Nathan Sharrock will re-write the record books as the youngest player in the history of Rishton CC to feature in the first team.

The St Christopher’s pupil should make his bow tomorrow against Rawtenstall, aged 14 years and 159 days.

"He has been at the club and developing since he was nine," said skipper Jimmy Bibby.

"He has got his chance because, while we are short with holidays and so on, he is a technically good player and has been hitting 20s and 30s in the seconds.

"We expect him to be playing regularly for the first team in a couple of years but he is just getting a chance at the moment."

Bibby admits he has got a selection headache with the second team in cup semi-final action at home to Haslingden tomorrow alongside the absences for holidays and football.

"If anyone drops out, we are in trouble tomorrow as there is no one spare to replace players.

"The football season has started and Luke McVarish and Ben Bridson play semi-pro for Colne.

"You can’t ask them to play for nothing for Rishton CC, especially as they are both young and Luke feels he could make some kindof career out of football.

"Last Sunday we had a large number of players missing because of a christening and I did fear the worst as we were playing the best team in the league in Lowerhouse with a weakened team, but we played well despite losing."

Bibby confirmed Rishton have offered Australian professional Dan Salpietro terms for next season, having scored 359 runs and taken 42 wickets so far this season.

He said: "We have offered him improved terms but it depends on him – where he sees his career going and the route he wants to take. We don’t expect a decision before the end of the season but we’re willing to wait."

While the other three Hyndburn teams may have one eye on the title, Rishton’s ambitions are less lofty: "We want to improve on last season," added Bibby. "We got seven wins then and we have five already with around half of the season gone so we want to get those as quickly as possible.

"Even now we look at a few games – against Bacup and Todmorden at home – where we should have won and that would have put us in the top five or six.

"But we want a top half of the table finish.

"It will be hard with the number of people missing in the next few weeks and it will be a challenge for us but we’re pleased with the way it has gone so far and we hope it will get better."