Match Report - Colwyn Bay 12-8-17
Due to horrendous traffic congestion, for supporters travelling to Colwyn Bay, it was a nightmare of a journey. It was worth the frustration, however, because the game itself yielded a feast of runs and an exciting ending.
Put into bat, Ormskirk having lost the toss, opened with a partnership of 72 runs through Andy Baybutt and Michael Jones before Andy (37) was unfortunately run out,
Michael and Josh pushed the score along to 129 when Josh (34) in an attempt to accelerate the score strayed down the wicket, misjudged the flight of the ball, and was stumped.
George Lavelle, after a six-week injury break from the game, joined Michael. There were fears that George would be somewhat rusty and, as such, a vulnerable target for the opposition.
There was no need to have worried because he settled in to give the impression that the period of inactivity due to the injury had never happened. Along with Michael sixty nine runs were added when Michael (82) was caught on the boundary to leave the score on 192-3.
The final partnership between George and Gary Knight was highly entertaining and remained intact until the tea interval when the innings was declared with George and Gary each on 53* and the total on 267-3.
In the absence of Nicky Caunce, Josh Bohannon shared the opening bowling partnership with Scott Lees and enjoyed early success. Without a run being scored he took his first wicket having Gidlow (0), caught behind by Gary Knight, and followed up by the other opener Evans (0) losing his wicket by way of a fine catch by Michael Jones. A better start could not have been asked for.
It was 113 runs later that the third wicket fell and was taken by Tom Hartley who had Johansen (46) caught by Scott Lees. The Colwyn Bay overseas player Buddhika was looking ominously good and it
took a special delivery from Jamie Barnes to remove him from the action. He was on 79 when Jamie uprooted his off stump to leave the score on 139-4. Shortly after that success Josh Bohannon was back in the action and, with a fine piece of fielding by Josh the fifth wicket fell to a run out and left Ormskirk in the driving seat with the score on 139-5 with plenty of overs left.
Colwyn Bay’s later order batsmen changed the complexion of the game and the score progressed steadily. It became very finely balanced with Colwyn Bay needing to score at 7 runs an over in the last 20 overs to take the game while Ormskirk needed to take 5 wickets.
The first of those wickets came when Simon Kerrigan bowled Higginson (22) but it was 53 runs later when Josh Bohannon took the seventh wicket when he had Littler (24) caught by George Lavelle. At this stage Colwyn Bay were still on target to take the game but that changed when Josh had Morris (63) caught behind to leave the tail end batsmen to either dig in and stay there or hit out for a win.
In the event, they were tied down by accurate bowling and unable to keep up the run rate leaving them with no choice but to do their best to stay put and earn a draw. It had come down to the last over being bowled by Simon Kerrigan to capture the two final wickets. The 9th wicket did fall to Simon but it was off the last ball of his over which was the last ball of the game. The result was a draw with Ormskirk gaining 5 batting points and 4 bowling points in their League campaign.
It had been a great game of cricket with over 500 runs being scored with a nail biting finish. The nightmare endured by the Ormskirk supporters in getting to the game had been confined to the past, to be overtaken by the sweet dreams of getting that much closer to ending the season as Premier League Champions having a 65 point lead over the nearest challengers with 5 games to play.
