Northern are the Love Lane Liverpool Competition’s first ever national champions after winning a bowl-out at Derbyshire CC to defeat Oundle Town in the ECB National T20 Cup.
Captain James Cole admitted it wasn’t the way they’d dreamed of winning it – but it was just reward for a season of sustained excellence in the shortest format.
Liam Grey, Tom Sephton, Alex Vincent and Chris Laker each hit the stumps to seal the win at the County Ground’s indoor lanes, after heavy rain made play impossible.
Cole told the Premier League Cricket Club: “To win on a bowl-out isn’t how you want to do it.
“But we’d been through seven or eight rounds to get here – and we’ve been trying for years and years to win a national competition.
“And we have done it now.
“I was nervous, and I wasn’t bowling. We hit four out of 10 but it could quite easily have been six or seven – it was a really high standard of bowl-out.”
Sadly, there was no tiebreaker available in the rearranged Lancashire Cup final at Ormskirk, where the hosts made it to 106/3 from 25.3 overs before the weather took over again.
George Lavelle’s stylish 52* will be lost in time, like tears in rain… but Ormskirk’s name, alongside that of Prestwich, is firmly on the trophy.
Birkenhead Park were circling the drain, and the umpires were about to pull the plug.
In a fittingly soggy end to the season, the hosts were in desperate need of a win over Wallasey to save their Premier Division status, after Southport & Birkdale wrapped up a straightforward win over New Brighton.
Captain Ste Hird knew exactly what was required – a win, any win, and he called his players in on 206/2 from just 35 overs, after Mark Rowland had bludgeoned a fine unbeaten 107.
Had S&B not blown the chance to win at Northern two weeks prior, losing three wickets with the scores level, Park would have needed another 14 runs for maximum bonus points, eating up maybe two overs.
This might have proved decisive. By the time Jack Dixon aquaplaned in from cover to throw down the stumps and dismiss Matty Keogh, “throwing down” was very much the order of the day.
It had been raining steadily, and getting heavier, for about 30 minutes. Andy Ward had almost gone over playing a forward defensive, and Tom Foster had just slipped in his delivery stride.
The umpires had met twice and decided it was safe to stay on, but their patience – and any waterproofing provided by their hats – was wearing thin. There would have been maybe two overs left, or maybe less.
Hird fell short of channelling his inner Andie MacDowell (“Is it still raining? I hadn’t noticed,” he didn’t say) but gave off an appropriate mix of joy and relief as Park’s supporters celebrated.
“You can see what it means to the whole club,” he said.
“We know we’ve underperformed this year, but to secure Premier League cricket is massive for this club.
“That last half hour was bonkers, but Park do weird things like that.
“People write us off, but we play better when we’re like that. And if we need to do something then we usually do.
“We played in a game at Northern when the rain was worse than that, and it’s up to the umpires.
“If they’d said to me it’s too heavy, I’d have been happy to walk off – it’s not up to me to make those decisions.
“I wanted to stay out there and play cricket, and the Wallasey lads never complained.
“We weren’t far away from coming off, but luckily we picked up wickets in clusters.”
Just four overs earlier, Wallasey had been 168/5.
Foster’s occasional left-arm spin made the breakthrough, removing Barrie and Nathan Beaver, then Malinda Pushpakumara confirmed his status as the division’s leading bowler by bowling Lloyd Eastham then having James Ashcroft caught at cover by David Nevin.
Before the last hour, Wallasey had looked the more likely winners as captain Greg Beaver – one of four Beavers in the line-up, with regulars Dan and Andy missing – compiled a patient 76.
But when he became the second of Pushpakumara’s victims to make it 139/3, Park sensed an opening. Wallasey were without several first-teamers – Ward, and number 11 Keogh, were the only players outside their top four to have played more than six league games this season.
It’s exactly the kind of situation which they signed the Sri Lankan Test spinner for, even if they envisaged it being higher up the table.
Hird added: “Most of the other overseas players have gone back, but Malinda’s been a superstar all year.”
He was quick to share his sympathy with S&B, who romped to a nine-wicket win thanks to Jack Stanley’s 51, only to fall into Division One anyway – slowly, then all at once.
Northern and Ormskirk were both in a hurry to get their dead rubber out of the way, with finals to look forward to.
The league champions wrapped up a record-equalling 17th win, coming home by seven wickets after the hosts declared on 20 overs at 132/9.
Matty Aggrey will remember the game for his 7/75 – Tom Hartley, who began the year winning a Test for England, may not look back fondly on the day the regular wicketkeeper, captain Gary Knight, got a bowl before him.
Knight’s opposite number, James Cole, also sent down an over to complete the end-of-season weirdness – both men had their eyes firmly on bigger prizes.
Rainford began the season wondering how they could improve on last year’s fourth place, their highest ever – this year, they finished third thanks to a six-run win at Wigan. Andy Davies took 7/85, while there were half-centuries for Matty Bailey and Jake Leyland.
Formby’s fourth place was their highest since 2018, sealed with a 57-run win over Rainhill. Ryan Brown made 131 before Ian Souness claimed 5/88.Leigh edged their mid-table clash at Newton-le-Willows, whose captain, Chris Chambers, is stepping down. Mattie McKiernan took 5/39 before Karl Brown’s unbeaten 57 saw his side over the line.
Colwyn Bay secured an immediate return to the Premier Division – and grabbed the Division One title into the bargain.
Captain for the day Will Evans top-scored with 96 in their 226/6 against Orrell Red Triangle.
The win was enough to take them top because Firwood Bootle were frustrated by Liverpool, whose 273 lasted 72.2 overs. Jared Clein and Kris Ali made half-centuries in Matty Jackson’s last match as captain; Sagar Trivedi took 5/69 for Bootle, who closed on 69/7 and dropped to second place.Steven Croft made his second successive century for Lytham as they held third-place Highfield to a draw; Sefton Park’s Jimmy Dixon took 6/24 as they finished with a huge win over Old Xaverians; St Helens Town signed off with a win over fellow relegated side Fleetwood Hesketh; and Maghull chased 80 to see off Spring View.
Sutton overhauled Caldy by the barest of margins to seal promotion from Division Two.
Nat Brown was the star with 9/21 to demolish Parkfield Liscard for 46 and ensure the St Helens side’s total of 109 was enough.
Caldy could still have held on to second spot with a win or tie at Alder – but, having posted just 95 then reduced the hosts to 80/9, the last pair shattered their promotion dreams.
Prestatyn were condemned to the bottom spot after Norley Hall clung on for a draw. Rohit Kaimal made 75 in vain for the Welsh side, whose immediate future has yet to be settled.
Having been plunged back into the relegation battle by a points deduction, Whitefield saved themselves with a 37-run win over Wavertree. Muhammed Azeem hit an unbeaten 105 then took 6/46.Southport Trinity’s 46-run defeat at Ainsdale, with 6/61 for Steven Lucas, leaves them second-bottom; and champions Hightown St Marys were washed out at Northop Hall.
