Start of season on horizon

AS ferocious gales blow in off the Irish Sea and a month’s rain falls in parts of Lancashire it seems difficult to believe that outdoor cricket is not far away.

But seven weeks on Saturday a Southport and Birkdale side led by Adam Phillips will take on Rawdon in the first game of the new season. The start of the Liverpool Competition campaign will still be a further three weeks away, but following winter nets, which are already being well-attended, S&B’s seniors will have three further opportunities to impress the skipper before the first team travels to Wallasey on April 25.

A week after Rawdon’s visit Chorley’s cricketers will hope to play on a far drier pitch than they are likely to find inland in mid-April, and a week later, S&B’s first and second team squads will play an inter-club practice match.

It will be something of a miracle if all three of April’s warm-up games take place; the weather normally takes care of at least one of them. Phillips, though, will probably be content if all the cricketers in contention for places in the first and second teams get a chance to practice on grass. That may offer a corrective to the flattering surfaces offered by the indoor nets, where the bounce is even and attacking strokes carry no tariff.

S&B’s Early Season Games:

April 4: Rawdon (H) April 11: Chorley (H) April 18: Club Practice Match

April 25: 1st XI v Wallasey (A)

May 2: 1st XI v Orrell Red Triangle (H)