Ormskirk v New Brighton Match Report. 24-6-17

New Brighton won the toss and elected to bat on a good wicket which promised to be full of runs and a dry fast outfield. It looked, all the world, to be a good toss to win but New Brighton failed to capitalize on the favourable toss of the coin.

Before a single run had been registered Scott Lees had opener Martyn Evans (0) caught by John Armstrong. It wasn’t long before the next wicket was claimed when Nicky Caunce had the replacement batsman David While (6) caught behind by George Lavelle, leaving New Brighton on 11-2.

Worse was to follow for New Brighton when Nicky forced the visitors’ captain, Andrew Clarke (13), who had come to the wicket following the dismissal of While, to edge a catch into the eager hand of Matt Glayzer fielding at second slip. The dismissal was the result of a combination of a fine delivery by Nicky and a superb catch, taken very low down, by Matt.

At 25-3 New Brighton needed a hero to steady the boat but could not find one to cope with the hostile bowling of Scott Lees who, in an inspired spell, took 4 wickets in rapid succession. His first victim of the quartet was Khurram Hussain (9) who he had caught behind by George Lavelle. Second on the list was John While (8) who he unceremoniously bowled. Third was the opener Tom Horrocks (15) to another catch behind by George Lavelle

and to take his haul to five wickets his final victim of the spell was Louis Botes giving George his third catch. The score for New Brighton was now a disastrous 58-7.

Jamie Barnes who had taken over from Nicky Caunce now took part in the action when he claimed his first wicket and New Brighton lost their eighth with the score on 69. He had the assistance of John Armstrong to thank who dived full length to take a catch from Andrew Evans (5).

Simon Kerrigan and Tom Hartley, Ormskirk’s spin twins, were brought on to end the innings but they didn't have it all their own way by any means. Success came relatively quickly though when Simon trapped Jaxom Rose lbw (0). The tail now started to wag and in a spirited partnership between Louis C Botes (38) and Ashraf Nawab (15*) the score rose to 115 before Tom Hartley broke the very stubborn partnership when he had Botes Jnr caught by Andy Baybutt.

The dismissal of a very competent side in just 35 overs for a paltry score meant that without a catastrophic batting collapse an Ormskirk win, with maximum points, was on the cards.

New Brighton were given false hope when they claimed their first two wickets with only 27 runs on the board. Michael Jones (10) was out to a catch from a stroke he would rather forget and Andy Baybutt was given out to a strong and confident appeal for lbw.

Ian Robinson took the game further away from New Brighton when, being joined by George Lavelle, after a brief partnership with John Armstrong, (6) runs came briskly.

Both got out to injudicious shots that they almost certainly would never have played had the pressure been on in more difficult circumstances. Both were caught going for the big hit when not really necessary. Ian (25) had played well up to then and George got tantalizingly near his 50 when on 45 he went for the big hit and unnecessarily lost his wicket.

The last partnership of Matt Glayzer and Simon Kerrigan took no chances and steered their team home to a comfortable victory, the winning runs coming by way of a huge hit for 6 by Simon.

It was a very good all round performance highlighted by the 5 wicket haul by Scott Lees who made it easy to select the Man of the Match. He enjoyed his best spell of bowling for the season and set the groundwork for victory. Well done to all but especially to Scott.