Five matches to survive as S&B feel heat
Baybutt lbw Butterworth ............................ 12 Lea c Williams b Butterworth .......... 9 Affleck c Williams b Purser .................. 10 Yates c Liaqat b Purser ......................... 2 Phillips b Purser ............................................ 0 May lbw Purser ........................................ 15 Green lbw New ........................................... 10 Cunningham c Davies b Purser ............................ 7 Gailey c&b Purser .......................................... 0 Firth c Hale b New ................................... 5 Warhurst not out .................................................. 0 Extras ..................................................................................... 2 TOTAL ................................................................................... 72
FoW: 1-21 2-24 3-33 4-33 5-40 6-53 7-65 8-68 9-72 10-72
Purser 18.1-7-29-6 Butterworth 9-3-19-2 Liaqat 5-0-14-0 New 4-1-9-2
Hale not out ................................................. 22 Farrell b Gailey ................................................ 0 Davies not out ............................................... 52 Extras ...................................................................................... 4 TOTAL ( for one wicket) ............................... 78
FoW: 1-10
Warhurst 4-0-14-0 Gailey 5-0-23-1 Green 4-0-30-0 Cunningham 2-0-10-0 LIVERPOOL Gin Liverpool Competition: ECB Premier League. Bootle (25pts), 78 for one, beat Southport and Birkdale (0pts), 72 all out, by nine wickets
SOUTHPORT and Birkdale’s cricketers face a battle to stay in the top flight of the Liverpool Competition after they suffered a nine-wicket thrashing at the hands of title favourites Bootle at Trafalgar Road last Saturday.
Combined with Lytham’s defeat of Northern and Colwyn Bay gaining four points from their loss at Ormskirk, S&B’s defeat leaves them eight points off the relegation zone
with five games left to play.
The first of these matches is at home to Rainhill on Saturday, a match for which Gary Keedy is unavailable, and it already appears that the home game against Colwyn Bay on September 7 will be vital in determining the fate of Chris Firth’s team.
As for last Saturday’s action, S&B’s struggles were hardly surprising against an attack led by Will Purser, who took six for 29 in 18.1 overs of high-quality seam bowling.
Four S&B players reached double figures and both Jack Baybutt and Ollie Green will have benefited from tough baptisms against Purser on a helpful wicket.
Harry May again batted competently for his 15 runs but could not stem a collapse which saw S&B lose all their wickets for 51 runs after the openers had put on 21 without mishap. However, a total of 72 is rarely competitive in any game and certainly did not extend Bootle’s batsmen in the slightest.
For the first time this season S&B took no points whatsoever from a match, and a contest which began at noon was completed by midafternoon.
S&B’s Premier League programme until the end of the season: August 24: Rainhill (H); August 31: Ormskirk (A); September 7: Colwyn Bay (H); September 14: Northern (H); September 21: Wallasey (A).
Southport & Birkdale’s second team had no game on Saturday but Alan Green’s star-studded third team enjoyed a fine victory over Wavertree on Sunday when opener Sam Regan’s 47 played a major role in his side’s five-wicket triumph.