Now Fylde away with all the other wins in title tilt
NOTHING seems likely to stop Ormskirk carrying off their first Liverpool Gin Liverpool & District Cricket Competition Premier Division title since 2014.
Matt Glayzer’s side faced a Lytham team containing both Toby Lester and the Lancashire skipper, Steven Croft, at Church Road but still emerged victorious by 103 runs.
John Armstrong made 54 in his side’s 204-9 declared in 53 overs and then Josh Bohannon included the wicket of Croft in his 5-31 as the Fylde side were dismissed for 101 in 36.4 overs.
On a day dominated by spinners of various vintages, Southport & Birkdale skipper Chris Firth was toasting his team’s first Premier League victory of the season on Saturday evening after his own 7-15 had skittled out an under-strength Leigh side for 86 at Trafalgar Road.
The visitors lost their last six wickets for just four runs to lose by 130 but the first innings of the game was memorable in itself for 14-year-old Leigh spinner Nathan Graham, who marked a fine first-team debut by taking 4-28 off 7.4 overs.
However, Chris Brownlow’s 56 and Bradley Yates’s 49 enabled S&B to post 216 in 53.4 overs and that proved more than enough to secure the win which took S&B above their local rivals Ainsdale at the bottom.
The victory also left Firth’s team 21 points behind 10th-placed Formby, who lost to Firwood Bootle by nine wickets in the shortest game of the day.
Asked to bat first, the Cricket Path side were bundled out for just 49 in 22.1 overs, Luke Procter taking 6-22 and Chris Liptrot 4-25. Danny Davies and Michael Farrell knocked off those runs in 12.2 overs to complete their side’s win and also set up Formby’s home game against S&B this Saturday afternoon.
Monty Panesar’s debut for Wallasey inspired Rainhill’s left-arm spinner Akshay Darekar to take a season’s best 8-17 in his side five-wicket victory at Rosclare Drive.
Somewhat bizarrely, Panesar’s 15 runs with the bat in his side’s 74 all out was also the highest score of the game but the ex-England spinner’s 4-28 was not enough to prevent Rainhill sealing their win.
New Brighton head a distantly chasing pack of five clubs covered by 16 points but the Rake Lane side’s eight-wicket defeat of Ainsdale still left them 77 points behind Ormskirk with seven games left to play.
Faiz Fazal’s 68 helped the home side to a determined 205 all out in 65.5 overs but Andy Clarke’s 6-55 was merely the first half of a superb performance by the New Brighton allrounder.
Clarke made 93 and put on 179 for the second wicket with Mark Rowland, who contributed 68 not out, as the Wirral team chased down their target in 28.4 overs.
There was also joy for the Colwyn Bay spinners at Moor Park where Paul Jenkins’s 4-46 and Adam Campion’s 3-45 set up their team’s eight-wicket victory over Northern.
Chris Laker’s 60 was the major contribution to his side’s 168-9 declared in 55 overs but George Johansen’s 55 and Zak Gidlow’s 62 not out exposed the limitations of that mark.