ST HELENS TOWN ON THE UP

Date: 5th September 2014

A Paul Edwards copyright exclusive for L&DCC Official Website.

Final push needed.

Even in the first few days of September there are still many issues to be decided in the Med Imaging Liverpool Competition but it seems pretty certain that St Helens Town will be playing first division cricket next summer.

Following last Saturday’s comfortable six-wicket defeat of Old Xaverians Craig Woods’ side, currently in second place behind Prestatyn, lead the distant chasing pack by 46 points and with only three match-days left in the season the Ruskin Drive need 30 points to clinch promotion.

That should present few problems to Craig Woods’ confident team but things were a little different only a week last Saturday as St Helens collapsed from 72-3 to 87-8 when needing a mere 96 to beat Spring View. Given that Andrew Critchley was unable to bat having misjudged a skier and sustained a bruised eye-socket in the process, it can be imagined how tense things were in the visiting changing room at Dower House Farm.

“It was a lot closer than it should have been,” said Woods, “but those are the sort of games we weren’t winning last year.” Experience is the key, of course, and that quality can be as important in a player like Woods, who has a few miles on the clock, as it is in his younger bowlers like Phil Murgatroyd and James Davies.

Murgatroyd has dismissed 30 batsmen in the Second Division this summer and Davies has removed 33. They are two members of the strong seam attack Woods has at his disposal. Davies took 5-20 against Old Xavs and it always helps to have people like Joe Payne or Bobby Kenny to take over the bowling duties. “Every week I have a few seamers I can rotate,” mused Woods happily.

With the bat, it has been the skipper who has taken a leading role, even if it took him a few weeks to get from around 470 league runs to the magic 500. Backing Woods up have been the familiar figures of Ian Knowles (317 runs, 39 of them against Old Xaverians) and David Gaskell (312 runs), and also the very promising 20-year-old Danny Roberts, who learned much of his cricket at Ruskin Drive.

All of which makes St Helens a very pleasant place to play one’s cricket at the moment, especially as the huge redevelopment of the sports complex is scheduled to begin in twelve months’ time. Given that the recent history of the club has not always been the happiest of stories and that the very future of cricket at the ground seemed threatened at one point, it is no wonder that Woods “can’t wait” for the building to start. He probably can’t wait to play First Division cricket either.

Well, all things being equal, he should only have to wait a little longer.