was there that he launched his playing career.

His organisational and administrative skills soon surfaced as he took over the running of their junior section. He added under 12 and under 14 sides to their existing under17s and became a hard-working member of the club committee.

He moved the Lightcliffe junior sides from the Halifax Red Triangle to the Bradford Junior League, a competition he was to serve for 35 years as chairman and is still vice-chairman and treasurer today.

His involvement with junior cricket saw him appointed as president of the Joe Lumb competition and the Yorkshire Junior Cricket Festival.

In 1986 he qualified as an umpire and in a 37-year career he became one of the league’s best known match officials. He officiated at many top matches including the Priestley Cup finals of 2005 between Pudsey Congs and Woodlands and the 2013 final between Lightcliffe and Hanging Heaton (Editor - we won this which was a surprise to many as we have a terrible record in matches Philip has umpired involving LCC teams!!!).

Our winner was a member of ACU & S and passed his Part 1 and Part 2 umpire exams in the early part of his career. He became a member of ECB Association of Cricket Officials at its inception in 2008.

He was elected as the first Regional Chairman for the ECB ACO and represented the region on the ACO Management Committee.

He chaired the ECB ACO National Education Committee for several years and the Scorers Committee for a short period and was appointed chairman of the Bradford League Umpires Association in 2015.

An experienced and respected administrator, he was a major part of the Yorkshire Cricket Association (the forerunner to Yorkshire Cricket Board) for many years, where he became vice chairman.

He became a director of the YCB and was vice chairman from March 2005 until March 2009, when he succeeded Bob Platt as chairman.

He guided the board through many changes until March 2016, when he stood down and became a non-executive director.

In 2019, after relinquishing his position, he received a YCB OSCA for his services to umpiring and later became only the second person to be made a patron of the YCB for his outstanding service,

A past president of the Heavy Woollen Cup, he is currently in the tenth year of his second spell as a league official. He is currently Cricket Operations officer, planning fixtures, cup competitions and approving registrations and transfers.

If that is not enough, he still scores for Yeadon and serves on the executive of the Match Officials Association."

The Gordon Rigg Bradford Premier League article can be viewed via the link below:

https://www.bradfordcl.com/blog/long-serving-radcliffe-wins-sir-leonard-hutton-trophy

THE GORDON RIGG BRADFORD PREMIER LEAGUE 2024 AWARD WINNERS ARE:

FIRST TEAMS:
PREMIER DIVISION
Batting: Dushan Vimukthi (Townville)
Bowling: Zeeshan Qasim (Undercliffe)
Wicketkeeping: Charlie Best (Pudsey St Lawrence)
DIVISION ONE
Batting: Hisan Ahmad (Batley)
Bowling: Seif Hussain (Baildon)
Wicketkeeping: Finn Brookes (East Bierley)
DIVISION TWO
Batting: Liam Fletcher (Gomersal)
Bowling: Greg Keywood (Scholes)
Wicketkeeping: Jack Wakeling (Buttershaw St Paul’s)
DIVISION THREE
Batting: Shamsullah Dost (Great Preston)
Bowling: Ismail Patel (Streethouse)
Wicketkeeping: Sam Wright (Great Preston)
SECOND TEAMS
PREMIER DIVISION
Batting: Adnan Mahmood (Jer Lane)
Bowling: Sam Barraclough (New Farnley)
Wicketkeeping: Adam Qurban (Batley)
DIVISION ONE
Batting: Matthew Swallow (Bradford & Bingley)
Bowling: Jamie Abbott (Baildon)
Wicketkeeping: Craig Brook (Undercliffe)
DIVISION TWO
Batting: Ben Walsh (Altofts)
Bowling: Glen Thompson (Hunslet Nelson)
Wicketkeeping: Ranjith Karunanithi
DIVISION THREE
Batting: Ben Broxup (Great Preston)
Bowling: Craig Ellison (Streethouse)
Wicketkeeping: George Holden (Wrenthorpe) & Carl Clayton (Windhill & Daisy Hill)

Highest individual score: Chris Holliday (Townville)
Biggest Opening Stand: Ryan Cooper & Joe Pocklington
Most 1stXI Runs: Joe Pocklington (Farsley)
Most 1stXI Wickets: Chris Rhodes (Gomersal)
Most 1stXI stumpings: Jack Wakeling (Buttershaw St Paul’s)
Most 2ndXI Stumpings: Craig Russell (Hanging Heaton)
Most sixes: Amjid Hussain (Buttershaw St Paul’s)
Fastest 50: Matt Donohoe (Adwalton)

Sir Learie Constantine Premier Division All Rounder: Joe Pocklington (Farsley)
Jack Hill Other Divisions All Rounder: Jacques Porter (Altofts)
David Bairstow Golden Glove Young keeper: Alex Kaye (Woodlands)
Ernest Lodge Young Spinner: Sam Thewlis (Hunslet Nelson)
Gordon Bowers Young Cricketer of the Year: Bradley Sylvester (Cleckheaton)
Albert Smith Spirit of Cricket Award: Hopton Mills
Tom Mathers Best Kept Ground Trophy: Keighley
Players' Player of the Year: Joe Pocklington (Farsley)
Unsung Hero:Allan Birkett (Keighley)
Sir Len Hutton Trophy: Philip Radcliffe.