Start to S&B season offers morale boost
SOME of the best days a captain enjoys on a cricket field are when he appears to be leading one player rather than 11; when the cricketers in his charge perform in such a unified fashion that they become an embodiment of team spirit.
Imagine, then, David Snellgrove’s feelings on Saturday afternoon when long-off Angus Gailey grabbed an outstanding catch to remove Birkenhead Park’s Michael Barnes off the bowling of Bobby Wincer and within seconds, all of Gailey’s colleagues surrounded him in their enthusiasm to share the moment.
Or, even better, consider Snellgrove’s feelings as he allowed Wincer to lead the team off the field after taking seven for 52 and S&B’s skipper savoured the fact that his seriously under-strength line-up had just beaten newly promoted Park by 46 runs.
Yes, it was a lively start to the cricket season at Trafalgar Road.
Let us put aside for now the fact that a scratch side was unambiguously hammered by Furness in the first round of the ECB National Knockout on Sunday.
In a season already blighted by injury, illness, unavailability and bad weather, it is by the first team’s results that they will be judged.
So let us instead enjoy the fact that S&B’s other senior sides, which were also under new leadership, enjoyed fine games at the outset of their league campaigns.
And let us also relish the fact that S&B actually played four senior matches over the weekend, something that other Competition clubs, more seriously affected by this spring’s heavy rain, failed to achieve.
And when we’ve done all that, we can return to Trafalgar Road on Saturday and enjoy the sight of Chris Firth, pressed into service as an opener, making a fine half-century and helping Jack Stanley put on 92 for the first wicket after S&B had been asked to bat first.
Stanley offered signs of his continuing development by also making a fifty and even though his stand with Firth was followed by a collapse – nine batsmen were dismissed for 80 runs – each partnership managed to add something to the total, so that Tom Crew and Jamie Brown’s lastwicket stand of 22 left Snellgrove with a total on which he could declare after 60 overs.
For a while, it appeared that Park might overhaul that target in some comfort. But once Mark Rowland had been bowled by the excellent Firth for 53, the spinners went to work with a formidable will, no one more so than Wincer whose control of length and line was immaculate.
The visitors lost five prime wickets for 38 runs and it soon became clear that their chances of winning the game were fast diminishing. S&B’s fielding, that vital barometer of any cricket team, was outstanding, enabling Firth and Wincer to maintain the pressure on Park’s lower order.
But as the last 20 overs were ticked off, it seemed that Park might escape with a draw.
Snellgrove rotated the bowlers with little success until, in the penultimate possible over of the match
Wincer bowled Steve Hird for 13 and trapped David Nevin lbw for a second-ball duck.
It barely needs saying that tougher days lie in wait before S&B can select anything like a full-strength team. One such occasion might await S&B when Formby visit Trafalgar Road this Saturday. But for the moment, it would be daft not to enjoy the best opening day to a Liverpool Competition season that home spectators have enjoyed for many years.
S&B’s second team, led for the first time in a competitive match by Dean Skelton, fought out a well-contested draw against Formby at Cricket Path.
Batting first, S&B posted 219 for eight declared in 41.4 overs with Callum Scott, Benish Shukla and Alex Halsall all making useful thirties before the home side responded with 206 for nine, Peter Crew taking four for 57.
Another new skipper, Tom Dixon, enjoyed an even better start to his season in charge of the third team when his side defeated Oxton by 14 runs on Sunday. Justin Labuschagne’s unbeaten 113, which contained 13 fours and five sixes, was the centrepiece of S&B’s 225 for two declared, although the captain contributed 67 not out to an unbroken partnership of 175 for the third wicket.
And after giving everyone else a spell, Dixon did the necessary damage with the ball, taking six for 46 as Oxton were dismissed for 211 to end another fine game of cricket.
Firth c Dixon b Jones .......................................................... 50 Stanley b Nevin .................................................................... 59 Carney c Barnes b Jones ..................................................... 0 Snellgrove lbw Baker ......................................................... 17 Baybutt c Dixon b Baker ..................................................... 5 Walker lbw Nevin ................................................................... 9 Wincer b Rowland ................................................................. 7 Gailey lbw Nevin .................................................................... 5
Hollyman c Beadsworth b Rowland ............................. 4 Crew not out ......................................................................... 11 Brown not out ....................................................................... 14 Extras ........................................................................................ 12 TOTAL (for 9 wkts. decl.) ................................................. 194 FoW: 1-92 2-92 3-123 4-136 5-146 6-157 7-163 8-169 9-172
Baker 12-3-32-2 Harris 9-1-23-0 Nevin 10-1-33-3 Jones 14-1-49-2 Rowland 15-0-50-2
Dixon c&b Wincer .................................................................. 3 Rowland b Firth ................................................................... 53 Barnes c Gailey b Wincer ................................................. 35 Foster b Wincer ....................................................................... 9 Harris lbw Firth ........................................................................ 0 Beadsworth b Wincer .......................................................... 7 Hird b Wincer ........................................................................ 13 Crofton c Gailey b Firth ....................................................... 9 Baker b Wincer ........................................................................ 7 Jones not out ........................................................................... 0 Nevin lbw Wincer ................................................................... 0 Extras ........................................................................................ 12 TOTAL ..................................................................................... 148 FoW: 1-45 2-75 3-90 4-91 5-108 6-113 7-128 8-139 9-148 10-148
Crew 3-0-26-0 Walker 5-0-26-0 Wincer 18.2-4-52-7 Firth 15-2-33-3 Snellgrove 1-1-0-0
ECB Premier Division
Division Two
ECB National Club Championship: Group 5