Eagles soaring high about title challenge
WALLASEY skipper Alex Eagles is geared up for a title challenge in the Love Lane Liverpool Competition after a ruthlessly efficient team performance disposed of Sefton Park by 151 runs.
Everything went to plan for the second placed side, despite a few scares provided by the showers that swirled around Croxteth Drive all day – in truth, save for a 20-minute period in which Raheem Kasser took four wickets, the rain was much more of a threat to Wallasey’s victory than the hosts were.
Bowling first might have produced a quicker victory – but with more bonus points on offer for sides who choose to bat, Eagles’ first call of the day was made with the bigger picture in mind.
“I was a bit dubious after winning the toss and batting and seeing the forecast change a bit, but the umpires were very good in terms of making sure we played,” Eagles said.
“In order to catch Northern, we might need to look at 25 points every game now – the weather could have changed that, but we decided to bat and it proved to be a good decision in the end.”
Showers delayed the start by 20 minutes but Jamie Crawley made up for lost time. Reprieved twice in his innings of 47 by noballs, he smacked three sixes that had spectators and their dogs running for cover, and alongside Danny Beaver advanced the opening stand to 82 in no time at all.
But his dismissal, courtesy of Kasser’s pleasing willingness to toss the ball up, opened up an end – after castling Crawley, the leg-spinner persuaded Chris Davies to chop on, drew Beaver out of his ground then found Greg Beaver’s inside edge. The visitors were 89/4 and in danger of subsiding.
Had Kasser clung on to a sharp return chance offered by Sumit Ruikar 10 runs later, things might have been very different – as it was, Ruikar and Eagles were able to rebuild the innings with a stand of 90.
Kasser claimed a hard-earned five-for when Eagles played on, but some glorious strokes from Ruikar and some uncomplicated biffing from Andrew Ward made sure the batting points were in the bag by tea as Wallasey declared on 220/5.
Ruikar finished unbeaten on 56; his main job was still to come. Finding prodigious bounce and unerring accuracy, he reduced the home batters’ options to two – defend well, or get out.
Rob Supria managed to unfurl a few shots, but once he’d perished to a flying return catch by the Indian left-armer, the die was cast.
One of Southport’s most hard-working and devoted servants was honoured recently when the inaugural Paul Butler Award was presented to Henry Eccles, a young cricketer who embodies the virtues that the trophy seeks to applaud.
Paul Butler was chairman of Southport and Birkdale Sports Club and also captained the second team. He was also a long-serving player and one of S&B’s most tireless servants. However, he insisted that nothing was possible, either in life or on the sports field, without effort, attitude and ability.
Following Paul’s death in 2019 his son, Jamie, donated an award to the club that honours those three qualities and Henry Eccles, its first recipient, recently received his trophy. It comes with other benefits but seeks, above all, to perpetuate the values in which Paul Butler believed and by which he lived his life.
The visitors’ excellence in the field was typified by Jack Leckey’s leg-side stumping to remove Ben Percival as Chris Bourne put his awkward, nibbly seamers to good use, and by Eagles’ direct hit to remove Scott Aitchison (“I just threw it as hard as I could,” he said).
In between, the left-handed Huzaifa Zubair seemed most capable of playing Ruikar, getting well forward to cover the bounce – but the ECB Premier Division’s leading wicket taker pulled his length back and got one to spit at Zubair’s gloves, allowing Greg Beaver to cling on low at short leg.
Ruikar and Bourne finished with four wickets each as the end came quickly – with the rain ruining many of the other fixtures, it was a big win for Wallasey in more ways than one.
Northern’s washout at Wigan means Wallasey are now within 25 points of the leaders. There was time for James Cole’s side to run through the hosts for 96, but the rain prevented them from taking a tilt at victory.
Ormskirk captain Gary Knight hit his second century of the season, finishing unbeaten on 103 from 65 balls, with 12 fours and five sixes, as his side chased 153 to win by nine wickets at Rainhill.
Firwood Bootle’s season shows no sign of improvement after their double-header with Orrell Red Triangle yielded just nine points, edging them out of the relegation zone but no closer to where they want to be.
Saturday’s game was rained off after Orrell’s Andrew Baybutt scored 104 and Tom Jones 60 in their total of 209/6; there was no time for the visitors to reply.
Sunday’s clash at Wadham Road saw more runs for Baybutt – 58 of them – to set up a declaration on 182/9; Duvindu Tillakaratne’s 5/41 ensured the hosts’ reply never got going, and they fell for 99.