S&B STUMPED
EVERYONE who has played cricket for any length of time knows there are days when you get annihilated and are almost helpless to prevent it. On such afternoons you congratulate your opponents warmly, enjoy a drink or two and reflect that you have paid your annual subscription to one of the biggest clubs in the game.
You also make damn sure there is no hangover when you next take the field.
On Saturday afternoon Southport and Birkdale’s first team batted 74.5 overs to make 239 for nine against Northern. One or two spectators may have wondered if Chris Cunningham’s declaration had killed the game. Yet so destructive was the opposition’s pursuit – they won the match with 5.1 overs to spare – that S&B’s skipper could have got a few more runs on the board and still have lost.
Two Northern batsmen played a couple of the finest innings likely to be seen at Trafalgar Road this summer. The first of them, Chris Laker, anchored his side’s effort but still hit 13 fours and a couple of sixes in his unbeaten 95. However, even Laker’s innings was outshone by that of his fifth-wicket partner, Justin Snow, who hit his first ball down the ground for six and scored 86 of the 112 runs added in the pair’s unbroken stand for the fifth wicket.
Snow went out to bat when James Cole was brilliantly pouched at mid-off by JJ Fielding, who judged a swirling catch perfectly. At that point Northern were 129 for four and the match was in the hazard.
Some people were wondering if Wincer’s failure to cling on to a hard return catch off Laker would prove crucial. And perhaps it did matter; there was nothing inevitable about Northern’s victory, even on a very flat pitch.
All the same, after half an hour of Snow’s selective demolition of Cunningham’s spinners it was pretty clear which way the game was going. The only regret was that Laker did not reach the century his skill deserved. Instead Snow faced 51 balls, four of which he hit for six and a dozen for four. It was brutal stuff.
But if Saturday’s game left some of the home team feeling pretty bruised, it certainly did not leave them with nothing to take from the match.
Principally that was because Jack Carney played by far his best innings for S&B, making a patient 81 to follow his unbeaten 70 in Friday evening’s knockout. On Saturday Carney had a batting tutorial from David Snellgrove, who made 57 and put on 107 for the fifth wicket with his young partner.
Those innings
rather rescued an S&B innings that was in trouble on 51 for four, but even after Snellgrove was caught behind off Ryan Maddock another 22 overs had to be bowled before the home side had a total they thought they could defend.
And at least Carney’s talent and promise gained their due recognition a couple of days ago when he was named in the Lancashire second team that took on Scotland A at Westhoughton.
It was a slight irony, perhaps, that S&B’s weekend had begun well on Friday evening when they beat Rainford to progress to the second round of the Ray Digman Knock-Out Trophy. Carney’s 70 not out was supplemented by Dinuka Dilshan’s 47 in the visitors’ 174 for four in their 20 overs, and despite a fine pursuit, the home team managed just 167 all out, Wincer taking three wickets.
While the first team were battling their way towards what they fondly imagined was a competitive total on Saturday, S&B’s second team were
S&B
Lea c Grey b Sephton .................................... 20 Fielding lbw Maddock ......................................... 1 Stanley c Cole b Maddock ............................. 4 Dilshan c Boardman b Snow ......................... 22 Snellgrove c Cole b Maddock ...................... 57 Carney lbw Sephton ......................................... 81 Sultan lbw Sephton ............................................. 0 Firth st Cole b Sephton ................................. 14 Wincer c&b Laker ................................................ 15 Gailey not out ....................................................... 15 Extras ......................................................................... 10 TOTAL (for 9 wkts.) ............................................ 239 FoW 1-15 2-19 3-48 4-51 5-158 6-158 7-192 8-215 9-239
Maddock 19-1-79-4
Sephton 31-9-81-3
Snow 21-1-49-1
Laker 3.5-0-23-1
NORTHERN
L Grey lbw Dilshan ............................................ 11 Boardman b Dilshan .......................................... 6 Laker not out ......................................................... 91 Clarke lbw Firth ...................................................... 8 Cole c Fielding b Wincer .................................. 28 Snow not out ....................................................... 86 Extras .......................................................................... 4 TOTAL (for 4 wkts) ............................................. 241 FoW 1-11 2-21 3-30 4-129
Dilshan 7-2-23-2
Firth 12-0-67-1
Wincer 10.5-0-60-1
Cunningham 6-0-53-0
Gailey 4-0-34-0
recording their best win of the season when they defeated league leaders Wallasey by 64 runs at Rosclare Drive.
