Date: 28th Mar 2024
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AINSDALE OPENING PAIR READY FOR BIG GAME AT BURSCOUGH

Date: 9th June 2016

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

Barlow's men looking for third successive win

Ainsdale skipper Andy Barlow is hoping that his blossoming opening partnership with Mark Foster will help his side complete a triple crown of derby victories when they take on Division One leaders Burscough at Old School Lane on Saturday.

The pair have shared two century-plus stands, the latest of them in their team’s convincing seven-wicket hammering of Southport and Birkdale last Saturday, and Barlow accepts that their contrasting styles makes life very difficult for opposing attacks.

‘Mark and I work well together,’ said Barlow. ‘He’s a left-hander and I bat right-handed, we complement each other’s game and we talk well together. We bat in very different ways and it makes it very different for any bowlers to find a rhythm against us.”

After losing three of their first four games Ainsdale have now won three on the bounce, a record that includes a fine away win at Fleetwood Hesketh, and the Liverpool Road side are now sixth in the table, still 38 points behind Brendan Domigan’s team but in a far better position than seemed likely in late April.

‘We had a terrible start, we played some really bad cricket in those first few weeks, we just couldn’t get anything right but we’ve come back strongly, which is a really good sign.’ said Barlow. ‘The biggest thing we’ve done is that we’ve started playing to our strengths.’ 

Before long those broader strengths should include a deep squad when Adam Friar and Richard Stanyon recover from the injuries that kept them out of the last few games. Barlow will then have a few selection problems, although one batsman who seems certain not to be missing out is Sam Lucas, whose rapid fifty took his team to victory over S&B.          

‘Sam came in on Saturday and he was brilliant,’ said Barlow. ‘He knocked singles around and then he started hitting through the line and if you saw that anywhere, you’d be impressed.’

Barlow acknowledges that his team’s catching and general fielding has been less impressive and he hopes it’s an aspect of Ainsdale’s cricket which will improve as the season progresses. Certainly few sides mount successful promotion challenges if they need to create around 18 chances to take ten wickets.

‘We’re not fielding well and it’s not the older players who are not doing their jobs, it’s us younger guys that are not doing what we should,’ said Barlow. ‘If we can improve so that we only have to create ten or twelve chances to take ten wickets, we’re going to win most games.’

 

 

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