Oldham makes all Formby running

OVER his last five innings of the season, Formby’s Sam Oldham has scored 342 runs from 335 balls, only being dismissed by the last of them.

Cricket being cricket, his last two knocks – an unbeaten 121 against Ormskirk last week, followed by 96 from 56 balls against Firwood Bootle in a T20 on Saturday – were in a losing cause, meaning Formby finished “fourth” in Group B, having already finished top.

By the time Oldham was caught off the last ball, three figures was all he had to aim for – his side were 20 behind the visitors’ 196/5, after Vishal Tripathi struck 72 from 47 balls. Without the 16 wides conceded by Formby, the target might have been within reach.

Another fine innings from Jack Carney, one of the stars of the summer for Southport & Birkdale, helped set up a convincing win over Fleetwood Hesketh in Group A.

The young wicketkeeper’s 63 – augmented by an unbeaten 56 from Dean Skelton – fired the hosts to a total of 251/4, to which Hesketh were never getting close. From 64/2, the visitors slumped to 111 all out.

A high-scoring encounter in Group E saw Sefton Park’s Richard Conlon score an unbeaten 100 from 85 balls as his side posted 242/4 against Wavertree. The visitors made a decent fist of it, advancing to 100/1, but Tom Heard’s 4/44 ran through the middle order to secure the win.

In Group D, Newton-le-Willows’ game against St Helens Town was effectively decided in its opening stages – Dominic Chambers, who finished with 4/7 from his nine overs, helped reduce Town to 18/6. A recovery of sorts saw the visitors post 110 – Matthew Beilby was last out, run out for 49 – but Ben Walkden’s unbeaten 68 made short work of the chase.

Birkenhead Park shared the runs around in their 258/8 against Caldy – four players passed 34, but none got more than Alex Harris’s 46. In reply, the visitors slumped from 65/0 to 67/4 and fell well short.

Wigan’s John Richardson struck 89, and Matt Dawson took 5/16 in their comfortable win over Norley Hall.