Byrne’s perfection with patience - and Firth loves the filth
Liverpool Gin Liverpool Competition: First Division: Southport & Birkdale (24pts), 195 for eight decl., beat Birkenhead Park (5pts), 122, by 73 runs
WE are something like a third of the way into the 2018 season and the Liverpool Competition’s First Division table makes a pleasant sight for supporters of Southport and Birkdale.
Nothing is won in May but S&B lie second and are at least 40 points clear of the ten clubs beneath them.
Chris Firth’s side trail the leaders, Orrell Red Triangle, by a single point and have a game in hand on their Winstanley Road rivals.
Neither cricketers nor cricket seasons conform very easily to pernickety plans but Firth’s players seem happy to implement his broad strategy of giving opportunities to young players and trusting the experienced core of his side to keep the ship on a steady course when necessary.
Perhaps nobody exemplifies the developing success of S&B’s season better then Charlie Byrne.
On Saturday Byrne made only 24 runs in his side’s 195 for eight, a total which proved far too steep for Birkenhead Park’s batsmen.
However, what was impressive about the tousled Old Salopian’s innings was the manner in which he understood his role in the game.
While Adam Phillips was biffing the ball around in making 59 off 78 balls, Byrne was content to resist Park’s leftarm spinner, Ahmed Abdullah, and make 24 runs off 81 balls.
Abdullah bowled through the innings but he could not prevent S&B declaring when they wished with a match-winning total on the board.
Being happy to occupy the crease for an hour or two is a rare art but, in his way, Byrne’s patience enabled Alex Trimboli to bat with greater freedom in making 25 and Chris Cunningham to whack a pre-declaration 28, an innings described by Firth, himself a renowned aesthete, as “filthy”.
The second innings followed a familiar pattern as a series of batsmen tried to resist S&B’s attack and more or less all of them failed to do so.
Angus Gailey removed Dan Jordan, courtesy of a short-leg catch by Adam Phillips, and the spinners, notably Gary Keedy, did the rest.
Nine chances were taken and only one put down, an important statistic given that fine fielding and catching is a sign of a good team.
Other tests will follow, though, and the first of them is at Burscough on Saturday, where Firth will be without both Angus Gailey and Andy Warhurst.
On Tuesday S&B reached the third round of the Vitality Club t20 with a very comfortable eight-wicket defeat of Lytham at Trafalgar Road.
The visitors made 134 for six in their 20 overs but S&B overhauled this target with 40 balls to spare after openers Bradley Yates and Josh Hine had put on 96 for the first wicket.
Both were dismissed by opposing skipper, Ben Saunders, Hine for 51 and Yates for 46, but Charlie Byrne and Harry May saw their side home with ease.
The first third of the season has also gone exceptionally well for Craig Todd’s second team, who notched their seventh win in nine matches on Saturday when they defeated New Brighton by 105 runs at Rake Lane.
Dave Aston made 90 and Jack Baybutt added 42 in S&B’s impressive 219-4 declared before the home side were dismissed for 114, Todd and Ollie Green both taking three wickets.