In what was a year of highs, and some extreme lows, the Second team managed to survive a mighty scare of relegation on the last day of the season to end the summer on a positive note, of some sort anyway. At one stage through the season it looked like it could be another successful season, as a cup Semi-Final was reached, along with going on a great run of form through the League, but one thing or another managed to heavily derail the team and turn what was a good season, into one that heavily threatened relegation up until the very last few overs of the summer.
The Second team managed 9 League victories, which included the last two games of the season to ensure top division survival, whilst losing 12 with having one abandoned after the first innings due to rain. Staying out of the relegation zone by only two points in the end. They also had three victories in the Cup games before a loss in the Semi-Final. Taking the tally to 12 wins over the summer with 13 defeats in all competitions.
Squad
Following on from 2025, there came some changes over the Winter to the Second team squad. For starters, Steve Brunt retired as player and Captain which left a big hole to be filled as the team lost his talent and experience. There were also promotions for youngsters Jack Brunt and Ishaq Khan, who both would be First team players moving into 2026. Three players who were integral to the Second team's recent success over the last few years was a big loss heading into the new season.
Even during the year, the squad went through changes for one reason or another. Ali Ahmed, who scored 282 runs in 2025, and Mo Khubaib, who had taken 18 wickets the same year, both transferred away from the club in late June. As mentioned in the Third team review, Aarav Neherkar moved away in August, whilst Josh Holding spent several weeks away on holiday. Aayaan Naveed was away for periods with family, as well as injury, which also affected Hassan Sadaqat, with Naqi Hassan also away for personal reasons towards the end of the season. There were also a couple of players who suffered bans during the summer too.
A lot of disruption caused havoc with team selection practically every weekend. From 17 players being used in 2025, this number went up to 30 players who made an appearance in 2026, technically 31 but more on that later. Plenty of familiar faces making their returns to action during the season, as well as one or two making their debuts in Second team cricket as gaps were needed to be filled.
The first place to start would be the Captaincy, and whilst it fell officially to Josh Holding, given his unavailability throughout the season, it was Ben Sutcliffe, returning to Burnley followed two years away, that took up the mantle and led the team. There were also returns for Paul Mortimer(7 years away), Jonny O’Brien(4 years), Dean Metcalf(5 years) towards the end of the season when numbers got very low. George Scott(3 years) and Harry Tomlinson(2 years) also returned to play more often earlier on in the season.
Morgan Shapland and Leon Hepke also returned when called upon by the skipper to take to the field. The winner for the longest time spent away from the game though goes to Phil Edmonson, who made his first appearance back in Second team cricket for 17 years, and his first in Burnley colours for 18 years.
Debuts in Second team cricket came for Joe Hodgkinson, Francis Woodruff and Abel LItto, whilst Ollie Dugdale made his debut in senior cricket all together this year. Hassan Sadaqat also made regular appearances in the Second team after moving to Burnley over the Winter. A few appearances were made by players who would be more often seen in the First team, with Matt Roberts, Dan Pickup and Ishaq Khan making a handful of appearances together.
Fixtures and Results
Junior League
It was a mixed start for Burnley. A first century representing Burnley for Matt Roberts led the team to a 142 run victory against Greenmount, a game which also featured Aarav and Ali syed reaching 44 each, with Ali scoring that off only 27 balls on the way to a team score of 261-4. Ben led the way with 4fer to ensure his team started off with all 12 points. A 60 run defeat at Littleborough came in the second game as Burnley failed to chase down 239, followed by a heavy defeat against Haslingden, in a game that saw several main players missing and exemplified how small the squad was this year as a changed side were bowled out for 79 with Haslingden reaching the target easily.
Ben and the boys bounced back well from two losses however, managing a dominant derby victory over Lowerhouse. Bowling the opposition out for only 113, led by Gareth Halley taking his first 5 wicket haul of the season. Burnley then knocked the runs off with only 2 wickets down inside 23 overs. Josh Holding starred with the bat, hitting two 6’s on his way to 63 from 68. The one and only abandoned game of the summer came next, Naqi scoring 78 from 77 in soaking conditions at Nelson in a game that only lasted one innings. But another heavy defeat followed as Norden beat the Second team by 113 runs, Burnley bowled out for 107, with Gaz scoring 54 himself though no one else managed double digits.
A change in form came at this point for the Second team though, as they won five out of their next 6 League games. First game a strong win over Ramsbottom, chasing down 200 for the loss of 3 wickets after 33 overs, a victory led by Aarav scoring 82 from 96 with three 6’s, Ali Syed also scored 35 whilst Aayan took 3fer. The boys were defeated next by Rochdale, though it was a special day for Oscar Halley, who took his first 5fer in Second team cricket with figures of 5-32 from 10 overs, unfortunately they couldn’t get the win, falling short by 21 runs when given a target of 180 to win.
