RAMSBOTTOM skipper Tom Parton is hoping the club can put on a show when they host finals day on Monday - both on and off the pitch.

The showpiece T20 event was washed out earlier in the summer and rearranged for Bank Holiday and Parton believes there could be a crowd of more than 1,000 people at Acre Bottom to watch the action.

The home side are in the second semi-final against Burnley which is due to start around 1pm. The opening tie is a repeat of last year’s final with holders Clitheroe facing Darwen at 10am.

The final is scheduled to begin at 4pm.

And Parton, whose side remain in the hunt for the Lancashire League title heading into the final weeks of the season, is confident the day will be one to remember.

“Hopefully the weather is an improvement on the washout,” he said. “There’s four really well supported clubs playing. There was a huge effort off the field last time to get everything up and running and in shape, and then a huge effort to bring it all down.

“Everyone is going through the same rigmarole again to make Bank Holiday a success. If there’s a good weather then hopefully there will be a crowd in excess of 1,000. Lowerhouse made a great event of the Worsley Cup final and hopefully we can make a great event of the T20 and hopefully in years to come there will be some really big crowds at cup finals, it will be beneficial to everyone.”

All four clubs have high calibre professionals with the hosts the only side fielding their 2018 pro with the other three sides engaging sub professionals, including former Rammy favourite Daryn Smit returning to his old club in Darwen’s colours.

He can’t face his old side until the final but Parton admits it would be a fascinating contest should it happen.

“I’m sure he’ll get a warm welcome,” he said of his former teammate. “Both teams would have to win their respective semi-finals for us to face other, but I’m sure in the final if it happened there would be no love lost, everyone would to get one over on each other.

“It’s the nature of professional sport in his regard, it’s just the way it pans out. Hopefully we play each other in the final and he ends up on the wrong side for once.”

Parton is also hoping to maximise playing on home turf in a bid to secure the silverware.

“Home advantage could be a huge advantage,” he added. “We know it’s a large field and it’s big straight. Normally on smaller grounds spinners just get pumped over their heads, but if anyone wants to take that on at Rammy it will be a fair effort.

“We’ll be playing to our strengths, without doubt, but all the other teams on finals day have good spinners, everyone will be competitive, you don’t make a finals day if your not.

“We’ll do everything we can to make sure we put on a good event off the field and hopefully put on a good show on it as well.

“Without giving away our secrets we tend to go with pace off the ball, Rammy is quite a big field. Young Chris Round is one of the top bowlers in the competition, he’s really come into his own.

“It’s a good area of being able to blood some younger players, Harry Collinge, Chris Round, they’ve been at the forefront of it. It’s a nice stepping stone between the second XI and making an impact in the first XI.”

To reach the final, Rammy have will to get past Burnley, winners in 2015, and their skipper Dan Pickup is in confident mood.

“I think we can beat anyone on our day and we are looking forward to it,” he said.

“We feel like we have as good a chance as anyone and we have Lancashire’s Steven Croft as sub pro. He is a top class cricketer and is exactly what we want from someone in the T20.

“It will be a tough semi-final but T20 cricket is all about who performs on the day.”

Darwen, who reached the final of the LCB Knockout last weekend, are hoping to go one better than last year when they face off against holders Clitheroe first up.

“We are looking forward to it,” said Darwen chairman Graham Ainslie. “We reached the final last year and lost to Clitheroe so we want to go one better this time.

“It is always a good day and hopefully we can come away with some silverware.

“We have played some good stuff in the T20 and the first aim will be to win that first game and reach the final.”