Dave Aston’s composed 51 and Sam Holliday’s slightly more aggressive 61 allowed Tom Baybutt’s team to post 184 all out in 42.1 overs and the skipper then took over with his off-spin, taking six for 36 as the home side were dismissed for 120.
Meanwhile, the third team’s march to glory continues. On Sunday David Salt’s mighty army travelled to Newton-leWillows where 60s from Callum Scott, Tom Crew and Ian Sutcliffe were the leading contributions to their 243 for seven declared.
The home side managed only 60 in reply, Tom Crew taking three early wickets for 29 runs before Louis Colaco sealed the win with three for 6.
ORMSKIRK are making up ground on the chasing pack – they too pulled off an impressive run chase, hunting down 233 to earn a two-wicket win over Formby.
The first half of the game belonged to the visitors’ Calum Turner, whose 136 was 112 runs more than anyone else managed and came at a decent lick, off just 152 balls.
It allowed James Seward to declare at 55 overs, batting points in the bag – when the hosts drooped from 86/1 to 129/5, it seemed like more could be in store.
“We bowled a little bit too full to Turner and let him get going,” said Ormskirk skipper Gary Knight. “By the time we’d dragged it back, he was into his 60s – I thought we gave him an extra 20-30 runs, which I wasn’t best pleased with.
“But I thought the declaration was well within our reach, if one or two of our top order batted well.”
Harvey Rankin and George Politis added 79 for the sixth wicket then, when Rankin fell for 73, the tail had enough to inch over the line.
Knight added: “It was really nice to see young lads have that power early in their career, against experienced players who thought they were on top.
“I said after the game, the teams we’ve had in the past when we’ve won the league, we’ve not been chasing 230 regularly against teams like that. So we can take loads from it.”
There was more to cheer for Knight on Sunday, when his side overcame Northern to reach the quarter-finals of the ECB National Club Championship.
Liam Grey’s 69 got the Crosby side off to a strong start, but Scott Lees and Harvey Rankin hauled them back, and their eventual total of 186 was under par. In a response marred by a sickening injury to Grey while bowling – Knight was quick to wish him a speedy recovery – Alex Rankin’s 61 broke the back of the target, with victory achieved with six wickets and 11 balls to spare.
Up next is a home tie against South Northumberland.
Back in the league, second placed Rainhill saw off bottom side Sefton Park with four wickets to spare, after seamers Jack Lowrie and Liam O’Toole took four wickets each to dismiss the visitors for 144.
Firwood Bootle’s difficult season continued at the hands of Wallasey and Sumit Ruikar. The Indian left-armer took 6/20 to roll the 2019 champions for just 81 on their own patch; the chase was completed by early afternoon, with seven wickets to spare.
New Brighton’s David While took 5/24 to run through Leigh’s tail and leave his side a relatively straightforward chase of 113; skipper Matty Thompson’s unbeaten 75 ensured it was achieved with nine wickets to spare. The big winners at the bottom of the table were Orrell Red Triangle, who caught up with a Covid cancellation and made it a two-win weekend to haul themselves out of danger. Duvindu Tillakaratne was their match-winner on both occasions – first, his 7/24 kept Wigan well short of the target of 208 set by Sam Heeley’s 61; the next day, he took 8/42 to dismiss New Brighton for 90.
Heeley had again starred with the bat with an unbeaten 68 out of 202/9; Ashraf Nawab took 6/67 for the Rakers.