No disgrace in S&B defeat to Ormskirk
LIVERPOOL Gin Liverpool Competition: ECB Premier League: Ormskirk (25pts), 228-9 declared, beat Southport and Birkdale (5pts), 127 all out, by 101 runs
IT was no surprise that Southport and Birkdale lost to Ormskirk on Saturday, nor was there much dishonour attached to the defeat.
The Brook Lane team are one of the best club sides in the country; they reached the semi-finals of the national knockout last year and will surely be in contention for the Premier League championship come September.
After all, it is nearly three years since they won the title and that must seem like an age to Matt Glayzer and his players.
On Saturday Ormskirk’s batting proved to be far deeper than S&B’s and their bowling more penetrative.
The former quality allowed the home team to recover from 92 for five and eventually post a total of 228 for 9; the latter capability saw Ormskirk’s seamers, led by the S&B old boys Scott Lees and Josh Bohannon, take early wickets and then snuff out the workmanlike recovery mounted by Chris Brownlow and Adam Phillips.
The margin of 101 runs was about right; Glayzer’s cricketers will humble teams by larger margins before Michaelmas.
But having acknowledged Ormskirk’s overall superiority, S&B’s supporters at Brook Lane on Saturday could be encouraged by the things their own team got right.
Chief amongst these was probably the Andy Warhurst and Justin Labuschagne’s new ball bowling, which accounted for four of Glayzer’s top order at a cost of 46 runs.
Indeed, had Labuschagne’s confident leg before appeal against Bohannon be upheld early in his innings, Ormskirk’s embarrassment would have been even greater.
As it was the Lancashire second team batsman batted very confidently for his 79 and piloted a recovery which Nicky Caunce’s big hitting all but completed.
Throughout Bohannon and Caunce’s innings, however, S&B’s fielding remained keen and competent. Bradley Yates took three catches behind the stumps and three others were taken in the outfield.
Runs were rarely given to the opposition; they had to be earned, and if this become characteristic of S&B’s cricket over the next five months, the team will reap the profits of playing tough cricket and Firth will be proud of his players.
Having fought for their four bowling bonus points, S&B needed a decent start to their innings if they were to get within spitting distance of Ormskirk’s total.
The loss of both openers with seven runs on the board and the dismissal of four of the top seven batsmen for noughts hardly met the needs of the situation.
Having stumbled to 26 for three the visitors were given a sliver of hope by a fine 69-run partnership for the fourth wicket between Brownlow and Phillips. But when Phillips played on to the excellent Bohannon for 34 and Brownlow was well caught by the rejuvenated John Armstrong at midwicket off Tom Hartley for 55 the outcome of the game was more or less decided.
S&B’s tail-end batsmen tried to scramble their way to a second batting bonus point but despite their best efforts they fell three runs short. Lees and Bohannon finished with three wickets each and had reminded travelling supporters what a loss they were to S&B when they left at the end of the 2015 season.
Firth, though, has recruited some good players over the winter and if they can develop into a team over the next month or so, they will be ready for the tough challenges that lie ahead.