The team started to shoot up the table at this point, with four League wins in a row coming. Starting at Clitheroe, a second 5fer of the season for Gaz helped bowl the opposition out for 158. Burnley reached the target thanks to Leo Tomlinson and Naqi scoring 41 each and 27 from Simon Edmonson. Then a strong batting performance at Darwen set up a 56 run victory. Naqi and Ali scored 50’s each, whilst Leo(34), Aarav(31) and George(36) added good support to take Burnley up to 250. Hassan Sadaqat then took 4fer to ensure the team took a maximum 12 points.
A comfortable home victory made it three in a row, Ben the Bar took 3fer and led the bowlers to bowl out Todmorden for 117. The batters then knocked the runs off after only 23 overs, losing just 4 wickets. Aarav notched up another score of 50+, whilst Ali hit the winning runs to finish on 29 from only 23 deliveries. Heading into June and the team seemed to be just starting to click on all cylinders.
This carried on as they made it four wins on the trot against Greenmount. Aarav and Ali hit 31 and 32 runs respectively, Simon made his highest score of the season with 48, narrowly missing out on 50, with some blaming his Mother for mentioning she had never seen him score 50 before, then Gareth pummeled 63 from 38 to take Burnley up to 224. All five bowlers took wickets in the second innings but it was Captain Bar and Hassan leading as they took 3 wickets each to ensure Burnley won by 58 runs and took 12 points again. Notably though, 12 players took the field for Burnley on that day. With Ali Syed suffering an injury, due to an errant throw from the outfield by Gaz ending up cracking into the back of Ali’s head. This led to the appearance of Jamie Campbell as 12th man, donning a set of whites and making his debut for Burnley as the unofficial 31st man to play this year.
The climb up the table came to a drastic halt however, the run of good form turned totally around. As Burnley lost their next 7 games, picking up only 8 points in that span. Defeat at Littleborough came first, despite what was an excellent innings of 45 from Morgan Shapland in his first appearance in the Second team of the season, Littleborough were able to chase down 145 with relative ease. It was then another tie against Haslingden that was played out with a changed side, Steve Brunt making his first appearance of the season as stand-in Captain as well as a debut for Francis Woodruff. Burnley ended up 69 runs short of the Hassy target, despite good efforts from Ali(35) and Brunty(32).
Lowerhouse avenged their earlier season defeat during a rain affected game. Naqi led the batting with 66 from 62, but no one else managed more than 15 which meant a below par score of 143 was set, which Lowerhouse reached with only 2 wickets lost. Ben was back in charge for the next game, in which Burnley suffered a tight loss vs Nelson. Aarav showed his class with 86, whilst Gaz bludgeoned 50 from 21 at the end of the innings to set 247, enjoying the challenge of targeting a Tesla that had parked on the ground for the football at Cow Corner. Oscar and Simon each took 3 wickets but Nelson reached the target with 2 wickets left, a big blow as Burnley would have been confident in defending such a high total.
After the disheartening Nelson defeat, the form only got worse. In each of the next three games, Burnley failed to reach triple figures when batting. A trip to League leaders Norden came first, and whilst youngsters Oscar and Ollie Dugdale, who was making his senior debut, took 3 wickets each, Norden were able to score 241, with Burnley bowled out for 79, after being 53 without loss, to lose by 162 runs.
Burnley then hosted Ramsbottom with several players making a return to playing. The team included Jonny O’Brien, Paul Mortimer, and Dean Metcalf. Aayan Naveed made his return after a few weeks away from the team too, with himself and Ben taking 3 wickets each with Rammy finishing 199. But Burnley were bowled out for 47 in reply, with only two players managing double figures, losing by 152. A third heavy defeat followed as Burnley fell 103 runs short at Rochdale. The opposition again scored 199, with the highlight of the game being Oscar claiming a hat trick towards the end of the innings. But once more, the Burnley batting fell apart, with again only two players reaching double figures to be all out for 96. This result meant Burnley fell into the relegation zone with only three games left.
