Game of the Weekend
Wallasey’s KJM Oval was bathed in glorious sunshine all day – but for the home side, the dark clouds started to gather as soon as Ian Cockbain passed 20. There can be few more pleasing sights in the Love Lane Liverpool Competition than the Formby skipper in full flight – unless, that is, it’s your job to stop him.
On a placid pitch on Saturday, he made a target of 148 look like a walk in the park with a serene unbeaten 80. The bowlers gave it their best, but their best disappeared to all corners in a flurry of drives, cuts and sweeps. He even found time to coach his protege, 17-year-old Lucas Kennedy, between balls in an unbroken stand of 145 that almost matched Wallasey’s whole total.
By the time Kennedy lofted Aussie slow left-armer Ejaaz Alavi over long-on for his fourth six to bring up his own half-century and seal a nine-wicket win, most of the spectators were disappointed that the show had to stop. Cockbain’s innings included 12 boundaries, but only once he’d played himself in – after leading his side to their first league win of the season, he stressed how important that was to both himself and Kennedy.
“We speak a lot as a team about the importance of partnerships,” he said. “We focus on getting to 20, 30, 40 and then being ruthless once you have got the opposition under the pump and not letting them have a sniff.“Lucas played beautifully, especially against the left-arm spin. “He was nice and calm and patient – he’s just as guilty as the rest of us sometimes of trying to push the button too quickly. But he took his time, and played nice and straight. “I think we’ve been bowling nicely but letting ourselves down with the bat, losing wickets in clumps. “Hopefully if we can rectify that then we can start putting a few performances together.”
Wallasey, by contrast, never got going with the bat, losing key wickets whenever they looked like getting settled. Seamer Junaid Farooq and teenage off-spinner Archie Davies claimed four wickets each. The most pleasing to the bowler would have been Farooq’s jaffer to clip Andrew Ward’s off-stump, whereas Cockbain would have pointed to the clever off-side trap that snared Evan Withe off Davies.Alavi was left with the tail, and probably left it too late to open his box of tricks, producing a couple of reverse sweeps and a ramp before running out number 11 Matty Keogh and stranding himself on 30.
Home skipper Greg Beaver was in no doubt where the game was lost. “We struggled to put a total on,” he said. “I’ve got no qualms with the bowling or fielding, but it was a step too far against a very good batting line-up.“It’s something we need to look at and improve because we can’t put up the totals we have so far or we’re in for a long season.”
The side is taking a different direction in the absence of Sumit Ruikar, and Beaver is confident that once Alavi and all-rounder Seb Botes bed in, results will improve.He said: “Ejaaz is a really good addition, and Seb is a really talented young cricketer. “I am still optimistic, it’s early in the season and anything can happen. “We had a pretty ropey start last year and turned it round, and I’m confident of the quality we’ve got in the team. “It’s just about applying ourselves a lot better than we have done.”
ECB Premier Division
Leigh made it three wins from three as they inflicted Northern’s first defeat of the season.
Nottinghamshire opener Ben Martindale led the way with 94 – only Adam Shallcross joined him in double figures as Tom Sephton’s 6/33 kept the visitors to 153. But last year’s runners-up stumbled to 14/3 and never truly recovered, Shallcross finishing with four wickets.
Champions Ormskirk also have a 100% record after their nine-wicket thumping of winless Rainhill. Toby Bulcock claimed 7/54 to limit the visitors to 160 despite Ryan Brown’s 58; George Politis’s unbeaten 90 and Calum Turner’s 67 made short work of the chase.
Rainford skipper John Dotters starred with bat and ball in their 28-run win over Newton-le-Willows. He made an unbeaten 64, alongside Jason Login’s 67, out of 233/7, then took 6/48 as Chris Schofield’s top score of 59 proved in vain.
Wigan’s last pair of Bradley Barrow and Nathan Barnes frustrated Firwood Bootle, who had to settle for a draw after piling on 243/7. Ivan Kriek made 96 and Sagar Trivedi 73 in the visitors’ innings; Trivedi then took 5/51, but Barrow’s 51* saved the day.
