Highfield fate sealed by Ormskirk
ORRELL Red Triangle secured promotion with a 60-run win over Newton-le-Willows.
Their total of 209/7 was underpinned by a partnership of 101 between Richard Everett (63) and Sam Heeley (62); in reply, Newton’s top order collapsed and despite Mark de Brabander’s 54, Orrell made it comfortably over the line to join Southport & Birkdale in next season’s Premier Division.
Liverpool, on the other hand, look like exiting Division One in the other direction after Wavertree held them to a draw at Aigburth. Henry Charlton’s 69 helped the hosts declare on 223/6, but their local rivals showed little desire to chase the target, and crawled to 93/7 off 55 overs.
The result leaves Liverpool in urgent need of wins, and favours from other sides, in their remaining games. The same can be said for Burscough, who gave themselves hope with a 43-run win over Prestatyn – Jon Stone hit 61 in 39 balls to fire the West Lancs side to 191, before Ryan Hughes took 5/51 to seal the victory.
Greg Harvey and Neil Durand each hit fifties in Sefton Park’s 232/7 against Birkenhead Park, but despite some early breakthroughs the visiting bowlers were frustrated, Jack Dixon hitting 51 as the hosts finished on 172/8.
And the closest game of the day was at Wigan, where Fleetwood Hesketh crept over the line by one wicket. Captain Andrew Watts was ninth out for 74, with his side three short of the hosts’ 173, but the last wicket pair of Ryan Thomas and Daniel Murphy just had enough in the tank.
Earlier, Gavin Dickenson and Bobby Wincer had each taken five wickets for Hesketh.
EVERYTHING could have been wrapped up in the Liverpool Gin Liverpool Competition ECB Premier Division on Saturday – instead, the only issue resolved was Highfield’s relegation, confirmed with a 143-run hammering at the hands of Ormskirk.
That result – set up by Alex Rankin’s 86 and John Armstrong’s 67 in an opening stand of 160, out of 236/3 – keeps Ormskirk’s title defence alive, on paper at least.
But skipper Nicky Caunce accepts it’s a matter of when, not if, Northern claim the title.
He said: “Anything can happen in cricket. But it’s really about finishing the season strongly, and heading into the winter on a high.
“You just have to try to win as many games as you can, and you never know.”
Caunce reckons his side’s defeat to Formby in July was where it all started to unravel. “We had them 99/8 chasing 135 on a difficult wicket,” he said. “Formby knocked them off with numbers 9 and 10.
“If we’d won that, we could have had another 18 points, so we wouldn’t have had to be chasing 25 points in other games. But it’s our own fault for being in that situation.”
Instead of the win they needed to claim the title at home, Northern were held to a draw by Lytham.
Liam Gray hit 101 and Chris Laker 72 before the leaders declared on 236/8. Tom Sephton twirled away unchanged for 29 overs and looked like he would prove to be the matchwinner once again at 80/7 – before Ben Saunders (86) and Matthew Taaffe (47) put on 106 for the eighth wicket.
Both fell to Sephton, who finished with 7/110, before the last wicket pair of Anthony Mulligan and Jack Saunders put on 23. The innings closed agonisingly close to all possible results, on 232/9.
But it still wasn’t the game of the day – that honour goes to the division’s first tie of 2018, between New Brighton and Colwyn Bay.
The 15 points apiece will do neither side any harm in their battle to insure themselves against relegation. At 152/2 – with fifties for George Johansen and Dineth Hewathanthree – the Welshmen were eyeing a sizeable total, but Ashraf Nawab’s 5/33 restricted them to 188.
That looked like it would be enough at 130/8 in reply, before Ashley Watkins and Tom Horrocks put on 57 for the ninth wicket. Even then, there was time for more drama, as Paul Jenkins bowled Nawab for a duck. Jenkins finished with 5/58; Adam Campion with 5/67.
The tie won’t have gone down well at Rainford, who really needed one of their relegation rivals to slip up. They did their bit, skittling Rainhill for 67, then knocking off the runs for a nine-wicket, 25-point win.
Elsewhere, Bootle held on to earn a draw with Formby. Both sides had held title ambitions earlier in the season but will have to settle for third and fourth at best – Saturday’s game saw last-wicket pair Bharat Tripathi and Chris Liptrot defy Formby’s bowlers to close on 190/9, after the visitors had posted 218/9.
Leigh’s game with Wallasey also ended in stalemate.
The hosts racked up 234/8 thanks to Adam Shallcross’s 75 and Thomas Foster’s 50, while Christopher Bourne took 6/79, but the men from Wirral batted time to finish on 179/6.