Trinity in driving seat for first title

JUDGEMENT day came for Southport Trinity 2nd XI last Saturday as league leaders Fleetwood Hesketh made the short trip from Fylde Road to play in what could conceivably be considered a title decider.

Will Marsh and Fred Thorpe received call ups to the 1st team, and Shehan Banda was unavailable, but the lure of the Southport Food Festival wasn’t enough to stop Trinity naming a strong side, Scott Francis, Alex Smyth and Tom Campbell coming back in.

The coin toss was largely academic, as it was clear with the 19-point difference that the home side would likely be batting first. Phil Jones won the toss and Scott Francis and Oli Butler opened up.

They were going along nicely before wily spinner Bhautik Shukla came on to bowl. Summoning up a ball he’d last delivered in

June 1992, he got one to straighten, hitting Butler in front, to claim the 1312th wicket of his career. 1313 would soon follow as Partington departed cheaply, again LBW to Shukla.

To the crease strode Olly McKeown, and between Francis and McKeown, the runs started to flow quickly.

The away attack, seriously weakened by injury to captain Paul Mullen which prevented him from bowling, struggled to peg the Trinity batters back, and the score moved past 100, before Martin Sarbutts tempted Francis out of his crease, and keeper Sykes did the rest with the stumping, the batsman departing for 44.

Captain Jones was next in, and him and McKeown ramped the scoring up even more. McKeown going past 50 with another boundary. The question was when Trinity would look to declare. The answer came at the end of the 38th over, one which had seen McKeown launch a massive six over mid-on, and where Trinity had reached 183/3, securing maximum batting points. McKeown and Jones ended up unbeaten on 71 and 38 respectively. Credit to Phil Jones for making such a bold declaration.

Fleetwood were therefore set 184 to win on a good pitch and lightning fast outfield, and had around 60 overs to get the runs.

Trinity needed to take ten wickets to keep their league title dreams alive.

Fleetwood went out to bat for 25 minutes before tea was taken, and the tone was set, as Mike Roberti bowled Christy Byrne in his first over, while Irshad Desai and Adrian Halsall looked to score quickly, hitting some nice boundaries, before tea was called with the score 28/1. It was clear that the game was not going to meander to a bore draw.

After tea, Desai carried on in the same vein, reaching 26 before being caught smartly by Butler at point off the bowling of Francis. Akhil Binu came in and showed solid defensive qualities but Halsall was eventually dismissed for 24 after a good catch by Tom Campbell at mid-off.

This brought Derek Sykes to the crease, and he crafted two good partnerships, with Binu and Sarbutts. A fiery Olly McKeown spell culminated in Binu lifting a simple chance to Joey Damen at cover. With 25 overs to play, the game was finely poised at 110/4, with Sykes and Sarbutts at the crease. Roberti continued to tie up one end and got his reward when the slip cordon finally decided to cling onto a catch, Phil Jones taking a very good one to dismiss Sykes for 33, and when Sarbutts went LBW to Roberti soon after, Fleetwood were teetering on the brink.

Paul Mullen marshalled the lower order and plundered the occasional boundary, but the dismissal of Shukla left Trinity one wicket away from victory.

Step forward Manny Ranat, ex-Southport Trinity middle order batsman, a late call-up for Fleetwood, still nursing the after-effects of a fractured ankle.

He kept the Trinity attack at bay and Mullen moved Fleetwood to within 42 of an unlikely victory.

Then came the moment of truth, Mullen caught hold of a Roberti delivery, it went high, and long towards the packed seating area. The question was whether the ball would make it for six. A very good fielder, Phil Jones, was under it.

The bumper home crowd held its collective breath, and Jones promptly snaffled the game-winning catch.

Joy turned to despair though as it became clear he had stepped over the boundary in the process. Six runs to Fleetwood.

All was forgotten a few balls later though as Mullen aimed another huge swipe at Roberti.

The old adage of ‘you miss, I’ll hit’ came true as the timbers were rattled, and Trinity had won the game, Mike Roberti ending up with 5/68 from 21.2 overs.

A 21-point swing meant that there were new league leaders, just two weeks before the end of the season.

Although there is scope for more twists and turns, Trinity will be hoping that this result means they will be able to claim the club’s first ever Liverpool Competition league title.

Credit where it is due to Fleetwood Hesketh, who came and played the game in the right way, and attempted to knock the runs off rather than shut up shop from ball one, as other clubs in a similar position might have done.

We look forward to seeing them in Division One next year.