FORMBY AND HIGHFIELD TRIUMPH ON DRAMATIC LAST DAY

Date: 22nd September 2014

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

Paul Edwards describes the twists and turns as hopes are won and lost.

It will, I suppose, be a quiz question in five years or so. Which Liverpool Competition team was promoted to the Premier League a year after being relegated to the Second Division? The answer, of course, is Formby, and from the moment that Aaron Redmond drove Matthew Dearden to Liam Crilly in the gully, it never seemed likely that Wigan would deny Ian Cockbain’s men the win they may have needed to secure promotion and the Liverpool Competition’s First Division title.

Redmond’s dismissal for a mere five runs left the Bull Hey side on 9 for three and their target of 236 was very distant. And once news reached Cricket Path that Sefton Park had given their survival chances something of a kiss of life with victory over Rainford, Formby knew that only if they lost to Wigan and Highfield beat Colwyn Bay could a project which had been developed in the depth of last winter be frustrated.

Not that this prevented Charlie Mills going through a few thousand tortures as rain skirted the ground and a little drizzle started. Mills has helped Cockbain mastermind the club’s remarkable revival this season and he must have aged ten years or so during the play after tea, thus taking him to maybe nearly forty.

Instead of gathering, however, the clouds parted and the season ended in pale sunlight when Mark Rowe edged Dearden to Elliott Ketteringham at second slip. That gave the excellent Dearden figures of six for 32 , a just reward for a seamer who had almost always kept the ball up to the batsmen. Also operating at the Hockey End, Graham Bolton confirmed his promise with three for 42 against his former club.

The groundwork for Formby’s win had been laid by Dale McKay who passed a thousand league runs when he reached 87 and finished the innings with 129 not out, scored off 152 balls with 17 fours and four sixes. One’s mind went back to some of the other very fine overseas batsmen who have graced Cricket Path. On Saturday, though, McKay’s contribution went further than his fourth century of the season. His swoop and direct hit from cover ran out the highly-rated John Richardson for nought.

Meanwhile, what was happening elsewhere? In addition to leaving their own promotion hopes in ruins, Rainford’s defeat meant that Orrell Red Triangle had to beat Northop Hall at Smithy Lane, something they did not come close to doing. On the North Wales coast, however, a rare drama was developing at Colwyn Bay where the home side had made 221 for seven declared against Highfield, this despite a six-wicket haul for Chris Liptrot.

Once news filtered through about the outcome at Sefton Park, it was clear that Highfield needed simply either to avoid defeat or score 160 against Paul Jenkins’ side. Which was fine and dandy until Mike Farrell’s side collapsed from 129 for two to 154 for eight. Richard Farrell’s boundary secured that third bonus point for the Billinge Road side, thus resolving the final major issue of the 2014 season. Mike Farrell went on to complete a fine century and the game ended in a draw.

By that time, though, the celebrations were well under way at Cricket Path and perhaps that was a good thing, too. The final Saturday of the 2014 Med Imaging Liverpool Competition had been a cloudy, misty autumnal affair and it seemed very possible that light would have become an issue. For all that the days have been balmy and sunlit this best of Septembers, there have been plenty of reminders that it is now time for cricketers to put their kit away until winter nets begin. That won’t be an issue for Wigan’s Mark Shorrocks, who brought the curtain down on a fine career with figures of two for 31 against Formby. Let us hope that he is not lost to the game. For cricket needs all the good men and women it can get and that will be true whatever the year, whatever the season.