S&B win puts them top of ‘mini-league’
SOUTHPORT and Birkdale’s achievement in qualifying for the Liverpool Competition’s Group A semi-finals on Saturday was not so much unbelievable as unavoidable. When you are one of only four teams in a tournament it is an effort worthy of Harry Houdini at his most flexible to avoid reaching the latter stages of the thing.
What was more meritorious was that S&B finished top of their four-team league, their position confirmed by a 55-run victory over Southport Trinity in a rain-affected game at Trafalgar Road on Saturday. And what will always be even more important, of course, is that the four Southport clubs have played any cricket at all this summer when they might have played none at all.
Instead of that miserable prospect, though, skipper Adam Phillips has discovered a lot about his players these past weeks and he learned a little more on Saturday when frequent showers reduced Trinity’s target to 161 in 31 overs and S&B’s bowlers and fielders were put under a little pressure by batsmen with the freedom to attack and everything to gain.
The response of Phillips’ cricketers was not as impressive as it had been at Ainsdale the previous Saturday. A few catches went down and there were moments when Trinity seemed on top. Eventually, though, Chris Cunningham’s experience and three late wickets for Charlie Byrne decided the issue. Those two cricketers also held on to decent catches in the deep and S&B were well worth a win that was achieved in some comfort.
In the first half of the game S&B had seemed set for a very imposing total when openers Isaac Lea and Sam Holliday put on a very rapid 69 and Lea and Jack Carney took the total to 136 before the second wicket fell. Both Lea and Carney made half-centuries but the home side’s middle order was expertly removed by Tony Campbell and some of Phillips’ batsmen must learn how to manoeuvre the ball around when the boundaries are not on offer.
All the same, double-figure contributions by Charlie Carney, Tobias Lea and Phillips saw S&B to a total of 233 and that appeared formidable enough when the visitors lost their first three wickets with 19 runs on the board.
Shortly afterwards the rain arrived and the home side were faced with a different challenge, one they met only after a few errors. Ultimately, though, it was another good afternoon for a team that is learning and gaining experience with every game it plays.
And so this Saturday S&B will play Trinity for the third time in six weeks. Should they win that game, they will take on either Fleetwood Hesketh or Ainsdale, also for the third time this season. It all rather reminds one of Chapter 13 Verse 8 of the Book of Hebrews.
S&B’s second team will play Ainsdale in their semi-final after they recorded their fifth win in six games with a 70-run defeat of Trinity at The Rookery. Guy Edwards’ 44 and Dave Aston’s 30 played the major roles in ensuring the visitors posted an eminently defendable 199 but it was the outstanding efforts of the young bowlers that secured the win. Peter Crew took four for 25 and Henry Eccles three for 10 as the home side were dismissed for 129.