Runcorn teams claim dramatic victories
AN incredible rearguard action saw Runcorn’s cricketers escape to victory in both first and second XI matches on Saturday.
Both teams looked to have blown their chances of wins against their Irby counterparts as with only the last wicket pairings left, the firsts and seconds were faced with finding 21 and 26 runs for the last wicket respectively.
But Stuart Drury and Matt Tyrrell guided the firsts over the winning line in thrilling circumstances on the Wirral peninsula, while Ryan Richardson and Colin Lloyd saw the seconds home in an equally tense situation at Moughland Lane.
The first-team had limited Irby to 157-5 from their 45 overs (skipper Ryan Beech taking 2-19) and looked well set to continue their recent unbeaten run.
However a top order batting collapse appeared to have scuppered chances of victory.
Then a patient and well-paced 61 from James Wells gave the locals a ray of hope.
Wells provided the anchor role and managed the tail brilliantly, mixing boundaries with singles to keep the strike and frustrate the home team.
When he finally succumbed to an lbw decision, the onus was on Drury and Tyrrell to either chase down the total to pull of a famous victory, or at least to prevent the home team from winning.
The pair did their job spectacularly with a mixture of intelligent running between the wickets.
In the last over of the game, five was required to win and with two balls left, they managed to get the requirement down to one run from two.
Drury then sealed victory with a cover drive that clinched a 25 point win which means the Moughland Lane men have secured 65 points from their last three league games and are well placed in sixth position in the UK Fast Cheshire League table.
The second team’s win at home to Irby was just as exciting.
After bowling the visitors out for just 117, Runcorn were strong favourites to take the win.
At 60-3 in reply, everything was going according to plan but then a batting collapse saw the locals reeling at 91-9.
It was only the last wicket pairing of stand-in skipper Colin Lloyd and Ryan Richardson that brought order back to proceedings. Lloyd showed all his expe- rience while Richardson also displayed a cool head and with scores level, hit the winning run with a six.
Matt Drury (3-7 with the ball and 25 with the bat) put in a strong all-round show, while Richardson and Jack Beech chipped in with two wickets.
The win also takes the second-team up to sixth place in their division table.
Runcorn’s third team made a hat-trick of wins with another dramatic victory at home to Chester Boughton Hall.
The locals limited Chester to 171-6 from 40 overs with wickets shared, and the highlight of the run chase was a wellcrafted 74 from Allan Watt with the win secured from the last ball of the innings.
The third team are also a well-placed third in the County League West Division table, just nine points away from the top two.
Runcorn’s second XI also booked their place in the quarter-finals of the T/20 competition thanks to a comfortable sixwicket win at Kingsley. An excellent bowling performance was key to the cup holders making progress again in the competition as they limited the villagers to 83-9 off 20.
Colin Lloyd was the pick of the bowlers with 3-17 from four.
Runcorn’s reply started unimpressively as they lost three quick wickets but Jack Beech and Phil Saunders saw the team home with an unbeaten partnership of 43. Beech finished on 32 not out while Saunders struck an unbeaten.
Runcorn’s first-team defend their own T/20 cup title in a quarter-final tie at Barnton this evening with a start time of 6.30pm.