FINISHING off my playing career with a rained-off title decider is not quite the way I imagined it, but I have no second thoughts.

There is no twinge of regret, everything just feels right.

Our skipper at Greenmount, Phil Heaton, deciding to retire as well came as a bit of a shock, but just added to the feeling that it was time for a changing of the guard at the club.

Running up that hill at Brandlesholme Road was starting to get on my nerves, and I can honestly say I won’t miss it.

My only regret is I never scored a century, as I am sure I was due one.

I will just have to make do with my top score of 76 at Little Lever.

But I have done pretty much everything else I wanted to in cricket.

From claiming the wicket of Sir Viv Richards as a youngster at Ramsbottom, to captaining the Greenmount side to the treble in 2011 and everything in between, it’s been brilliant.

The side that won the Bolton League, Hamer Cup and Lancs Knockout was something special. Everything just clicked on the field, in the dressing room and off the field as well.

When something like that happens you just have to enjoy the ride, and we all did.

For me, it was extra special because my dad was the only other man to captain Greenmount to the title in 1988, when future Australia skipper Mark Taylor was pro.

I joined the year after, but Darron Foy and Phil played in both sides so you can see we have been pretty hard to get rid of.

As well as the team accolades, I have been fortunate enough to hit all the other landmarks I aimed for.

I took 10 wickets at Little Lever, for some reason a happy hunting ground for me, got a few hat-tricks along the way and took more than 100 wickets a season on three occasions.

And while I am all-time leading wicket taker in the Bolton League, I let Phil have the Greenmount record of 119 wickets in a season.

I doubt that will ever be beaten, but you can never say never in cricket.

You would like to imagine the club will find it hard to replace mine and Phil’s wickets and I am sure they will miss us in the dressing room, but time moves on.

Greenmount has stood for 150 years and will probably go on for another 150. Players come and go, and the game evolves, and I am looking forward to seeing what happens in the next chapter from a cosy spot in the pavilion, rather than running up that hill.

All I would like to see is for young lads to come in with the same mindset as me – to savour the competitive element of the game, not just pull on their whites for a jolly with their mates.

I always gave it 100 per cent, and I wouldn’t expect to see anything less from my team-mates.

In a similar way, that’s what I tried to do with this column, be honest and true to myself. These are my views and nobody else’s and I hope you liked reading them.