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Kelly returns to Hey-days

Goldfields cricket stalwart Phil Kelly, back row, second from left, and the late Denis O’Shaughnessy, back row, fifth from left, as members of Heywood’s 1976 first division championship team. Kelly returns to England next month for the club’s 150th anniversary. Picture: Louise White

Former Great Boulder cricketer Phil Kelly turns back the clock nearly 40 years next month when he returns to England for a special anniversary reunion.

Kelly, 64, and the late Denis O'Shaughnessy became the first Goldfields cricketers to play abroad in 1976 while lining up for Heywood, in the Central Lancashire League.

It proved to be an unforgettable experience for the talented opener, with Heywood crowned first division champions that season.

Thirty-nine years later, Kelly is heading back to celebrate Heywood's 150th anniversary on June 12.

Reflecting on his three-month stint with Heywood this week, Kelly had always wanted to play cricket in England.

"In 1975, England hosted the World Cup and at four o'clock in the morning, we were watching it at the Piccadilly Hotel, Mike O'Shaughnessy was the umpire, with his chair on the bar, and I made the comment that I wanted to go there (England) because it's where cricket originated," he said.

"Denis chimed in and said he would like to go, too.

"Anyway, Mike contacted Keith Slater, who had been a professional player for Heywood in the late 50s, and all of a sudden, I get a call asking: 'Do you still want to go to England?' and of course I said, 'yes'."

In need of money for the trip, Kelly sold off his car and anything else he could spare.

Kelly spent his first 10 days at Heywood boarding with club chairman Bob Cross.

"Bob and his wife are still alive and I'm actually staying with them again," he said.

"When Denis and I first arrived, one of the guys wasn't that happy because he was a borderline player and we'd come straight into the team.

"In the first week, they actually ran shifts on us - by shifts I mean taking us out for a beer from one pub to the next, but with a different person each time. But I think Denis and I, who both really liked a beer, wore them out - that year, their bar sales were through the roof and that record still stands."

Kelly and O'Shaughnessy laid the foundations for strong relationships among various English clubs with the Eastern Goldfields Cricket Association.