2nd XI Premier April Round up (updated for Week 3)
Date: 21st April 2023
Now two teams on 100%
2nd XI Premier Division Round up – Week 3 (29 April 2023)
Southport & Birkdale and Northern continued on their winning ways, making it three wins out of three to head up the fledgling table.
Matthew Hennessy with his best figures of 5 for 16 helped demolish Newton Le Willows' middle and lower order after the home side had reached 68 for 2 in pursuit of Southport's declaration of 201. Together with Halsall's 4 for 17, they took Newton's remaining eight wickets for 16 with Barton scoring 31. Holliday the top scorer for the victors with 48, with four other batters reaching or passing 20. Three wickets for Qasim. A similar batting performance for Northern with Howat's 42 from number nine, coming in with the total at 100 for 7, enabled his side to reach a respectable 170. Snaylam's 29 the next best. Wickets shared around with Hughes claiming three. In reply, Wallasey had reached 60 for three before a flurry of wickets left them all out for 99. Williams with 32 before Thompson with four wickets wrapping up the tail.
Ormskirk inflicted Formby's first defeat in rather empathic manner. Six batsmen into double figures led by 36 from both Cheung and Farrell, who contributed to an unbroken 69 run stand for the ninth wicket with Naidoo, as the side passed 200. Three wickets each for overseas player Ritchie (on debut) and Powell. Formby lost regular wickets in reply as Martyn Farrell claiming his 36th five wicket haul with his 6 for 15 (his third best return). Formby losing their last seven wickets for the addition of 29 runs. Rainford made it successive victories in dismissing Lytham cheaply. Will Curran registering his maiden five wicket return in style with 5 for 8. Young Legge with 23 top scoring. Mistry with an unbeaten 30 in the relatively untroubled chase for the victors.
Birkenhead Park recorded their first victory of the campaign with a six wicket win over Sefton Park. Sam Beadsworth with his best score for the club, unbeaten on 79 assisted by 31 each from Reid and Jones. Jeremy Roger's maiden fifty (57) was the highlight of the visitors innings and there was an unbroken 52 run partnership for the tenth wicket between Aitchison (A) and Gamage raising hopes of reaching a defendable target. Rain intervened at the interval at Leigh with Colwyn Bay's reaching 190 with six batters passing 20 led by Pitman 37 with Leigh unable to resume.
2nd XI Premier Division Round up – Week 2 (22 April 2023)
An improvement in the weather allowed a full round of games to take place. Formby recorded a second successive win for the season as they chased down Lytham's total of 180. Leading their charge was George Evans, who reached his highest total of 89 at this level and he was well supported by Oliver Gallagher (36*) and Tom Mills (23). 15 yo Archie Legge also recorded his best ever score (55) for Lytham, aided by Nixon 42 also a best for their 2nd XI. Eastwood with 4 for 16 and Ethan Mills 3 wickets blunted the Lytham innings.
Two other teams also made it two wins from two - Southport & Birkdale, in restricting Birkenhead Park to 119, with a six wicket victory. Alex Halsall leading the way with 5 for 36 which was his first five wicket haul at senior level. Evans with a lower order 42 helped Park to recover from 61 for 6 after Dixon made 29. Charlie Craney made an unbeaten 54 and Holliday's 43 after Park had taken three early wickets. Evans also chipped in with 3 wickets. A similar story at Northern, with 50 from Liam Biddlestone and 45 from 12 year old Shivy Gautam and 46 from Liebenberg, allowed the home side to over come Newton's 157. Adam Yates with 54 but with five batters reaching double figures but not passing 22, the visitors must have been looking to set a more challenging target. Vis, with four wickets, the most successful of the bowlers.
Rainford returned from Colwyn Bay with the win points in a close run game and a career best 8 for 33 for Iain Feeney. limiting the Welshmen to 120. Harrison's unbeaten 35 proved crucial in seeing his side home by just one wicket after they had lost two quick wickets with just a handful of runs required. Three wickets each for Jones and Clarke. Colwyn Bay had a good opening partnership of 44 with Davies then reaching 48 before Feeney's introduction. Sefton Park recorded their first win after their opening day wash out. Scott Aitchison with 66 supported by an unbeaten 50 partnership between Ostler 38 and Rafi 35 enabled the home side to pass 200. Four wickets for Kasey Bentham. Four of the Leigh batters passed 20 with Bailey leading the way with 36 but a flurry of wickets falling to leave them 108 for 7 when looking well set, turned the game. Three wickets each for the younger Spilsbury and Rafi.
The only drawn game was between the two division's heavyweights. Responding to being inserted, Ormskirk reached 193 before declaring with Joshua Thompson 60 and Nikhil Rao (55) in the runs. Nathan Beaver with 5 for 59 was his twelfth 5 wicket haul. Wallasey, having been 71 for one, lost seven wickets in adding 42 runs, including top scorer Williams 45 before settling for a draw. Three wickets each for Thompson and Farrell.
2nd XI Premier Division Round up – Week 1 (15 April 2023)
The season got off to a damp start after a wet March and April with the groundsmen deserving special mention for actually getting some cricket played on the opening day.
Reigning Champions Formby travelled to the 2021 champions Wallasey in what could have been testing opener. The home side won the toss and batted but lost regular wickets and only Richard Sutton with 48 passed 21 as the lower order added valuable runs before closing on 132. There were three wickets for Kenyon and Ethan Mills. The Formby batsmen themselves struggled apart from Andy Halpin, whose unbeaten 50 laid the foundation for a 5 wicket victory. Oliver Sutton taking three of the wickets.
Last year's runners up Colwyn Bay travelled the length of the geographical spread of the Comp and left Lytham victorious with Dan Russell claiming the first century of the campaign (100 not out) as he shared a unbroken 166 run partnership with opener Shaun Davies (53 not out) in making light of what seem a challenging home score of 173. The Lytham top order all made contributions led by Dunn (37) and Legge 34no. Shay Williams' introduction into the attack paid off as he returned his best figures of 5 for 7. Three wickets for Matt Russell.
The division's other winners also returned successfully from road trips. Promoted Leigh's 103 (Hibbert 32) was not enough to challenge Southport & Birkdale, whose overseas amateur Kyle Martin took 5 for 39 (and a valuable run out of Hibbert) on debut. Three wickets for Tod. Captain Halsall with 37 not out, aided by four batsmen passing 10 despite Graham's three wickets. Northern were dismissed for 109 with no batter scoring more than 24 as Louie Evans carried on from a successful 2022 with 5 for 48. Birkenhead Park then found batting was no easier as they were dismissed for 53 as Kieron Vis with 5 for 15 and Thompson 3 for 20 proved too difficult to handle.
The games at Newton le Willows and newly promoted Rainford were unable to start due the ground conditions.
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