Ormskirk beat Roe Green to progress to the Quarter Final of the Lancashire Knockout Cup

Having won the toss and elected to bat, Roe Green lost their first wicket without a run on the board. Scott Lees, with the 3rd ball of the opening over had David Cooper (0) caught by Nicky Caunce.

Ryan Maddock was the next to strike when he bowled the Number 3 batsman, Ashley Williams (1), to leave the visitors somewhat shell-shocked at 6-2.

It was just the start that Ormskirk wanted and it got even better when Ryan Maddock, with the score on 23, claimed his second wicket by forcing the second opening batsman, Justin Kenyon (9), to edge one behind into the eager and safe hands of Gary Knight.

There was some resistance for the middle-order batsmen but wickets fell at regular intervals, with all the bowlers taking their parts, the two most prominent being Ryan Maddock with 3-21 off 8 overs and Tom Hartley with 3-25 off 9 overs.

At the end of the 36th over, Roe Green were all out and Ormskirk were left needing a modest score of 139 to claim victory.

Andy Baybutt and Ian Robinson opened the reply for Ormskirk and they fared better than had their counterparts from Roe Green. There were 33 runs were on the board, 28 of which had been scored by Andy Baybutt, before Ian Robinson (9) lost his wicket to a catch at mid-wicket.

Andy Baybutt (33) was batting well and was very unfortunate to get out to an exceptional catch at first slip by David Cooper, off the bowling of Andy Hough.

It was as good a slip catch as anyone could expect to see at any level. The score was now at 44-2 and the run rate well within requirements so there was no need to unduly worry about the loss of the second wicket.

The loss of Alex Rankin (14), the third wicket to fall, resulted in George Lavelle and Gary Knight coming together to build a 48-run partnership. It was broken when Gary (16) was the victim of David Copper’s third catch which brought Jonny Glayzer in to partner George.

Unfortunately, Jonny’s involvement was short lived as he went out first ball and his dismissal made things a little jittery as the 5th wicket had been lost and there were still 32 runs needed.

The jitters disappeared as George Lavelle (51*) and Ryan Maddock (16*) kept their composures and made the necessary runs. The shot that took Ormskirk past the winning post was a huge 6 from George, which also took his own score past the half century mark.

It was a good all-round team performance and rightfully took Ormskirk into the Quarter Final Round for an away tie against Netherfield CC on 22nd July.