“We want to be competing, we want to be in the hunt with six games to go and see where we go from there. We’ve got quite a good bunch of 14-15 year olds at this club and I want us to be in the strongest possible position when they break through. I’m not saying we’re going to go up but I want to be more positive about things this season.”
“Last year there was some negativity because we’d been hammered on occasions in 2014 when Lancashire players had come in and scored hundreds against us. People needed a break but they’ve had that now.”
A few players in all Liverpool Competition clubs might have welcomed an extra week off last Saturday, given the chilly conditions in the second half of matches. Sykes showed commendable restraint in describing the weather at Smithy Lane as “brisk” as his team lost to Northop Hall by six wickets. But given the fact that it was the Sea Cop cricketers’ first outdoor match of the year, he was not in the mood to complain too loudly.
“It was quite apparent that it was the first game of the season for us. The start of each innings let us down and we fought our way back into it. Lee Bolton batted particularly well to make 57 not out off 124 balls and it was a really good knock from him.
“We were quite happy with 138 because the wicket was quite slow and it wasn’t the easiest pitch to score runs on if you put the ball in the right places. So I wasn’t that disappointed with Saturday but we’ve got a lot more to give. I was delighted for Lee and it was quite good that we got to 140 without Neil Rimmer, Andrew Watts or our pro getting out of single figures.
“Certainly it was a bit of culture shock for our Sri Lankan professional, Marasinghe Perera. His hands were a bit too cold for him to bowl leg spin but we’ve seen during nets that he’s a good player.”
On Saturday a Wigan side which could feature Aaron Redmond and Matthew Critchley are due to visit Sea Cop playing, although the hail storm that whitened parts of Southport on Thursday evening was a reminder that, once again, there may be plenty of mopping up to do on Merseyside this weekend.