Staffs can’t Bank on having Liam available again

UNICORNS

LIAM Banks admits he would welcome the opportunity to play for Staffordshire again with open arms, after helping guide the county to victory in the Unicorns Trophy quarterfinal against Norfolk.

The Warwickshire second XI batsman steadied the ship with Alex Mellor, putting on a 46run partnership to help reach the visitors’ target of 119.

Staffs will now face Berkshire for a place in the Unicorns Trophy final and Banks reveals he was surprised to receive the call up.

“It was a brilliant experience, I’ve played a limited amount for Staffordshire before but I really enjoyed it,” said the 18-year-old.

“It’s nice to have a good catch up with the lads. I was quite shocked to get the call-up – I thought it had almost gone out the window after playing second team.

“So it was a bit of a surprise to get that chance, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and I’m thankful that I got an opportunity. Hopefully I benefitted the team as well.

“I would be lying if I said there wasn’t a bit of nerves before we went out, but they were good nerves that they wanted you to do well.”

The young batsman, who was playing for Staffs for the first time in three years, believes it was a learning curve to play knockout cricket and admits he would jump at the chance to represent Staffs once more.

He said:“I’d love to play again, going back into it and getting a taste of what it’s all about gives you that little bit of hunger to play again.

“But if not, I’m more than happy to wish the lads all the best and with the strength that we’ve got they have enough to get them through.

“They are just a brilliant bunch of lads with a ridiculous amount of talent between them. It is a great environment that everybody trusts everybody to do what they do. It has a making of a brilliant team.”

Elsewhere in the Unicorns Trophy, Berkshire got the better of Suffolk, as a tremendous century from Richard Morris saw them cruise to a 65-run victory.

Hertfordshire booked their place in the semi-finals after chasing down Cheshire’s 273. A 119-run partnership from Tanveer Sikandar and Reece Hussain made sure of the fivewicket triumph.

They will face Lincolnshire in the last four after Louis Kimber’s knock of 77 helped the league leaders defeat Devon by five wickets.