The fortunes for the Seconds started to turn around finally as they defeated Clitheroe in a tight game at home. Dan Pickup made his second appearance of the season and reinforced the batting lineup, proving his value with a classy 80 from 103 balls. Backed up by Gaz with 52, Burnley made 189 in a shortened first innings. It was then the Halley show with the ball, as Gareth and Oscar took 3 wickets apiece, including 2 for Oscar in the last over of the game to effectively win the game before it was called off for lightning, with Clitheroe 6 runs short on DLS. It may have been called off a couple of overs earlier had Euan Harris not identified the difference between the sound of thunder and scrap cars being dumped. Amazingly though, Littleborough and Darwen, the two teams above Burnley in the table, had both beaten the two teams at the top of the league. So even a victory wasn’t able to lift Burnley to safety.
Next up was the penultimate game of the season, and a huge tie at home, as Burnley hosted Darwen with relegation on the line. With the pressure on, Ali Syed stood up tall. Blitzing 110 from only 84 balls, with eight 4’s and seven 6’s. Supported by Josh(41) and Gaz(31). Burnley posted 267. Darwen got within 32, but Burnley took the win and jumped out of the relegation zone. Leapfrogging Littleborough and matching Darwen on points, but being above them due to games won. It left Burnley in control of their destiny heading into the final day of the season.
A visit to Todmorden awaited them. Burnley batted first, with Dan(49) and Josh(44) setting a platform with Paul Mortimer hitting 38(28) towards the end of the innings to help propel the team up to 177, a decent score on an important day. It didn’t look promising for Burnley through the second innings though, until Dan Pickup took the ball. Some might say it was a captaincy stroke of genius to bring him on, others might argue why he didn’t come on earlier, but he took 4-34 from 8 overs to turn the game and ensure Burnley claimed enough points to see them safe, though it went down to the very last overs of the very last game. Finishing 2 points above Darwen to clinch their spot in Division 1 again next year, the boys pulled it out in the end but it was tighter than any of them would want.
Junior Cup
A trip to Middleton was the first tie that awaited Burnley in the Junior Cup. Aarav led the batting, reaching 53 whilst support also came from Leo Tomlinson(37) and Naqi(32). For Burnley to post 160. In return, all five of our bowlers took wickets, but it was Aayaan that stood out, taking 3-19 to ensure Middleton were all out for 137, Ben the bar and Naqi also took two wickets from their overs. Leaving the opposition 23 short for Burnley to progress to the next round.
Another away game was next, with Burnley visiting Walsden where they managed to post their highest score of the season at 318-8. Aarav continued his cup form with 56, and Ali Ahmed joined him with 52 of his own. But it was Peanut who top scored with 63 from 48, with four 4’s and 6’s apiece. Leo, Naqi and Euan offered good support with each of them scoring into the 30’s. The wickets for our bowlers were spread out again, with Aayaan, Oscar, Bar, Naqi and Mo Khubaib taking 2 each to bowl Walden out for 265. Though 54 wides in the second innings helped to inflate their score. The stand out figures of the match, not for good reasons, belonged to Ali who bowled two overs for 53.
The Quarter-Final draw gave Burnley their only home tie of the Junior Cup as they hosted Great Harwood. The opposition batted first and posted 134 all out, with Naqi the stand out bowlers producing figures of 10-6-11-3. The Dad and Lad combo of Gaz and Oscar also chipped in with 2 wickets each. Burnley managed to chase the target down losing only 4 wickets, inside 32 overs. Naqi followed up his bowling exploits by top scoring with 40, Simon supported him with 27 whilst it was Ali who finished the game off and scored 31 himself.
This all led to what is now the infamous game at Littleborough. On a day that started wet, and only got worse, Burnley batted first and managed to reach 147 after 29 overs and multiple, long delays to play. Aarav carried on his form in this competition by top scoring with 32, whilst Naqi, George Scott and Harry Tomlinson scored 20+ each. Rain had been falling the entire day, playing through it onto the wicket, so when Burnley started to field, it was becoming more and more treacherous, the ball slipping out of the bowler's hands. But it was when Aayaan slipped in his delivery stride three times in one over that the Captain conceded. Pulling his team off for the safety of the players. Ending the Cup journey at the Semi-Final stage.
Player Performances
Though it was a tough season, plenty of players displayed their skills with some excellent performances during the summer. Two centuries along with seventeen half-centuries were scored between eight batters, to go along with three 5fers and five 4fers between seven bowlers. Those achievements split between youngsters, veterans and everyone in between within the Second team.
To start with the batting, Aarav Neherkar finishes the season with most runs across all competitions. 437 runs in the League and 146 in the Cup comes out to 583 in total at an average of 34.29 from 19 games. His five half-centuries was also the most by a Burnley batter, with a top score of 86(120) achieved vs Nelson, an innings that featured two 6’s and four4’s. His other 50+ scores came vs Middleton(53), Walsden(56), Todmorden(51) and Ramsbottom(82). Ali Syed finished as top run scorer in the League thanks to his late season century. Notching up 448 runs at 28. Ali clearly enjoyed batting against Darwen this summer, scoring both his century and his only half-century in two games against them this year, 161 of his League runs in total coming against the one team. He showed good maturity and discipline with his batting through the season, finishing not out on three occasions for 31, 35 and 29 to ensure he was seeing the team over the finishing line at the end of games.
