TEENAGE dreams will be fulfilled as Stayley Cricket Club plays at Lord’s.
Then Leighton Parker can set his sights on showing how good he is on the other side of the world.
Sunday, September 21 will see the 18-year-old take to the wicket at the home of the sport against Foxton Granta in the Voneus Village Cup final.
It will certainly be a, ‘Pinch me,’ moment as he follows in the footsteps of cricket’s greats.
And doing it with the club that lies just five minutes’ walk from his home, in the Millbrook area of Stalybridge, makes it even sweeter.
“I started at Stayley when I was just five-years-old,” revealed Leighton.
“My brother, Thomas, started here when he was young, so that got me into it and a good atmosphere around the club kept me coming.
“Here I am now, working my way through the ranks and in the first team, and never in a million years did I ever dream of playing at Lord’s.
“Especially not for Stayley, my childhood club. I’ve been to Old Trafford, but that doesn’t really compare to Lord’s, does it?
“It means everything to get there. It’s every kid’s dream. The juniors now that are coming through, they’re going to be looking at this and be like, ‘I want that to be me soon.’
“It feels good to make history for the club and it’s brought the whole club back together.
“A load of old faces that maybe slowly drifted away, they’ve all come back and it’s just that old atmosphere back again.”
Leighton can take a fair bit of the credit for Stayley’s Lord’s appearance after a final over thriller at Cleator in a match decided with a decisive run out at the non-striker’s end off the last ball.
“That was probably the most nerve-wracking part of my career,” he recalled. “The captain came up to me and said, ‘No pressure but it’s going to be the biggest over of your life.’
“I got to the final ball and I was thinking, ‘Just don’t bowl a wide or a no-ball.’ So I slowed it down just to make sure I got it in the area.
“Luckily, we got through and look where we are now.”
Ever since Stayley’s semi-final win over Dumbleton, Leighton’s phone has been buzzing with people saying they will travel to London in support.
And the Cambridge-based opponents, the defending champions, have been warned they will have another team to overcome, Team Parker.
“My brother and sister have booked their hotels and tickets and are travelling down,” Leighton added.
“I’ve had some friends that I’ve not spoken to in a long time reach out as they are fancying coming down.
“Then all my other clubs that I play for, they’ve reached out as well and they’re planning on getting a coach down to support me, which is good.”
Leighton is used to cricket. He has just completed a college course in the sport through Myerscough College that saw him learn at the indoor centre at Lancashire CCC’s Old Trafford ground.
But when he is not on the wicket, you may find him on the rugby field as he also plays for Ashton-under-Lyne.
“I dabble in a lot of sports, but the main ones at the minute are the rugby and cricket,” he told The Correspondent.
“My dad, Richard, has played since he was young. He was my coach growing up from an eight-year-old and used to be chairman there.
“My body doesn’t thank me for it!”
Stayley may head to Lord’s after earning promotion from Greater Manchester Cricket League Division One, but the action does not stop there for Leighton, nor team-mate Jake Barlow.
For they are heading to Melbourne to play for Old Peninsula CC in the Australian summer.
“We’ve been planning for a while and always had our eyes on doing it,” he said.
“Now we’ve both got to an age where we can go over and do it and we’ve found time in our schedules.
“So we thought now is a good time to do it. And then while we’re young, because you don’t want to take an injury and then prevent us from doing it.
“We’ll also be doing a bit of gardening work. Which considering I don’t like spiders…”