Colwyn Bay also hung on nine down, after Birkenhead Park also made 243/7. Park’s innings was dominated by Mark Rowland’s breezy 85; Dan Russell made a half-century for Bay and Safi Abdullah took 5/82, before Charlie Collins and Dulanjala Mendis closed the game out.
Division One
Liverpool kept up their perfect start by the barest of margins, edging past Orrell Red Triangle’s 168 with one wicket to spare.
Rob Rankin top-scored with 57 in the chase, which looked comfortable at 137/5.
Rivals Sefton Park are also three from three thanks to a more comfortable win over New Brighton, who are without a win since relegation. England disability star Chris Edwards, newly arrived from Caldy, took 5/30 while Matthew Young made 72 out of Sefton’s 196; 5/49 from Jimmy Dixon kept the Rakers at arm’s length.
Southport & Birkdale join the South Liverpool rivals on three wins, after spinner Muhammad Kashif took 6/14 in their 101-run win over Hightown St Marys. Skipper Dean Skelton top scored for the Sandgrounders with 58.
Maghull’s Nick Ritchie made 127 and Jonathan Ring 80, in an opening stand of 179 that set up a 73-run win over Old Xaverians. Tom Fowles’ 50 helped Xavs make a game of it but the target was always a long way off.
Highfield also piled on the runs, Madduma Lakmal making an unbeaten 88 out of 250/6 against Lytham in a 141-run win.
Sutton continue to impress after promotion, inflicting Spring View’s first defeat thanks largely to skipper Joe Noctor’s 86, out of a total of 160 that proved just too much.
Division Two
Caldy got the better of Fleetwood Hesketh in the clash of two unbeaten teams.
Sadeep Saputantrige made 55 in the Wirral side’s 189; he then took 5/29 to stop the chase before it had started. Jonny Howard made 30 from number 11 to take Fleetwood’s score from 58/9 to 104/9, but became the last victim in Rohan Sanjaya’s 5/48.
Ainsdale fought off a spirited St Helens Town to earn their third win, getting home by three wickets. Town’s top four all made ducks as they slipped to 1/4 from 2.2 overs (the one run was a wide); from there, a total of 142, with Dave Gaskell making 58, was quite a recovery; Dilanka Auwardt took 6/62 for Ainsdale.
Two batters who were in the Premier Division last year took centre stage at Northop Hall, where former Northern man Jac Kennedy made an unbeaten 124 to lead a chase of 235 for an eight-wicket win. Owen Skillander finished on 68; earlier, ex-Rainford batter Harsh Shonak made 96 for P&O, alongside Hedley Molyneux’s 57, as Paul Jenkins claimed 7/72.
Callam Hughes and Ryan Wood each made 65 for Norley Hall, but Wavertree held on for the draw thanks largely to Chris Heath’s 58.
Naveed Salah’s unbeaten 75 was the difference as Parkfield Liscard chased 136 to beat Whitefield by three wickets – Indrajith Halpage made 56 for the visitors.
Southport Trinity overhauled Prestatyn’s 201 for the loss of just one wicket.
Sunday: ECB National Club Championship
He’s achieved plenty in the meantime – still, given the standards he’s set himself, it was probably eating at Tyler McGladdery that he hadn’t made a century since September 2023.
Now that itch has been scratched, and Northern have a place in the next round of the National KO after McGladdery’s 121 eased them through a tricky chase of 243 against Longridge.Visiting opener Taariq Chiecktey made the same score, in an opening stand of 200 that lasted into the 31st out of 40 overs. But Josh Thompson claimed 3/33 as Northern put the squeeze on at the death, and McGladdery’s twin partnerships of 110 with Stephen Lucas and Louis Bhabra set up a clash with Prestwich for a place in the group 6 final.
Formby are also in with a shout after their second win over Wallasey in as many days. This one was set up by Tom Billington’s 137, with Ollie Sutton contributing 87 to an imposing total of 284/5. Seb Botes finished unbeaten on 97 in reply, but nobody else came along for the ride, and Formby will host Westhoughton in the group semi.
In group 5, Ormskirk benefited from Flowery Fields conceding – but the other Comp clubs were defeated. Leyland will be the Comp champions’ opponents after they held Wigan at bay, winning by 18 runs; Mattie McKiernan’s 68 helped Leigh get within nine runs of Blackpool’s 254/6, but no closer.