Naqi Hassan was another stand out batter this year. Excelling in the League with 305 runs, averaging 61 and managing three 50’s from only 8 innings. His highest score of 78* came in a washed out game vs Nelson off 77 deliveries with one 6 and nine 4’s. He also struck 59 vs Darwen and 66* vs Lowerhouse. 131 runs also came in the Cup fixtures, to take his summer total to 436 runs averaging 48.44. It was Gareth Halley who hit the most half-centuries for Burnley in the League this year with 4 scores of 50+. In his typically attacking style he hit 54 vs Norden, 61 vs Greenmount, 50 vs Nelson and 52 vs Clitheroe, with fifteen 6’s coming between those four innings. He finished with 281 runs at 40.14 with a strike rate of 110.19 across League games.
Other key contributors with the bat this year include Josh Holding who hit two half-centuries, one in the League and one in the Cup to score 288 runs across 11 games, averaging 26. Dan Pickup managed one score of 50+ in his four innings, but scored 130 in that short period of batting. Leo Tomlinson wasn’t able to manage a score above 50 this year but still rocked up 336 across all competitions this summer, recording 665 runs combined between the Third and Second teams. Whilst Simon Edmonson just managed to sneak above the 200 run mark, managing 234 runs this year, playing with damaged knees, groins and any other manner of leg related ailments. Of course Matt Roberts needs a mention for his century in the first game of the season, and Ali Ahmed brought up one half century himself.
Onto the bowlers, and of the 30 players to represent Burnley Seconds this year, 22 of them ended up having a chuck at some point.
At the top of the wicket taking list we find young gun Oscar Halley. With 27 victims in the League and 5 more in the Cup. His first full season as a Second teamer was a successful one as he also achieved his first 5 wicket haul in Second team cricket. Taking figures of 10-3-32-5 vs Rochdale. And it was also Rochdale later in the season that Oscar also claimed a Hat Trick too! Across all Second team cricket this year Oscar bowled a total of 136.5 overs, the second most of everyone in the team. To go along with his 84.4 overs in the Third’s this summer, Oscar certainly put a lot of miles through his legs this year.
It was only Captain Ben that bowled more than Oscar this year, as the Skipper totalled 194.5 overs himself. Taking 29 wickets along the way across both League and Cup games. His best figures came in the very first game of the season to mark his return to Burnley in a strong manner, finishing with 4-47 from 8.3 overs. Aayaan Naveed match Ben with 29 wickets himself, claiming 22 in League matches and equal best with 7 in Cup ties. Though his season was disrupted with injuries and holidays, an average of 17.83, which was the best in the team for anyone with 10+ wickets, shows how much value Aayaan brings with the ball.
The Seconds boasted two excellent all rounders this year. First with Gaz Halley, who claimed 22 wickets this summer to go with his runs. Managing two 5 wicket hauls along the way, taking 5-36 from 11 overs in a Lowerhouse derby matchup, with his other being vs Clitheroe and claiming 5-32 from 12 overs. Gaz also bowled 19 maidens over the summer. Naqi Hassan is the second excellent all rounder in the team, equalling Aayaans’s tally of 7 Cup wickets to go with 13 in the League. Naqi does fall just shy of Aayaans average across the summer, with his coming to 18.15. Naqi did bowl the most overs this year though, managing 29 maidens from his 128 overs. He was the only bowler to go under 3RPO with 10+ overs.
Hassan Sadaqat made an impression in his first year in senior cricket. In the 40 overs he bowled he also picked up 10 wickets, including a best of 4-63, averaging only 19.70 he suffered with injury during the summer which cut short his bowling exploits. Dan Pickup picked up a crucial 4 wicket haul in the last game of the season, whilst Ali Ahmed took a 4fer during the summer too. Joe Hodgkinson suffers the pain of having only bowled one delivery this season, which got plunked for a 6, to leave his economy at a stunning 36.
Thanks go out to those who helped out this year. With Paul and Dean for preparing the wicket between innings for the Seconds and Thirds, and Anne who celebrated her last summer providing teas for the team this year, and everyone who has helped out with her. Again thanks to Kayleigh, Helen and Holly for the pictures used. We shall be back next year, and hopefully back challenging at the top of the table, where we should be!
